National Indoor

Well it has been a while since I changed my swing and I am proud to report that it is working fantastic. I am beginning to internalize the groove and I swung a great 60X on the first day. It was smooth, relaxed, and it felt easy. I started a tad rough but went inside out for the bulk of the game.

I learned a lot while shooting this shoot. It always amazes me that I have been shooting the Nationals over 20 years and I learn like a newbie every trip. I rocked the pro-am. Though Nathan and DIDIpoo shot 30X I feel real good about my 27X game.

I am liking the click feature of the release more and more. I think I am beginning to get comfortable with teaching the idea. I always advised that shooters avoid the click because it is too easy to shoot it twice. By that I mean - aim, aim, aim, CLICK! jiggle wobble, re-aim, aim, aim, DUFF. Total waste of time. However, I am using a method that seems to be working great.

As I reach full draw and align myself with the target, I allow my hand to relax and stretch into line. Once I reach that perfect spot... CLICK - peep aligns and dot settles Bam! just in time. I am loving it like ranch on a hot wing.

I missed a few on Sunday. I would like to say that it was through no fault of my own, but things happen. I got a little too loose with my first scoring arrow and misfired. I managed to keep it in the white but it was waaay out of the X. It took a couple ends for the disappointment to subside, so I dropped another in the second end for good measure. I went inside out and was strumming along when I sat down next to Jim Despart late in the game and he was scanning for dead soldiers with his binos and said, Ooh! someone missed one! who's that on target 20 bottom left?" I thought for a second and snapped to the conclusion that it was me! I couldn't believe it. I cruised through those five shots and they were so perfect that I didn't even look at them.

I was totally bummed but not mad. I was actually happy that my shot is coming along nicely and I am beginning to feel like my old self again. Wooohooo!

I got my new 737 in today and am excited to put that together and see how it does for me. I am thinking it is going to be an outdoor driller! I bet that bow would be killer with 3000 or 3500 limbs for indoor.

I didn't get to be in the shoot-off this time but I got some nice photos anyway.

Another great day

I just got two boxes of assorted hinges in today. Any day is a great day when you get a wad of new toys to play with. It seems that the word is out that I am shooting hinges. I am flattered that they care. :) Anyway thanks to those that sent and I will be sure that I send back what I don't need.

I shot a 59 today and the inner score would have been in the 90s. The good thing is that I am really feeling that smooth confident flow and I LOVE IT when it is working. Interesting though I was forced to take a break today with two ends left to finish the game. It was long enough for me to totally cool down and loose my train of thought. When I got back to shooting. I wasn't aiming right nor did my shot work. It was weird. I dropped my fourth arrow of the last end because I was just out in left field and thinking about something else. My release woke me up when it plopped. Something in my head was like, "aaaaaaHHHHH~! what are you doing"... the dot wasn't even close.

It was kinda funny. I was flailing about trying to swing it back into the center as I came to my senses. I bet I looked like I was having a apoplectic attack with a sprinkle of epilepsy.

BUT! :being as positive as I can: :)

It was another great day. Shooting a 59 with a dozen different hooks was an interesting feeling and It was cool to have a huge sample of releases to play with. If you live near wildwood and happen to catch me up there. You are welcome to play with them too. I share well with others. :)

:climbing up on my soap box:

Elliott Spitzer (my governor) got caught today with a $5000 hooker. How stupid does a guy have to be - to be who he is, and get caught with a high dollar hooker. I don't want him running my state anymore because hes a dumba$$. Besides the fact that I can't figure out what a hooker could do for me that would be worth $5000, maybe paint my house after I was done with my 15min. :) well... anyway thats all I have to say about that.... :)

I got a taste of the good stuff today

After a couple days off, then a trip back to the basics, and a good hard look at my bow setup I did a couple things. I shot my trainer like a fiend to convince myself that I have my hinge technique just like I wanted it. For some strange reason during my short range shooting I had a nagging feeling that my bow felt short. I thought it was just tension from apprehension over the new release. As it turns out I somehow got my bow nearly 3/16" shorter than my baseline draw length. No wonder I couldn't get it to settle in Georgia! I grabbed my trusty marked arrow out of the box and drew it back, and reset my bow to the baseline draw length. I marked that arrow some time ago when it was shooting its best.

I shot at 7 yards just because I didn't have the time to go to the range for a couple days. Today was the first time I was able to shoot from 20. I had my son with me and he had a blast running for arrows and shrieking from his stroller between ends. :)

I shot a 60X on the NFAA target and it was relatively trouble free. I had a few quick shots, but due to my new pre-aim procedure I managed X rings on those.The FITA Score would have been somewhere around 594 or so. All in all I was very pleased with today and feel like I am beginning to feel it again.

ready!? Aim! Fire!

Well I started off like a house on fire then started trying hard. Well you know what happens after that... the wheels come off the cart!

I ended up with a 580 during my first time at 20. It could have easily been a 95, but those little shots were just out. I still am very inconsistent in my form or at least my alignment. My zero was wandering all over the place. Thats a sure sign that something in the back half wasn't right.

We took a 10 min break at the half and that was enough to really blow any feel and momentum that I had going. I shot with Jedd today and he even blew it almost as hard as I did on the second half. We both were not happy with our scores.

Oh well there is always tomorrow. I will hit it with the same approach and take care to keep my hands soft and keep the back half tension free.

I figure I have about two weeks of hard work to lock this feel in. Hopefully I can get it working smoothly in time for nationals. I dropped two big tens today so I don't want a 58X round at nationals foshizzle.