What's Wrong with my Form: High Elbow

[Cfriend]

Hoping for some advice on what I need to do lower my draw elbow (assuming it needs to be lower). My understanding is that it should be roughly a straight line from the arrow to the elbow. As you can see below, mine clearly isn't. However, I'm not sure what needs to change, it feels uncomfortable when I try to move my elbow lower. Is my draw length wrong? Do I need to anchor higher? Or do I just need to move my elbow down?

Would appreciate any tips.

Also please pick apart anything else that is incorrect. I did notice that my bow arm is angled slightly down vs my torso - I am shooting slightly down, but I am thinking I should have been angling my torso and keeping the bow arm at 90°.

 

[Cfriend]

Realized I said it wrong above. I understand that draw arm needs to be parallel to the arrow - not necessarily in-line.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Not necessarily true. Jake Kaminsky(I think) has a video on how to tell if your elbow is too high whether with a recurve or compound. He says to draw a line from your elbow through your index finger's base knuckle, to the bow. If it hits somewhere in the grip of your bow you're good to go.

Edit to add, using that test, it does look a bit too high.

 

[jimh406]

Not even every championship shooter looks the same. The type of release you are using handheld, wrist, or simply fingers can change the angle of your elbow. Likewise, the tension you apply with your upper back muscles can change your follow through.

Are you having a particular issue you are trying to solve?

 

[Thunt22]

Looks like your bow arm is locked out hard to tell tho

 

[OR Archer]

Do you shoot consistently in that position? If so don’t worry about it. A lot of the top pros don’t have perfect form or shoot bows that actually fit them according to the “form experts” out there. I shoot with a similar elbow position. I’ve tried shooting with it lower and my shooting suffered. So if you’re consistent then don’t worry about it.

 

[Ho5tile1]

Draw length looks good your bow arm looks locked out maybe try a longer d-loop might bring the elbow down some without changing your draw length. I’m far from an expert just a hunter good luck but as others have said if your shooting good and there are no pains and your comfortable then who cares…


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[homebru.trout]

Bow arm is locked out as others have said...if it hasn't happened yet, you'll eventually wind up with a purple/blue forearm which will correct that particular issue . I personally shoot best with my bow arm slightly bent. What is your draw-hand anchor point (what part of your hand to what part of your ear, face, jaw, etc)? With the hair and the beard I can't tell but it appears your wrist is awfully high on your face...may just be an artifact of using an index release but could be that you're "holding" the barrel of the release instead of just pulling through. Shooting a thumb button I anchor the space between index and middle knuckles at the corner of my jaw and string crosses exactly at the corner of my mouth...the combination of hold on the thumb release and that anchor point keeps my elbow down if draw length is set correctly.

Could theoretically be a draw length issue but if your DL is set to wingspan/2.5 or maybe 0.5 shorter than that, then I'd focus on your bow arm and your anchor point and maybe evaluate how you're holding or not holding your release aid before going down the DL rabbit hole.