[jwsmith522]

My daughter really wants to get into archery and I'm going to be picking up a genesis, I'm gonna let her pick the colors through the build a bow. Anyway she's left eye dominant, but right hand dominant. We have play bows and she shoots them all right, it's awkward for her to shoot them lefty. I'm thinking I'm gonna get her a RH bow, just looking for some opinions.

I know it's always been eye dominance, but thought that has changed more recently. Any help or input would be appreciated

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[SCFox]

I prefer going with the dominant eye. The awkwardness of shooting lefty with diminish.

SCFox

 

[jwsmith522]

I'm left eye dominant and I do most things lefty, some things I do righty. But I shoot lefty, so her being lefty would be better for me really. I just want her to be comfortable. I thought recently I read a few articles saying that comfort is more important now than eye dominance.

I just wanna do what's best for her no matter what it is. It's 250 for the set up, so I really wanna get the right one ya know.

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[sublauxation]

Many will say shoot eye dominance. Those people either don't have kids or got lucky because a lot depends on the kid.

I have 9 year old twins, my daughter is left handed right eyed. She shoots just fine right handed, I think in general that's more true of left handed people as they already live in a right handed world.

My son is right handed left eyed. I started him out shooting right handed and closing his left eye. He had some accuracy issues so we tried shooting left handed and it did not work. Some say the awkwardness will go away, and that's probably true, but it made my son quit shooting altogether until we went back to shooting right handed. The goal right now is to just keep him shooting and have it be fun because once that goes away he wont shoot at all. As he ages and hopefully matures we can always go back to shooting left handed if need be.

 

[bowtech2006]

I'm right eye dom, but am left handed and learned to shoot right and after 6 months didn't even notice the "goofy" feel of drawing the bow. I do have a friend that's shoots right handed but is left eye dom, he shoots great but while shooting he has to shut his left eye everytime or use a patch.

 

[AndyVandy]

I have kids, 6 girls, one is doing quite well with competition archery @ 15yr old (#2 USAT cadet female compound), one that just shoots for fun @ 14 yr old, and another that is doing very well in precision rifle competition @ 11 yr old. I've always gone with eye dominance. When the other girls get ready to shoot I'll do the same thing. Girls are awesome to teach shooting sports.

 

[nestly]

As you said, the old-school theories on eye dominance are finally losing traction. IMO, you can train your eyes to aim at least as easily as you can train your muscles to draw and hold. There are some people that cannot close their dominant eye independently which would be problematic, but other than that, I'd recommend shooting whichever feels the most natural (usually dominant handedness)

 

[Rhyno_09]

Like others have said, go with the dominant eye. My daughter is in the same boat (right handed, but left eye dominant)..went with a left handed set up and no issues at all, just practice and the awkwardness will go away. Actually, for my daughter, she never shot a bow before, so it would have been awkward either way, so it really didn't matter in that aspect.

 

[SCFox]

As you said, the old-school theories on eye dominance are finally losing traction. IMO, you can train your eyes to aim at least as easily as you can train your muscles to draw and hold. There are some people that cannot close their dominant eye independently which would be problematic, but other than that, I'd recommend shooting whichever feels the most natural (usually dominant handedness)

I disagree. I feel the theories of eye dominance are finally gaining traction. For so long, people shot with whatever their dominant side was. We are seeing the benefit now of teaching dominant eye. Yup, I do agree that some people will shoot better with their dominant side, but as a whole, the vast majority will shoot better with their dominant eye doing the steering.

SCFox

 

[BackvalleyJBT]

I'm right handed left eye dominant. Made myself start shooting left handed and it now feels awkward to shoot right handed.

 

[NY12020]

Left Eye dominant and shoot right handed...no issues. My left arm is about as useful as the arms on a T-Rex...easier to adjust the eye in my opinion...

 

[HuntingGirl-NH]

Eye dominance wins. Check out this picture... I watch a lot of YouTube videos to check out techniques and shooting styles. I had to ask a friend why she was anchoring like this. More comfortable shooting right-handed, but is left eye dominant.

 

[nestly]

I disagree. I feel the theories of eye dominance are finally gaining traction. For so long, people shot with whatever their dominant side was. We are seeing the benefit now of teaching dominant eye. Yup, I do agree that some people will shoot better with their dominant side, but as a whole, the vast majority will shoot better with their dominant eye doing the steering.

No, shooting based on eye dominance is the "old school" theory. That was the conventional wisdom in the 80's when I started shooting, admittedly relatively few "casual" shooters switched because of it, but that's what the majority of coaches were teaching, and a preference toward eye dominance was the official position of USA Archery.... until just recently when they dropped the universal recommendation that eye dominance should determine which side the archer should hold the bow.

There are different levels of dominance, so it's not cut-and-dried either way.

 

[nestly]

View attachment 3326625
Eye dominance wins. Check out this picture... I watch a lot of YouTube videos to check out techniques and shooting styles. I had to ask a friend why she was anchoring like this. More comfortable shooting right-handed, but is left eye dominant.

Not so much an eye dominance issue as a discrepancy between the vision in her left and right eyes. She commented about it on her Facebook. https://es-la.facebook.com/majaarchery/posts/419624834823738?_fb_noscript=1

 

[HuntingGirl-NH]

Not so much an eye dominance issue as a discrepancy between the vision in her left and right eyes. She commented about it on her Facebook. https://es-la.facebook.com/majaarchery/posts/419624834823738?_fb_noscript=1

Thanks for sharing that. Interesting.

 

[BBDjerseystyle]

Once she starts shooting and feeling comfortable with her dominant eye side there won't be any problem. I grew up shooting lefty in both shotgun and bow because I was left handed but after a few years of aggravation I switched over to my dominant eye. The first few months were challenging especially with the bow but if you start her young the process will be much easier.

 

[Malcolm]

One of those debates that will go on forever.

In younger children, there's usually one way round that instinctively works; in that case, what works is what to stick with. Observe what your daughter does naturally and buy to suit.

Personally I always lean towards handedness over eye dominance for compound shooters. Round here, we just close whichever eye isn't behind the peep.

 

[Bowguy867]

As you said, the old-school theories on eye dominance are finally losing traction. IMO, you can train your eyes to aim at least as easily as you can train your muscles to draw and hold. There are some people that cannot close their dominant eye independently which would be problematic, but other than that, I'd recommend shooting whichever feels the most natural (usually dominant handedness)

Nothing old school bout looking with one eye n shooting w another. For starters the child is new n young. It'll be an extremely quick transition. Binocular vision required for range estimation diminishes with one eye shut.,
Say the shooter decides also to use a release eventually, transfers into shooting shotguns. Now they're swinging a loaded gun in with one eye shut making a giant blind spot., that blind spot can cause someone to be injured. Swing a broomstick towards an object with a closed eye as in wing shooting and notice when you see it. If it was a person youd shoot them.
In archery with one eye shut another child may be shooting next to the shooter with one eye shut.. The second child drops an arrow, now they very often ,especially when not being coached by certified instructors, reach over the shooting line to retrieve the arrow. Ol one eye can't see them n this makes for a dangerous situation.
If the child transfers to Bowhunting they can't see another animal approaching from their closed eye as they prepare to shoot.

 

[Bowguy867]

I disagree. I feel the theories of eye dominance are finally gaining traction. For so long, people shot with whatever their dominant side was. We are seeing the benefit now of teaching dominant eye. Yup, I do agree that some people will shoot better with their dominant side, but as a whole, the vast majority will shoot better with their dominant eye doing the steering.

SCFox

It's gaining traction cause people finally understand it. It was never taught years ago. Now police firearm instructors teach it, good sport shops check it before a first bow or gun purchase, etc. some people will try n legitimize what they want to do instead of what they should do. Wonder the experience of the dominant hand guys and if any have experience instructing.

 

[jwsmith522]

I've been torn about this for a while now. I want to teach her lefty it would be easier for me. So I've been wanting to go that route.

But I should also add that I think she is scared of shooting lefty because of how it feels to her. That's why this question, and me wanting to get a righty bow came about.

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