Quality practice is key

Tonight I decided to practice with more structure and purpose and came away really pleased with my approach.

I really needed to practice the short distances and I feel I struggle with these, so I shot a Short Metric, and came away with a PB of 693 out of 720 (338 @ 50m, 355 @ 30m). Both the distance scores were equal to my current PB.

This round was shot under FITA style time control, and despite a couple of silly shots, I shot well and proved that under pressure of time I can rattle in a good score. This has hopefully proved to me that under competition conditions there is plenty of time and no need to put myself under pressure.

I also took Liam's advice and kept a tally of good shots to get a percentage of good shots over the round. I ended up with 40%. This sounds low, but I only counted the really good ones, not the OK ones. This gives me a target to beat, rather than a really high, false first score.

Once thing I have noticed is that for the shorter distances, the stabilisation needs a bit more at the back of the bow. Because of the Monsters really good sight-marks, I am not leaning back slightly like I do at the long distances therefore the bow gets dragged down a little bit. I shot @ 70m tonight and had no problem, so a bit of tweaking is needed, to get a balance for all distances.

I also noticed that even if the aim was not right on the middle, as long as I pulled the arrow would often hit the middle no problem. Just got to keep pulling!!

Coaching and stabilisation

Last week a friend (hello Dave!) and I saw Liam Grimwood again for some outdoor coaching. I am pleased to say there was little wrong with either of us, but I spent a lot of time looking at the stabilisation of my bow.

As a result I have ditched the Fuse long rod and Doinker side rod in favour of a Doinker Fatty 33" and B-Stinger 10" side rod, with lots more weight.

The old set-up had too much rubber between the rods and weights, and this reduced the effectiveness of the stabilisation. This mean that the end weights were moving independently of the bow, therefore the weight was not acting against the movements of the bow.

This has resulted in a far superior hold, and the extra weight is not noticeable due to the better balance. In fact I could add more weight, and will play around with this when I can get hold of some more.

We also worked in a paper tune and the big left tear has been reduced by moving the rest a little more and tweaking the hand position, so its a little nearer the middle of the hand, but still not touching the life line.

We also discussed mental approaches, and Liam gave some tips about shooting, such as using music or commands in your head to distract the concious mind, and keeping a "Good Shot" percentage tally to focus the mind on the shot and not the score (more on that later).

Monster paper tuning results

Since I got the Monster, I have shot some good scores, nearly all PB's. All of these have been built on really good long distance scores. The shorter distances have been disappointing at times, and its only now I have realised this has been a re-occurring theme.

Sometimes when shooting I catch a glimpse of the arrow and sometimes it kicks out wildly, so I decided to paper tune at 3m (at home, its all I can get), and the results have been consistent.

Each time, after trying different things, I have always ended up with a high-left, 3.5cm to 4cm tear. The high I can explain, but its the left tear. It maybe that I am torquing the bow, even consistently, but I really don't think so, not that badly. Hand placement is always critical in my shot routine, across the pad of the thumb.

I tried the following, with no difference in the results:

• Centre shot 11/16" from the riser, a figure used by many Mathews shooters. The string and arrow is in line with the centre of the grip.
• Shooting @ 59lbs, 56lbs and 52lbs to see if the arrow was too weak (normally shoot @ 59.5lbs).
• Added extra weights on the end of the long rod and side rods to see if this would reduce torque.
• Tried my new Brite Sight rest (arrived today) to see if it would reduce torque.
• Set the nock point from 2mm to 8mm, and upto almost level.
• Shot holding bow deliberately not have ANY string contact with the face.

None of these had any noticeable affect on the tear size.

Now I do need to go out and do a walk back tune, but this has been done in the past and I got the same kick out (although not confirmed with a paper tune).

The next chance I get to shoot in good weather, I am going to perform a walk back test to confirm my centre shot and re-paper tune. Watch this space for the results...

Practice FITA 720 and a new PB

Tonight I shot a FITA 720 to get the Southampton nightmare out of my system, and shot 676, a new practice PB. Even then, I did not feel I shot very well, and shot three 8's and a 7 along the way.

The bow feels good but is now bobbing up and down on the aim. Could be the draw length is still too long. This has go worse since sorting out the cam timing which has meant the tiller is not quite even.

This could also be solved potentially by changing the nock and d-loop position to alter the pulling point of the bow.

Monster tiller and cam timing sorted

Since I have been shooting the Monster, it has been set with an even tiller but the limb bolts have been wound out a different number of turns to achieve this.

I have since found out that the limb bolts should be wound out the same, even if it means the tiller is not even. In this case, the tiller is about 3 - 4mm difference.

Tonight I changed the set-up to this configuration, and also got the cams back in time (back wall has been a bit spongy but I have been a bit lazy in sorting it out!). I then shot 3 dozen @ 90m and shot a practice PB of 326. The included a couple of sloppy 8's, so it could have been better.

The bow feels really nice now with a solid back wall and the valley doesn't feel so shallow either, so I am able to be at full draw without creeping off the wall.

The moral of the story is, get your bow in tune, its worth the effort!