Cross eye dominance - my experience (should I shoot wrong handed?)

[schwaf]

How old are you?
I'm not being a smarta** but switching at a younger age is easier.

I think wing shooting is most critical for shooting dominant eye. Scoped rifle is probably the least.

It seems that the jury is still out on shooting dominant eye in archery as an absolute requirement to be accurate. The target is stationary and consistent form and shot execution is the key to accuracy. If you can do the exact same thing every time then the arrow will go to the same place. Legendary Olympic archery coach Kisik Lee is a proponent of shooting dominant hand because of dexterity issues involved in the release which he feels is the key to accuracy (shooting Olympic recurve with a finger tab at 70 meters)

Based on the percentage of cross eye dominance in the general population you would think there would be more than 4 left handed Olympic archery medalists since the 1970's and exactly zero left handed competitors from Korea, the ruler of international archery.

I'm in my mid 30's. I agree that switching younger is easier thanks to neural plasticity, but I don't see any reason why one could not switch later in life with the right attitude.

I agree with you that consistent form and shot execution is key to accuracy. The difference in my experience is how much mental bandwidth goes in to forcing your non-dominant eye to be the primary focus. It feels like constantly fighting your brain. Using my dominate eye felt like relieving a massive mental burden that I could apply to execution.

One could argue that many archers with the potential to become Olympic level never switched and fulfilled their potential. I would personally never have been able to shoot past 50 yards if I stayed with my right hand because I could not shrink my groups. Activating a release imo does not require a ton of dexterity, just consistency. If there was an Olympic sport of using chopsticks, then by all means...

In Korean (and Asian) culture, there is an old school stigma to being left handed. Often parents would forcibly change their children to become right handed. I think that often screws up a child's coordination because they are learning everything with the wrong side, even if they eventually become proficient. Then there is a matter of coaching. I guarantee every Olympic level coach in Korea is right handed, right eye dominate. Shooters are competing with the best of the best out there, so a cross eye dominate shooter just would not make the cut out there. Left handed shooters probably do not get the coaching or recognition early enough to become world class.

 

[Rockpicker]

Brock string.

 

[Mish-pop]

I am L eye dominant and R handed. I understand how the switch can work great and I think i would try it if I hadn't spent my childhood learning to shoot with my R eye open and now it seems so natural as I have been doing it for over 20 years. I can shoot my bow with target accuracy to 70-80 yards and MER is 55-60 yards. I am happy with that and honestly, most of my hunting is open country and wind is a bigger factor than anything that affects my shot distance. Rifle would likely make no difference and I have even shot my rifle some with left hand and it's similar results.

I think where i would see the biggest difference would be with wing shooting. I don't do a lot of that anymore so it doesn't warrant a switch at this time.

 

[schwaf]

This subject has been somewhat recently discussed at some length on this same forum. You won't (likely) get different or better answers than here:

Thread 'Right Handed, Left Eye Dominant Child'

Sep 10, 2025

All my bows and rifles are right handed. I got my daughter shooting rifles and bows the last couple of years and she is R/R like me. When my son has shown interest, I've notice in the past he struggled more with my equipment. Last night I set him up shooting a compound bow for the first time and this is when it became very apparent he was left eye dominant. I used a few tricks to test, and yes, currently he is left eye dominant. But he's right handed and has very fine motor skills developed with his right hand (hand writing, art, teeth brushing, etc).

Does Rokslide think I should start...

• dreamingWest
• Replies: 74
• Forum: General Discussion Forum

• 

Interesting discussion here, and for the most part support what I've found for myself. Seems like most people agree that you should start with your dominate eye. There's always the stubborn guy who does everything it takes to use their dominate hand like I tried to do. This discussion is for the person who has never considered, or is considering but hesitant to switch as an adult and what I've personally found worked and did not work for me. I want this to be easy to find through a Google search.

 

[schwaf]

I am L eye dominant and R handed. I understand how the switch can work great and I think i would try it if I hadn't spent my childhood learning to shoot with my R eye open and now it seems so natural as I have been doing it for over 20 years. I can shoot my bow with target accuracy to 70-80 yards and MER is 55-60 yards. I am happy with that and honestly, most of my hunting is open country and wind is a bigger factor than anything that affects my shot distance. Rifle would likely make no difference and I have even shot my rifle some with left hand and it's similar results.

I think where i would see the biggest difference would be with wing shooting. I don't do a lot of that anymore so it doesn't warrant a switch at this time.

I can appreciate that. Do you feel like part of your shot process is directed towards focusing your right eye? Hows your vision in both eyes? I got my eyes corrected about 15 years ago with lasik, but had astigmatism in my right eye growing up. I think my vision in my left eye is still better.

 

[LostArra]

I would personally never have been able to shoot past 50 yards if I stayed with my right hand because I could not shrink my groups.

Very good point. Most bow hunters never shoot at game or even practice beyond 50 yards so shooting with dominant eye was maybe less important. Long range archery (TAC events) has changed that.

 

[Deeker]

I am right hand dominant and left eye dominant. I shoot everything with my right hand. I became left eye dominant in my early twenties when my vision started to get worse. Noticed it while out doing an archery shoot. Always kept both eyes open and on target 15 or so I couldn’t hit the target, arrows were all 3 feet to the left in a tree. Nice group actually. Ended up having to switch some things up. Went from a stack of pins to a single adjustable. When I am at full draw I will blink my left eye so I know which pin remains and then I shoot for that one. Wing shooting for me was never a big issue. It was more about how the gun was set up. I can’t just pick up a random shotgun and do well, needs to be fit for me. I would say I am an above average trap/skeet shooter.

I would say if you are born with opposite dominant eyes and hands it would be a better match to use whichever eye is dominant. But it is all possible to do with it being switched. Just needs some tweaking.

 

[schwaf]

I am right hand dominant and left eye dominant. I shoot everything with my right hand. I became left eye dominant in my early twenties when my vision started to get worse. Noticed it while out doing an archery shoot. Always kept both eyes open and on target 15 or so I couldn’t hit the target, arrows were all 3 feet to the left in a tree. Nice group actually. Ended up having to switch some things up. Went from a stack of pins to a single adjustable. When I am at full draw I will blink my left eye so I know which pin remains and then I shoot for that one. Wing shooting for me was never a big issue. It was more about how the gun was set up. I can’t just pick up a random shotgun and do well, needs to be fit for me. I would say I am an above average trap/skeet shooter.

I would say if you are born with opposite dominant eyes and hands it would be a better match to use whichever eye is dominant. But it is all possible to do with it being switched. Just needs some tweaking.

I've heard of that happening, thanks for sharing. I tried to replicate that with smearing grease on some lenses, but it was overall a bad idea. The brain supposedly favors whichever eye is stronger and can switch dominance mid life, but I don't think it's something we can control. I would be curious what would happen if you got corrective surgery in both eyes. I suspect it would go back to the way it was.

 

[Mish-pop]

I can appreciate that. Do you feel like part of your shot process is directed towards focusing your right eye? Hows your vision in both eyes? I got my eyes corrected about 15 years ago with lasik, but had astigmatism in my right eye growing up. I think my vision in my left eye is still better.

I learned to close left and keep my right open and only shoot one eye open. I wear contacts and my vision is the same in both with same power correction. Still to this day however, I squint a little more when my R eye compared to L when only one is open. I might be able to see slightly better with L than R when only one is open but it's close.

I tried shooting both eyes open with compound bow but it's hard with sights and everything. I can shoot my long bow with both eyes open. I tried wing shooting with both eyes open and it was horrible as left eye would take over

 

[schwaf]

I feel that you would benefit greatly by switching. Not only would you be using the correct eye with better vision, but you are re-teaching yourself how to shoot as an already experienced shooter. You won't have to unlearn any of the weird unconscious habits you've probably baked into your shooting, and teaching your less coordinated side to shoot means you have to be extra conscious of whatever you're doing. You'll be well aware of if you're doing something wrong, because you can feel that it's wrong. The transition really takes less than a week if you shoot daily.

 

[glock233]

People do best when they use their dominant eye. There’s an exception I’d say if you just can’t get wrong handed dexterity down. Most people can.

 

[Steve from GA]

Cross eye dominant is a non issue in my opinion. I am right handed left eye dominant. It simply requires a quick adjustment. I personally shoot pistol right handed, and I shoot well. I shoot rifle left handed, and I also shoot that well (for an average guy). Both eyes open always. The brain and body adapt quickly. Switching to shooting rifle left handed was easy and I would never want to go back.