A common misunderstanding that most beginners have is that once they have let go of the arrow, the shot is complete. The follow through however is the final step in your shot and is actually very important. If your follow through is not right it can impact the power in your shot as well as your accuracy.
It’s like all other sports, if you are playing baseball you don’t just drop the bat when you hit the ball. When you hit a golf ball with the club, you usually have some form of follow through.
The aim of this lesson is to teach you the proper way to finish your shot, making sure your follow through is correct.
The reason we follow through the shot is to help control the release and ensure the bow is held with the right tension and the drawing arm is fully extended before release.
The follow through should not be static, instead it should be a smooth movement.
NOTE: Even though this is being taught in a separate lesson, the release and follow through should be done in one action.
The Steps To An Successful Follow Through
- From the release, you should have opened the fingers on your drawing hand to release the bowstring
- You want to make sure that you are still using your back muscles and as you release the shoulder of your drawing arm should roll back towards your back.
- Move the hand that you are using to draw the bowstring back to behind your ear, it should follow the line of your jaw.
- Keep the arm that is holding the bow upright, do not be tempted to drop the bow.
- Keep this position until the arrow has hit the target
- The shot is now complete, lower the bow and your drawing arm and prepare for your next shot.
Common Follow Through Mistakes
The follow through is often one of the hardest things people beginners to master, it took me a long time to really get it right. When I shot, I didnt understand why one shot would be okay yet the next would be completely off. This was all down to my follow through.
The two most common mistakes are;
- Lowering the bow too quickly after releasing the arrow
- Moving the bow to the side to see your arrow fly (Peaking)
Lowering The Bow Too Quickly
It can be very tempted to lower the bow as soon as you release the arrow, if the arrow has not fully cleared then it will go off course. It doesn’t need physical contact but the motion of moving the bow down can disrupt the direction of the arrow and often causes it to go lower than the intended target.
Ideally you want to keep the bow up, until you hear the arrow hit the target
Peaking
A very common thing that beginners typically do is something called peaking. This is when you release the arrow, you move the bow to the side a little and tilt your head to see where the arrow goes.
This can often cause the arrow to go either to the left or the right.
Basic Archery Lesson Conclusion
This is the last lesson within the Basic Archery training, I really hope you have found it useful and that it has helped you. If you missed any steps or want to go over them again, please do go back through them.
What’s The Next Step?
The next step is to simply practice and continue to learn more, I have written many additional guides on types of bows, arrow parts and more. If you are looking to practice then you want to get yourself decent equipment, I would start with a recurve bow and a decent archery target.