Thank you for answering s question thats been bothering me recently. I am a leftie and shoot left handed. But i am right eye dominant. Having learned to shoot instinctively i was concerned my right eye might be somehow overtaking my aiming. But since i shoot both eyes open, you have told me it doesnt matter which is dominant. Thanks for a great channel! God bless
I can't wait to try this. Because not matter what bow I use, what arrow, what spine, what stance, when my form is good, ( shoot instinctive) 50% of my shots will go 6 inches to the left of the bulls eye at 10-15 yards, sometimes in such perfect groups that I knock nocks off as they group consistently in this 6 inch to the left group! (I am right handed). Only with pure force of will, will my shots edge toward the bulls eye...
Great video. I'm left eye right hand. I can set my right eye for a few second. It's taken some work but the more I do it the easier it gets. I usually just shut my left eye. Thanks for the information! God bless
Greg, Really good video, and listening to your exploits growing up they probably seemed difficult at the time but in hindsight turned out to be an advantage in overall skills. Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.
I am right-handed when I write and archery. Everything else I do is with my left hand, mainly. However, I have no dominant eye. Even with gun shooting or archery, I shoot equally with both eye. Still, my optician says I have mono -vision. It is that I, as a short-sighted person, can use a strength for reading (left eye) and a strength for normal vision (right eye). Then I do not need bifocal glasses / contact lenses.
My impression is that, for whatever reason, either inbuilt or learned, being "ambidexterous" in terms of hand or dominant eye is more common amongst left handers.
I tried to switch from rh to lh shooting because of an injury but it didn't work out. Now I'm trying to learn thumb draw with a lh riser on a recurve. I love your videos. Very informative.
@@martinhodge3119 Is the injury to your fingers? Have you ever heard of the Gemini Ring? It was used by the Romans (2000 years old should be old enough to be traditional). Just a suggestion.
Long story but both bones in my forearm were broken and dislocated at both the wrist and elbow 25 years ago. Years of kayaking haven't helped. I can prove it yet but I believe that the pull on a thumb draw puts less strain than a finger draw. If that doesn't work I'll use a "compound" release aid. In the grand scale if what life throws at one it's a minor problem.
Great video! There are studies in psychology of individuals provided with prism glasses that show the world as upside down and right side left. These individuals, after some difficulty, learn to adapt to the prism and negotiate the world accurately. I think there is a video of one relearning how to ride a bicycle with the glasses on. And when the glasses are no longer worn , the individuals go thru the same learning/adaptation cycle of renegotiating the normal orientation of up and down and left and right. I know it's not about eye dominance but those studies speak strongly as to how the brain will adapt to make an individual successful in their surroundings. As for myself, I am "left eye" dominant when I do the look-thru-a-hole-test (or so I thought) but right hand dominant. When I do form checks with a theraband, I noticed I was sighting down the length of the band with my right eye during full draw. This surprised me. The funny thing is I did the 2 things above back to back within moments of each other and same result! Left eye with the hole test, right eye sighting down the band (and later, down an arrow shaft during gap or string walk aiming) without closing my left eye! Your video shed good light on my experience and I understand it now. The most practical knowledge I gained by watching your video is that I don't have to worry about switching dominance and that I can trust my brain to switch on my right eye whenever I shoot archery. It's definitely one less thing to worry about! ( Thank God I don't have to wear a left eye patch!) Thanks for the video!
There is a video here on youtube by someone who modified a bicycle using a couple of cogs between the handle bars and the wheel. Trying to turn the bike to the right, would turn it to the left. It took him months to adapt. After the change, he was unable to ride a regular bike. His kids tried it and adapted within a couple of weeks. The pliability of a young person's brain/mind. On another note: about the inversion of perception, as done by prisms or mirros. A study of this was done by a professor at the University of Toronto around 1970. They were looking for participants and were paying some money to them. I thought about it, but it got out that participants were suffering from raging headaches. Money was not worth that, at least not to this cash strapped student.
Can't speak for the gentleman with the bike nor for the volunteers in the study. I'll only say that my personal experience with aiming reflects what Greg has evidently found out in his research. That is, my "eye dominance " apparently shifts between left and right depending on the task and that I really don't have to worry about being L eye dominant as a right handed archer. For a beginning archer, that is very significant!
This is why I used as a kid in the 2000's with archery after I found my dominate eye I used the older Fiberglass bows that were dual sided, found that due to shooting on the outside for me was not an issue gripping with a lefty grip due to having used right hand until early 2000's having started in late 1996 or 1997 with first more full sized bows that were not the small kids bows as I was in 1995- almost end of 1996. I used a dual sided fiberglass bow due to how much harder it was to find left handed bows at the time and how cheep the fiberglass bows were even when comparing to some of the other used bows including the Shakespeare bows or others that the left side were sold in places even on E-bay or similar were not only more in $$ but hard to find bows in left side. However when I take my glasses off I have to shoot on the right hand side that most people shoot with.
Ive found this quite interesting..... Im RH and my left eye is definitely a dominant eye. And despite 8 years of shooting recurve/compound trying different methods nothing has helped. (Had to close/mask left eye) Until i learnt to shoot a flatbow instinctively with both eyes open. After doing so for a few years i picked up my target recurve and i was amazed that i could now shoot with both eyes open! After around 6 months i returned to my compound and slowly my eye dominance returned to the left side meaning that i once again had to cover it to aim accurately. If i now pick up a recurve target set up i no longer can shoot both eyes open. And when i shoot my flatbow instinctively they all hit a few inch left of where i focus my eyes until a few hours the brain corrects but often returns to drifting left. Very strange....
Ditto, you have expertly explained being a lefty in a right handed world. I even prefer to jump from the right door on a bird. I PLF on my right side. Lol I can throw a football with both hands lefty is a side arm and right is an over hand (proper form)
Greg's comments about hand drawing vs air brushing brought to mind something we tried in an art class I once took. For the record, I draw and write left handed. In one class, I jokingly commented about trying to draw with my other hand and got overheard by the instructor. Well, he had us try our other hand. To my surprise, I found that I was more fluid with my strokes with the right than I was with the left. I put this down to being more rigid due to all the practice I've gone through with penmanship and drafting, etc. My right hand was never restrained by that, hence more free flowing. For the record, the right-handed people who tried their left hand didn't have the same result that I had. It was more awkward for them.
So I shot right forever and recently switched because i started shooting with a club to join the youngling, they insist on shooting by eye dominance so i had to learn all over again took a couple weeks of solid practice but im back to shooting form and definitely shooting better than i was right handed . That said theres other factors than eye dominance involved ; for one im fairly ambidexterous so swtiching sides to left wasnt as hard as it might be for some, and the other major thing is learning all over again allowed me to break free from a lot of the bad habits i had built up over years of snap shooting right handed. Ive also switched to a gap shooting which I was unable to do right handed because my eyes went wonky if i tried to use the arrow, Im not saying that I disagree with the video or the study simply that my expirience has been a bit different
I am right-handed. I have binocular vision disorder. As part of this disorder, the left eye dominates. No 3D view. I am also short-sighted and the defect of the right eye is greater. I shoot the bow right-handed and, surprisingly, I hit the target. Sometimes I close my left, weaker eye. Arrow once on the left, once on the right of the raiser. I mostly shoot intuitively with a traditional, reflective or classical bow. Until now, no one was able to explain to me why this is happening, or advise on any special technique for me.
Always kept both eyes open, so I guess I'm an instinctive shooter. Right handed and left eye dominant I fire a rifle left handed. Peep sights never worked for me because of this. I practice what I call Amish compound archery without sights but with a release aid! A left hand bow probably won't work for me because of left shoulder injury. I'll be trying your method and hope you're right. Not doing too badly with both eyes though. Maybe I shoot with some mix of instinctive and gap without having known what this is.
I am right eye dominant, shoot firearms right handed but bows left handed. I have been shooting instinctive I guess with both eyes open.. I play guitar right handed also.. Another thing lefties will get is smearing ink when writing with your hand because our hand follows the pen by pushing via right handed.
I never thought I would be asking this question. Doctor says my right shoulder is in bad shape from years of work related. How hard would it be to switch to a left handed compound bow? Been shooting compound and traditional for 15 years. Age 60. I have my compound turned down to 35 pounds now and that hurts after awhile.
Switching is “easy”. There are some things you need to know. Nothing is transferable. It is literally starting over. From the feel to the mechanics, it is a clean slate. Do not get discouraged, you are relearning everything. You are going to “feel” very awkward, that is normal, in time it will come just be patient.
Thank you so much. I don't know what it is. The flight of the arrow, the thud of the impact or the hum of the string. It just keeps me coming back. Thanks for the fast reply. I will keep you posted.
Left hand 20 pound bow today. Wow it is very hard. So confusing. And my left arm is weak! I had no idea. My goal is just drawing the bow smoothly as I gain strength 💪.
My right eye is really bad and messed up but I've been shooting righty on and off for several years. Should I just roll with it and learn to shoot with both eyes open or should I just go lefty.
Try booth eyes open and if you are not getting the results you want after a a month or so of consistent shooting, then I would think about switching sides. Why spend extra money when you do not have too?
I am right handed, if I shoot a right handed bow I'm off target by about 2 feet to the left at 10 yards. When I shoot a left handed bow I'm off by 3" at 10 yards.
I'm right handed. But I shoot rifles shotgun bows and play pool left handed. I can shoot pool either way. I actually break right handed. Can shoot rifles and shotguns right handed too. But if I try to draw a bow right handed I literally almost can't do it... it feels so extremely uncomfortable and unnatural to draw a bow right handed. I am definitely left eye dominant.
Greg, your experience is not valid unfortunately in this situation because of what you quoted from the study "HABIT" !!! You were "forced" to switch from left to right hand and back for different activities during your life and that also shifted your eye focus. That's why you CAN set your "dominant" eye. Your brain is trained to switch when needed. However for us "normal" people (those using only one hand, left or right does not matter, during their life) that is not the case. For me, I do focus with my left eye simply because at any activity using the right hand, my stance is with my left side closer to target. Natural habit. Yes I might learn to switch the eye, but it takes years of training and those same years of training will burn into me the habit of closing my left eye to focus/sight :-)
I would say it is a learned skill and not a habit. I have studies that show (using Darts and Golf) that people after two weeks or so of training shoot just as well using the other side. I have study upon study that says the dominant eye can and does switch sides. Yet, no studies that claim the opposite. What should I take from all these studies that say otherwise?
Cross eye dominate right handed people have never been able to do this. The scientific studies didn’t do things that are the same. And no one wants to spent all there time adjusting. Even a peer review means little now. Only means convincing. They didn’t look done barrrels and arrows. They threw darts and such and spend a long time training to retrain. Not practical.
Vince White Vince, how do you know they never have been able to do it? Also, those who shoot instinctive do not “look down the arrow”. They use both eyes. Could you Please tell me what you think the dominant eye specifically does. Finally check out Jake Kaminski’s video on this. In it he relates his experience at the Olympic Training Center. There the scientist tested everyone and while doing so, told him and everyone else that there is a difference between the dominant eye and your aiming eye. It turns out that a good number of them had a different aiming eye than what their dominant eye was.
I miss equally well with either eye.
Thank you for answering s question thats been bothering me recently. I am a leftie and shoot left handed. But i am right eye dominant. Having learned to shoot instinctively i was concerned my right eye might be somehow overtaking my aiming. But since i shoot both eyes open, you have told me it doesnt matter which is dominant.
Thanks for a great channel! God bless
I can't wait to try this. Because not matter what bow I use, what arrow, what spine, what stance, when my form is good, ( shoot instinctive) 50% of my shots will go 6 inches to the left of the bulls eye at 10-15 yards, sometimes in such perfect groups that I knock nocks off as they group consistently in this 6 inch to the left group! (I am right handed). Only with pure force of will, will my shots edge toward the bulls eye...
Great video. I'm left eye right hand. I can set my right eye for a few second. It's taken some work but the more I do it the easier it gets. I usually just shut my left eye. Thanks for the information! God bless
Greg, Really good video, and listening to your exploits growing up they probably seemed difficult at the time but in hindsight turned out to be an advantage in overall skills. Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.
I was about to switch left since I am right handed yet "left eye dominant". Thanks for citing the research.
I am right-handed when I write and archery. Everything else I do is with my left hand, mainly.
However, I have no dominant eye. Even with gun shooting or archery, I shoot equally with both eye. Still, my optician says I have mono -vision. It is that I, as a short-sighted person, can use a strength for reading (left eye) and a strength for normal vision (right eye). Then I do not need bifocal glasses / contact lenses.
I can soooo realate to you being a lefty. Box both right-hand and southpaw. I draw with my left but I paint with acrylic using my right hand..
My impression is that, for whatever reason, either inbuilt or learned, being "ambidexterous" in terms of hand or dominant eye is more common amongst left handers.
That is my impression as well.
I tried to switch from rh to lh shooting because of an injury but it didn't work out. Now I'm trying to learn thumb draw with a lh riser on a recurve.
I love your videos. Very informative.
@@martinhodge3119
Is the injury to your fingers? Have you ever heard of the Gemini Ring? It was used by the Romans (2000 years old should be old enough to be traditional). Just a suggestion.
Long story but both bones in my forearm were broken and dislocated at both the wrist and elbow 25 years ago. Years of kayaking haven't helped.
I can prove it yet but I believe that the pull on a thumb draw puts less strain than a finger draw. If that doesn't work I'll use a "compound" release aid.
In the grand scale if what life throws at one it's a minor problem.
Great video! There are studies in psychology of individuals provided with prism glasses that show the world as upside down and right side left. These individuals, after some difficulty, learn to adapt to the prism and negotiate the world accurately. I think there is a video of one relearning how to ride a bicycle with the glasses on. And when the glasses are no longer worn , the individuals go thru the same learning/adaptation cycle of renegotiating the normal orientation of up and down and left and right. I know it's not about eye dominance but those studies speak strongly as to how the brain will adapt to make an individual successful in their surroundings. As for myself, I am "left eye" dominant when I do the look-thru-a-hole-test (or so I thought) but right hand dominant. When I do form checks with a theraband, I noticed I was sighting down the length of the band with my right eye during full draw. This surprised me. The funny thing is I did the 2 things above back to back within moments of each other and same result! Left eye with the hole test, right eye sighting down the band (and later, down an arrow shaft during gap or string walk aiming) without closing my left eye! Your video shed good light on my experience and I understand it now. The most practical knowledge I gained by watching your video is that I don't have to worry about switching dominance and that I can trust my brain to switch on my right eye whenever I shoot archery. It's definitely one less thing to worry about! ( Thank God I don't have to wear a left eye patch!)
Thanks for the video!
There is a video here on youtube by someone who modified a bicycle using a couple of cogs between the handle bars and the wheel. Trying to turn the bike to the right, would turn it to the left. It took him months to adapt. After the change, he was unable to ride a regular bike. His kids tried it and adapted within a couple of weeks. The pliability of a young person's brain/mind.
On another note: about the inversion of perception, as done by prisms or mirros. A study of this was done by a professor at the University of Toronto around 1970. They were looking for participants and were paying some money to them. I thought about it, but it got out that participants were suffering from raging headaches. Money was not worth that, at least not to this cash strapped student.
Can't speak for the gentleman with the bike nor for the volunteers in the study. I'll only say that my personal experience with aiming reflects what Greg has evidently found out in his research. That is, my "eye dominance " apparently shifts between left and right depending on the task and that I really don't have to worry about being L eye dominant as a right handed archer. For a beginning archer, that is very significant!
This is why I used as a kid in the 2000's with archery after I found my dominate eye I used the older Fiberglass bows that were dual sided, found that due to shooting on the outside for me was not an issue gripping with a lefty grip due to having used right hand until early 2000's having started in late 1996 or 1997 with first more full sized bows that were not the small kids bows as I was in 1995- almost end of 1996. I used a dual sided fiberglass bow due to how much harder it was to find left handed bows at the time and how cheep the fiberglass bows were even when comparing to some of the other used bows including the Shakespeare bows or others that the left side were sold in places even on E-bay or similar were not only more in $$ but hard to find bows in left side. However when I take my glasses off I have to shoot on the right hand side that most people shoot with.
A very enriching video intellectually. 👍
3:13 for the sweet right leg roundhouse
Ive found this quite interesting..... Im RH and my left eye is definitely a dominant eye. And despite 8 years of shooting recurve/compound trying different methods nothing has helped. (Had to close/mask left eye)
Until i learnt to shoot a flatbow instinctively with both eyes open.
After doing so for a few years i picked up my target recurve and i was amazed that i could now shoot with both eyes open!
After around 6 months i returned to my compound and slowly my eye dominance returned to the left side meaning that i once again had to cover it to aim accurately.
If i now pick up a recurve target set up i no longer can shoot both eyes open.
And when i shoot my flatbow instinctively they all hit a few inch left of where i focus my eyes until a few hours the brain corrects but often returns to drifting left.
Very strange....
@@kramerammonsarchery mee to :)
Love to hear/see how you overcome tricky shots. Elevation/decline obstruction moving unknown distance treestands
Ditto, you have expertly explained being a lefty in a right handed world. I even prefer to jump from the right door on a bird. I PLF on my right side. Lol I can throw a football with both hands lefty is a side arm and right is an over hand (proper form)
Greg's comments about hand drawing vs air brushing brought to mind something we tried in an art class I once took. For the record, I draw and write left handed. In one class, I jokingly commented about trying to draw with my other hand and got overheard by the instructor. Well, he had us try our other hand. To my surprise, I found that I was more fluid with my strokes with the right than I was with the left. I put this down to being more rigid due to all the practice I've gone through with penmanship and drafting, etc. My right hand was never restrained by that, hence more free flowing.
For the record, the right-handed people who tried their left hand didn't have the same result that I had. It was more awkward for them.
Wow! That's so cool! Absolutely loved it! Thanks for sharing! =D
So I shot right forever and recently switched because i started shooting with a club to join the youngling, they insist on shooting by eye dominance so i had to learn all over again took a couple weeks of solid practice but im back to shooting form and definitely shooting better than i was right handed . That said theres other factors than eye dominance involved ; for one im fairly ambidexterous so swtiching sides to left wasnt as hard as it might be for some, and the other major thing is learning all over again allowed me to break free from a lot of the bad habits i had built up over years of snap shooting right handed. Ive also switched to a gap shooting which I was unable to do right handed because my eyes went wonky if i tried to use the arrow, Im not saying that I disagree with the video or the study simply that my expirience has been a bit different
Though still fairly marginal change over all I still shoot pretty damn well instinctively right handed
That is a benefit of switching sides. You get to start with a clean slate!
I am right-handed. I have binocular vision disorder. As part of this disorder, the left eye dominates. No 3D view. I am also short-sighted and the defect of the right eye is greater. I shoot the bow right-handed and, surprisingly, I hit the target. Sometimes I close my left, weaker eye. Arrow once on the left, once on the right of the raiser. I mostly shoot intuitively with a traditional, reflective or classical bow. Until now, no one was able to explain to me why this is happening, or advise on any special technique for me.
Always kept both eyes open, so I guess I'm an instinctive shooter. Right handed and left eye dominant I fire a rifle left handed. Peep sights never worked for me because of this. I practice what I call Amish compound archery without sights but with a release aid! A left hand bow probably won't work for me because of left shoulder injury. I'll be trying your method and hope you're right. Not doing too badly with both eyes though. Maybe I shoot with some mix of instinctive and gap without having known what this is.
I am right eye dominant, shoot firearms right handed but bows left handed. I have been shooting instinctive I guess with both eyes open.. I play guitar right handed also..
Another thing lefties will get is smearing ink when writing with your hand because our hand follows the pen by pushing via right handed.
I'm the same, I'm left handed yet I fight right handed because I can kick really good with my right leg.
I'm right eye dominant but I shoot with my left as I prefer it to my right.
So how do I improve my aim ?
The “Dominant Eye” has very little to do with aiming. Switching sides to use a different eye is not going to make much of a difference.
I never thought I would be asking this question. Doctor says my right shoulder is in bad shape from years of work related. How hard would it be to switch to a left handed compound bow? Been shooting compound and traditional for 15 years. Age 60. I have my compound turned down to 35 pounds now and that hurts after awhile.
Switching is “easy”. There are some things you need to know.
Nothing is transferable. It is literally starting over. From the feel to the mechanics, it is a clean slate. Do not get discouraged, you are relearning everything. You are going to “feel” very awkward, that is normal, in time it will come just be patient.
Thank you so much. I don't know what it is. The flight of the arrow, the thud of the impact or the hum of the string. It just keeps me coming back. Thanks for the fast reply. I will keep you posted.
Woohoo! My sister is sending me a 25 pound left handed recurve bow! They had one laying around. Game on!
Left hand 20 pound bow today. Wow it is very hard. So confusing. And my left arm is weak! I had no idea. My goal is just drawing the bow smoothly as I gain strength 💪.
What bow is that? looks nice.
First one is a Fiberglass Ben Pearson Jet Bow. The second one is a bow I made.
My right eye is really bad and messed up but I've been shooting righty on and off for several years. Should I just roll with it and learn to shoot with both eyes open or should I just go lefty.
Try booth eyes open and if you are not getting the results you want after a a month or so of consistent shooting, then I would think about switching sides. Why spend extra money when you do not have too?
@@TradArchery101 thank you very much, it is hard sticking to the rat program but I'm managing.
Do you gap shoot with one eye?
At times. Most of the time, with both eyes open. No rhyme or reason why. Some days it is just easier.
are you going to the GAOS this year
What is the GAOS?
@@TradArchery101 the great American outdoor show in Harrisburg
I do have the first weekend off. Might just look into it. Thanks
I am right handed, if I shoot a right handed bow I'm off target by about 2 feet to the left at 10 yards.
When I shoot a left handed bow I'm off by 3" at 10 yards.
Can be many reasons for that.
@@TradArchery101 I have a dodgy right eye, my left eye dominates my vision, I only seem to get about 90 degree's of sight through the right eye.
Didn’t check cross eye dominance.
I'm right handed. But I shoot rifles shotgun bows and play pool left handed. I can shoot pool either way. I actually break right handed. Can shoot rifles and shotguns right handed too. But if I try to draw a bow right handed I literally almost can't do it... it feels so extremely uncomfortable and unnatural to draw a bow right handed. I am definitely left eye dominant.
I’m a lefty!
I’m a Righty
They state the test criteria didn’t match.
Greg, your experience is not valid unfortunately in this situation because of what you quoted from the study "HABIT" !!! You were "forced" to switch from left to right hand and back for different activities during your life and that also shifted your eye focus. That's why you CAN set your "dominant" eye. Your brain is trained to switch when needed.
However for us "normal" people (those using only one hand, left or right does not matter, during their life) that is not the case. For me, I do focus with my left eye simply because at any activity using the right hand, my stance is with my left side closer to target. Natural habit. Yes I might learn to switch the eye, but it takes years of training and those same years of training will burn into me the habit of closing my left eye to focus/sight :-)
I would say it is a learned skill and not a habit. I have studies that show (using Darts and Golf) that people after two weeks or so of training shoot just as well using the other side. I have study upon study that says the dominant eye can and does switch sides. Yet, no studies that claim the opposite. What should I take from all these studies that say otherwise?
The conclusions are bad at best.
Cross eye dominate right handed people have never been able to do this. The scientific studies didn’t do things that are the same. And no one wants to spent all there time adjusting. Even a peer review means little now. Only means convincing. They didn’t look done barrrels and arrows. They threw darts and such and spend a long time training to retrain. Not practical.
Vince White
Vince, how do you know they never have been able to do it?
Also, those who shoot instinctive do not “look down the arrow”. They use both eyes.
Could you Please tell me what you think the dominant eye specifically does.
Finally check out Jake Kaminski’s video on this. In it he relates his experience at the Olympic Training Center. There the scientist tested everyone and while doing so, told him and everyone else that there is a difference between the dominant eye and your aiming eye. It turns out that a good number of them had a different aiming eye than what their dominant eye was.