Mack S., February – I remember my second year of archery. I was at one of our home tournaments, and two of my team’s best archers—the ones who shot 295s regularly—were competing. I spent the entire flight just watching them. I studied what they did when they released the arrow, how they held the bow, even lining up their arms with the lines on the wall to see if they moved after a shot. That experience was one of the most important things that helped me improve my skills, and it’s one of the biggest recommendations I have. Spend a flight or two watching the top shooters. If you understand the basics of archery, you’ll start noticing things you might have never seen before. This process will help you improve your own shooting.
If you’re doing something wrong when you shoot, you’ll see it in others if you watch closely. That’s where it really helps. If you can figure out what’s happening when an archer makes a mistake—how the arrow flies, what makes the shot go wrong—you can apply that knowledge to your own form. Once you understand the problem, you’ll know how to fix it. You can also do this in reverse by watching the better archers. Look at how they hold the bow, their anchor point, how they release the arrow—and compare it to your own technique. You might notice they do something just a little differently, but more accurately, which likely leads to higher scores.
One key thing you’ll pick up from observing others and yourself is how the arrows land. Arrows don’t lie. You can have bad arrows, but the arrow itself isn’t the main problem—it’ll affect your shots, sure, but not as much as some people think. For example, if an archer is pulling the string off their face, their arrow groupings will probably look like a shotgun blast. A lot of mistakes show up like that. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, as Newton said, and watching others can help you see the connection between a mistake and where the arrow lands. Over time, you’ll start to recognize these patterns. So when you shoot and an arrow goes off into the corner of the target, you’ll have a better idea of why it happened.
I’ll always say that watching others is key to success in archery, and it helps you spot the smaller details that make a big difference. But remember, while you’re shooting, don’t forget to have fun and experiment. Try out techniques you’ve seen from others, or play around with different ways of doing the steps in archery. You might just find that one tweak makes all the difference.
