Failed my assessment
Hi everyone,
Long post incoming - some of you may have seen a post I made a few weeks ago - well, I failed my assessment at my club today to become an independent archer. Not the end of the world as can keep trying (and have only been shooting 6 weeks), but I'm an over thinker and am beating myself up over it and want to try and rationalise.
Ultimately my aim was consistently and dramatically to the right of the target. I eventually got one set of arrows in the target at 18m by aiming so far off the target that I couldn't put a marker on the board. My grouping was okay, and pretty consistent (initially I was low and right, adjusted my aim point and was at the right height but still to the right) but was consistently drifting.
I spoke to the coach afterwards who suggested that I'm not 'quasimodoing' correctly - his term for hunching slightly forward during set or setup. I haven't previously done this and am struggling to understand exactly what is expected and how it affects my shot (he said it helped alignment but I generally felt well aligned) - but he said that generally the rest of my shot cycle was pretty good.
I talked to him about my anchor point which isn't quite the usual one - I anchor my forefinger knuckle against my cheekbone, and thumb knuckle against my jaw bone which works REALLY well for consistency for me and is easy to find, but brought it up to him because I was worried it could be some pulling effect, or perhaps it's cause I'm cross dominant and squinting?
He said I could try the tooth anchor point but I don't know exactly how to change it and apart from the unorthodoxy of it, he was happy with my follow through after release. At home, I do a lot of close range shooting to work on form and I felt very happy with my groupings but appreciate that drift and bad form can be hidden by distance.
I use a different bow at home to the club bow they make us use which is both lower poundage and slightly longer (28lb Vs 18lb and 68" Vs 70"). I definitely feel like the bow is too light for me at the distance (I feel I shoot a bit low when I'm point on with the 18lb at 18m) and something feels off Vs my draw at home but again I might just be overthinking it.
Obviously I want to blame the bow (perhaps the plungers set too strong!) but the club sets them up and know a ton more about it than me so it probably isn't that.
I focus hard on string alignment and release and my bow grip has improved a lot but I do feel like I grip the club bow more than my own because it's so light that I don't get the same pressure during my expansion - perhaps because it's 70" instead of 68"?
I'm guess im looking for advice and comfort in equal measure, as I felt like I'd made big strides at home on these things (have attached a quick video which shows both my aiming point at the end and the 3 shot grouping) - having watched the video back I have noticed that the bow doesn't appear to be straight which might have a small impact but also noticed when I drop my shoulders I seem to lean back - is it as simple as that?
I appreciate any kind or informative words, thanks in advance!