I live in Southern Ca. Have never taken formal shooting lessons, any suggestions on best bang for my buck if I did?

Gunner -

Unless you actually know nothing about archery, I would NEVER recommend a one or two day "celebrity" seminar. Most are pretty generic and most people forget 90% of what was taught before they leave. And quite frankly, you can learn as much from the Internet as you can from a prepared generic speech.

Std recommendation: Find a local club or range and see who people there suggest you work with. You'll also have the advantages of watching them shoot and get one on one training specific to your needs. How many lessons you take depends on your needs and goals.

Viper out.

Found mine locally as Viper suggested and he and his wife took me to several events and introduced me to people for two years after I started with him. This provided some continued support. When I started long ago,I had only shot some and was not experienced, so I was looking for start-up information, not improvement on past experience. I was fresh for learning the coach's way.

Found my coach (many years ago) through my Dad who was a TV Director/Producer and had the coach's wife (a National Champion) on a tv show doing trick shots. Used to see this situation some at booths at outdoors shows too, but nowdays, those booths would most likely be wheelie shooters, which can be different.

Since our recurve/longbow interest is not the most popular archery method out there, you may have to travel, and hopefully not too far which would take you away from continued coaching. Look for that super shooter locally and that person may know. Good luck, and hope some here can help.

Viper, has some good points, but taking the Rod Jenkins class was one of the best things I've done to mover forward in archery and I'd been at it 40 years. The internet can't point a finger and say, 'this is where your shot is off'.

Here's a link to finding a coach in your area: https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Archery/Judges-and-Coaches/Coaches/USA-Archery-Coach-Locator

Hope that works. Before you decide on a coach ask a lot of questions. One of the last should be, what kind of archery do you shoot? I had a guy say he ran into a coach that wouldn't let him anchor in the corner of his mouth - oly archer. You are better off with an Oly archer than a compound guy.

Bowmania

What Tony said. There are many very good to top-notch archers at many of the clubs throughout the country. You don't have to be well-known to be able to teach proper form. We sometimes go out of our way to complicate what form is and how hard it is to learn, but it is something that can be taught quite well on the local scene. Follow Tony's advice if you have a club within a reasonable drive.

Rod Jenkins

I remember when Southern California was a hot bed of archery, including some top coaches. Too bad we don't have that time machine to visit some of those times. My guess is there still should be a few around that area. Have you tried a internet search for archery instructors?

I'm in no way dismissing Rod Jenkins as a quality coach, just looking for other regional options so folks don't have to buy an airline ticket to get basic information.

The internet is the cause of 95% bad information Viper. Nothing replaces Human interaction. With that said there are some out there peddling snake oil seminars. Rod ain't one of them.

Basic information can be gotten off internet if you know who to watch.Jim Blackmon, and Arny Moe,and Viper if he had a video, and many others.They know their stuff.A coach can show you the proper way like said above, then it is up to you to execute, and that is another story.

I would agree with Moose and disagree with Thumpers statement, "The best start would be to find someone that consistently hits what they are aiming at, and ask them for some pointers." About three years ago a guy won our state trad tourney. He never once got to within an inch of full draw.

It's one of archery's main problems - bad things work (sometimes). A coach should coach good form, which is consistent form, which is repeatable form. Those last two define what good form is. By it's very nature consistent and repeatble form is what Oly Coaches coach.

Bowmania

It's a shame you are a left coast guy Gunner....around my neck of the woods on Long Island, NY...we go find Tony...Viper...the guy who posted the first response to your thread :)

I think Bowmania has it exactly right. What Moose said is def true. Here’s the prob someone who already knows can decipher the good guys on the internet. The rest don’t know what they don’t know. Bad form if done repeatedly can lead to consistancy but you can learn that on your own. Get a good local coach and learn proper form

So someone define "bad form". And let's NOT make the comparison to the way someone else shoots. What is the diference between "bad form" and "good form"? While there are certain things that are foundational, and MUST be repeated consistently, it doesn't mean it has to be repeated the way that someone else did it. And everyone doesn't have to do all the steps that someone else does. Look Rick Welch. Rick Welch's relase hand is horrible, and rarely does the same thing 2 times in a row, but he's one of the best that there ever was.

There is more than 1 correct way to shoot a bow. And one of the things that folks need to do is decide how they want to learn, and then find someone to mentor them in learning to shoot that way.

The gentleman that Bowmania mentioned, while maybe "shooting wrong" by the defintion of many, was obviously doing more than 1 thing more correctly and consistently than everyone else in the shoot. So...in that contecxt his form" was virtually perfect. ANd although it sounds as if maybe he was a dreaded "snap shooter" it sound like he probably whipped some more dedicated "target types" ?

The way a person shoots a bow best has a LOT to do with their personality. Some like slow and deliberate, some don't, and there's nothing wrong with that. Find the style that suits YOU, and is enjoyable for YOU, and then perfect it.

FDP there are fundamentals. I’m not gonna go through the list cause I’m sure you know them. This is why I say even bad form if repeated exactly can lead to consistancy (accuracy). The best archers/instructors though would strive to teach good form. It’s easier to repeat and lends itself to the accuracy. A fellow that teaches w me is the state champ. His grip is not perfect. He has developed a system through prob very much extra time that is repeatable. Does he teach that way? No he has enough sense to teach proper technique as that’s easier to repeat. A good instructor can also help you avoid pitfalls. They know what may lead to other issues. A good instructor is a worthwhile investment. There is such a thing as good form. Lots of guys make excuses for Improper form. The next generation should learn better than we were taught. Or were we actually taught at all??

Thumper there nothing magical that makes you accurate just because you want it so. No one said you need Olympic style archery and that’s not even what I teach. I think that’s ridiculous (Olympic style archery) unless that’s your preferred method/reason for shooting. And your point about dif type shots is well taken but your missing something? You need to be able to shoot from all positions. Or the more you can surely the better. The best way to get there is proper technique. From there maybe some modifications but still you need to be consistant. Best way is through attempt at proper form, variations from there are easier. Now as I said anything is possible. Let’s put it this way, very simply is the op more likely to reach full potential learning proper form or not anchoring cause he’s read somewhere someone thinks it’s ok or someone is good that way? Op do what you like. If you wanna believe you can just shoot and reach full potential maybe you can. I’d say more than likely not and def not as quickly. I say this all the time but think about something, guys don’t know what they don’t know as this thread shows unfortunately. No disrespect intended to others who think differently or what works for them but it’s not about what works for so n so. It’s whats best for the op and that’s why he asked.

Look up Shot IQ, find one of Joel Turner and Tom Clumbs shooting courses. They do several around the country every year. They do one in Texas that is a combo hog hunt. And they have online courses also.

Well said liquid tension!!

Rod Jenkins. The cost to fly to Alabama and take a 1x1 lesson is about the same as a new bow, but will help you way more than buying equipment.

I like Liquid Tension's last post. Most should go back and read it.

I shoot Olympic style archery, except the chin anchor. I've killed animals out to 45 yards. Yet, I've also killed 22 animal on the run. My 45 yard shot maybe takes 5 seconds (if I go longer the odd of a good shot go down), BUT on a running shot from draw to release takes about 2+ seconds. Basically a snap shot. I killed a 152 inch buck on the run and I know I didn't get to fuld draw, but I had to shoot now, because the deer was at a 18 inch hole in the brush.

Actually if you shoot oly style and hunting weight it's pretty tough to make a good shot and hold longer than 5 seconds period.

Funny thing about the guy that didn't come to full draw. I haven't seen or heard of him being back in the shoot offs since. With that form it's a pretty good bet that TP took over.

I believe I've described what good form is. A term I didn't use is easily repeatable. And the great thing about that is it makes it easier to learn.

Bowmania

Here's an important fact which I thought it was a good idea to let it stand alone. Unless you shoot as good as Brady Ellison you need a coach.

Why??????????????????????????????????????????????/

BECAUSE BRADY ELLISON HAS A COACH!!!

Here something also true. Al Henderson's wife was asked what's the hardest thing to do in archery. She was a national champ many times. She said something like, getting your body to do what your mind thinks it is doing!!!

GETTING YOUR BODY TO DO WHAT YOUR MIND THINKS IT IS DOING.

The last day of the Rod Jenkins class he videos everyone. When he and I discussed my shot he said, 'what do you see?' If I didn't see it in the video, you couldn't have made me believe I was doing it.

Bowmania

Look on the Internet. Good start is a video by Rick Welch, thingI learned is how to set-up my arrows to aid in a consistent draw, next Ty Pelfrey on how to string walk. Keep a journal or how you are doing.

A tripod and camcorder is the best coach there is.

Gunner,

I took shooting lessons from Rick Welch twelve years ago. At the time I said that it was the best money I ever spent in archery. Twelve years later...I say the same thing.

Lessons from an instructor with a proven track record can save you many years of trial and error.

Shoot Straight,

HighNTree

Was at a 'fun' shoot a couple years ago, and went into a 'drop bow arm, put arrows in the dirt' toilet spiral. Four goose eggs in a row.

One of the guys I was with finally said, "You looked at the ground." "Hunh?" "You looked at the ground, I saw you do it, that's why you hit it!"

Not sure if he was serious but it snapped me out of the 'funk'.

When I see him now I call him 'Coach' ;-)

If you can find a good coach, great. IMO it doesn't hurt to shoot with archers who are better than you. Yeah, they'll out-score you, but you won't learn from people you can routinely out-score!

Rod Jenkins. I took the class and took lots of notes. If not for the notes I would have forgotten many of Rod’s key points.

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