Is my draw length right ?

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I'd try a shorter release before anything, looks to me like your back muscles are fully engaged at full draw and you are over-extended with your elbow swung around past parallel to your arrow.
Trad guy here with a question... why is it bad to be past parallel? With a trad bow, scapula hitting end of it's range of motion is how I get a repeatable draw length. My elbow is past parallel with a trad bow.
 

nphunter

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Trad guy here with a question... why is it bad to be past parallel? With a trad bow, scapula hitting end of it's range of motion is how I get a repeatable draw length. My elbow is past parallel with a trad bow.

A compound is effected more by torque on the string because at full draw there is almost no weight and the string is loose, even a small amount of face pressure can cause a miss. Pulling in line with the arrow means the sting will come straight forward and typically you want to use your back muscles to pull slowly through the shot and follow though. Typically you hear more on using your back muscles when shooting a back tension/hinge release but the same principal should be applied when using a wrist strap. Rest your finger on the release trigger and set off the release by using your back muscles to pull your hooked finger into the trigger. All this should be done while mentally focusing on the spot you want to hit.

I also shoot a recurve and also pull my scapula back for a consultant anchor along with my clicker. However the execution is different for me because i actually rotate my scapula to pull my tab through/off the string when shooting a recurve. Tom Clum does a great job of explaining this on some of his videos.
 
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So... hypothetically... that back tension to set off the hinge is still rotational in nature, right? I can understand the string/face pressure conundrum, but wouldn't that be just as effected by rotating through a hinge improperly at a shorter, more parallel anchor? Face pressure will be dictated by how hard a guy pulls the anchor into their face, not where the scapula is at, right?

I'm asking these things because I'm thinking about a wheel bow soon, and I would expect a steadier float with the scapula's locked in. I've shot compounds set up shorter in draw than my recurves, and I felt like everything was just drifting away from my body at full draw.
 

nphunter

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So... hypothetically... that back tension to set off the hinge is still rotational in nature, right? I can understand the string/face pressure conundrum, but wouldn't that be just as effected by rotating through a hinge improperly at a shorter, more parallel anchor? Face pressure will be dictated by how hard a guy pulls the anchor into their face, not where the scapula is at, right?

I'm asking these things because I'm thinking about a wheel bow soon, and I would expect a steadier float with the scapula's locked in. I've shot compounds set up shorter in draw than my recurves, and I felt like everything was just drifting away from my body at full draw.

To me, it's a different movement, when executing with a release your really only moving a fraction of an inch, when releasing on a recurve there is a lot more movement. I'm not a coach, I've worked with my boys shooting hinges and compounds and they both shoot much better when they are not over-extended. It's way easier to torque a compound than a recurve. If you pull your hand across your face while looking down your bow arm you will notice that once your past parallel your hand starts coming around your face, this is what happens when people have too long of a draw length the only place for the string to go past that point is into your face. Before parallel, your string is pulling along your face, not into it.

IMO if you are a good traditional shooter and have had a consistent anchor and good execution it should carry over to a compound easily. I can shoot better groups at 80 yards with my compound than 30 with my recurve. IMO being consistent with a recurve is much harder to do and if you can do it well shooting a compound should be super easy. Shooting a compound is pretty static while shooting a recurve is a pretty dynamic movement.
 

dtrkyman

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Try leaning back shooting down hill in a hunting situation, not going to work well!

There is a reason most teach T form, it works for the most amount of people, there are exceptions with everything, but generally speaking we humans are built pretty much the same, good T form eliminates as much muscle use as possible by aligning the major bones making us more stable.

Form absolutely matters.
 
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30.5" doesn't look like it'll be too far off once you open up your stance a little bit and get the front shoulder down. Work through John Dudley's school of nock to build a good basic form
 

TX_Diver

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May 27, 2019
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I'd mess with your anchor a bit and then see what the draw length looks like.

I personally thought the "school of nock" series was helpful.

 
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