The Technique Puzzle by Corby Rowe

Have you ever really considered how important your technique and form is to accuracy?  Last month I talked about Anchor Point.  Very important, you must agree.  But, what about the other pieces that form good technique?  There are seven more major pieces that, when combined, complete a technique puzzle that can increase your accuracy: stance; posture; body alignment; head alignment; grip; release and follow-through.  These pieces of good technique can be discussed at length and even dissected into sub-parts.  Some of the sub-parts may even be considered important enough to join the above list.  But for the purposes of this article, lets stay with the big pieces of the puzzle.

For the sake of our discourse, lets say your stance; posture; body alignment; grip; anchor point and release are all solid.  Most of the big pieces of the puzzle are in place.  This leaves follow-through.  An important part of the technique puzzle. Follow-through can be argued

to start the instant the string is released and continue until the arrow hits the target.  Have you ever considered the idea of, for a lack of better terminology,  “lock time”?  (A term more often used by flintlock black powder shooters.)  For our purposes, simply put, the time from release until the arrow actually leaves the string.  Follow-through encompasses this seemingly minuscule time.  Hundredths of a second!   How much can  happen in such a short time that will effect my shot?  Well…if it wasn’t important, no one would talk about brace height.  The longer the arrow is on the string, the longer we have to break form.  The shorter the brace height, the longer the arrow is on the string.  Shorter brace height bows are equated with faster arrow speed.  Regardless of how fast the string is moving, the archer has more time to effect the flight of the arrow.

So look back to the start of this dribble and ask yourself, “do I keep proper, consistent form throughout the entire shot cycle”?  Could this be why I cannot get consistent arrow placement, especially at known distances?  It could be an equipment set-up issue, or simply a missing piece of the technique puzzle. I will argue that every archer struggles with different pieces of this puzzle each time they shoot their bow.

“The best equipment can not make up for poor technique.”

Stay focused, concentrate on technique and keep shooting!