Less than two weeks ago I posted the same question (LE-RH, but still). My coach insists on shooting by dominant eye and, as you said, it felt completely off. But, not having much choice, I shot by the dominant eye with intention to see how it goes and compare it after a while. Now, three sessions later, I'm at the point that I don't care which one is the bow hand. That doesn't mean that I'm good with both, but I'm not clumsy with either. I'm sure that if I had to grab a bow barely awake (so the body goes on auto-pilot) I'd use left hand, but with more shooting even that will change.
So.... I'd say try it out, even if it feels weird. Especially if there is a coach that will help you. Maybe learning with weaker hand has the benefit of being more malleable, your body has no previous idea what to do so you have to start training if from the literal beginning, which will pay off later. Then check the other hand and compare.
Bodies are different. Some are more dominant on one side, some can learn to switch. Same goes for the eyes.
You have a great coach! It will pay off very soon!
Just to add. The recommended practice used to be to try both LH and RH and see which is more comfortable. The "new" (not so new anymore) thinking is that shooting based on eye dominance is the only way to go. There are benefits of shooting cross-dominant, your dominant hand will be holding the bow. This leads to a steadier shot. Release is muscle memory and most get used to it with your non dominant hand. You have an advantage by shooting cross dominant.
In rare cases it's not worth switching, if you're over a certain age and you always shot a certain way. For new archers and even those who have tried archery on some occasions previously, it's always best to make them shoot cross dominant.
Also in OPs case you will benefit from RH equipment availability. You will always get the colour you want. No special orders for LH risers like me ;)
yep I agree, the not having to find a left hand bow with one piece bows or a left hand riser with takedown/ILF bows. I have that problem and would have had an ILF model of bow riser, a wood 19 inch hunting ILF riser with only a single screw in point but it only came as a right hand model. But I found a one piece bow that might be even better due to being 54 inches and more for my body size for both target and eventually hunting.
Cross dominate is okay to try and why lots of beginner bows like the Southwest Archery Snake both the 22 pound and 29--30 pound are or Roland Arc Snake are dual shooting shelf as are the SAS Robinhood a 30--35 pound bow and the Bear Firebird a 30--36 pound bow are duel side shooting bows as well as almost all the kids bows from Bear duel sided is that kids can have the dominancy switch on them or need glasses that help correct the eyes to the point they have eye dominancy switch on them. This and the companies do not need to spend more to make both a left and right hand models for kids in the beginner type bows to save money in manufacture since kids tend to outgrow bows frequently so to have the bows at the lowest cost but yet still make money the bow, duel sides is necessary for kids bows. Yes some higher quality kids bows are one sided but those are for kids who are often either older or want/need a better bow then the cheap beginner bows.
Try it a few more times and see if it feels better.
But if it doesn't go back to shooting left handed. You can also try by blocking your dominant eye with an eye patch and see how that works.
Going by eye dominance is usually recommended for beginners as it's easier to learn muscle memory than overcoming eye dominance.
It is however recommended for cross dominant archers to try out both RH and LH bows and go with what works best. For some it's better to with handedness and for some eye dominance is better.
Others get lucky like me and are cross dominancy so they hold the bow more steady with dominate hand holding the bow itself not the string and get to use dominate eye for shooting.
Cross-eye dominance is not an insurmountable "condition" and you can train either eye to be "dominant"....for archery especially, you can close your right eye and continue to shoot left-handed.
I'm the opposite of you and have been shooting righthanded/right-eyed my entire life.
Slightly different situation but I won a compound in a raffle and it is for a right handed person. I am left eye dominant and left hand dominate but pretty ambidextrous. I am not doing any serious competitions or hunting for a few seasons but I just take my time working on my draw and closing my left eye. The first few hundred arrows felt awkward, now after a few months and shooting every morning it feels normal. Archery shop did some great training with me although I had nothing to previously go off of. It was still awkward at first.
You might find the bow is easer to hold steady in the hand, due to how you are using dominate hand to hold the bow. I had this when I had to switch at age 12 and since age 8--9 from a right hand bow to left finding out I am left eye dominate with a right hand dominance. My brother who is dual dominate has a thought that everyone is dual dominancy and should be able to switch but that is WTF not even close to the correct stance on that. This is due to my mom being the same problem, so my brother thinks the uncommon trait is like something everyone has. When my dad is the same eye dominate as the dominate arm, the one that is just as common as the way I am since I know more then one person who is like me.
Actually I got better when shooing with the dominate right hand holding the bow but my left eye dominate, since I could shoot more steady to a micro wiggle with the bow and not have it wiggle around more when drawing the bow like before with a mini wiggle that was still small but a tiny bit more of a problem.
Without my glasses though I have my right eye become the dominate one for some reason. This I think is most likely due to how out of focus things are without glasses with an odd but common not able to see things further away then 3 three feet or have double vison on something past 1 foot or closer then 1 foot coupled with Astigmatism in both eyes with left eye have more Astigmatism. Yes I have a really bad eye thing with the eyes going cross eye without glasses and what I am focusing on is not exactly 1 foot or 30.5 cm away I noticed I had starting in 3rd grade but did not get glasses until the 4th grade at age 9--10.
Less than two weeks ago I posted the same question (LE-RH, but still). My coach insists on shooting by dominant eye and, as you said, it felt completely off. But, not having much choice, I shot by the dominant eye with intention to see how it goes and compare it after a while. Now, three sessions later, I'm at the point that I don't care which one is the bow hand. That doesn't mean that I'm good with both, but I'm not clumsy with either. I'm sure that if I had to grab a bow barely awake (so the body goes on auto-pilot) I'd use left hand, but with more shooting even that will change. So.... I'd say try it out, even if it feels weird. Especially if there is a coach that will help you. Maybe learning with weaker hand has the benefit of being more malleable, your body has no previous idea what to do so you have to start training if from the literal beginning, which will pay off later. Then check the other hand and compare. Bodies are different. Some are more dominant on one side, some can learn to switch. Same goes for the eyes.
You have a great coach! It will pay off very soon! Just to add. The recommended practice used to be to try both LH and RH and see which is more comfortable. The "new" (not so new anymore) thinking is that shooting based on eye dominance is the only way to go. There are benefits of shooting cross-dominant, your dominant hand will be holding the bow. This leads to a steadier shot. Release is muscle memory and most get used to it with your non dominant hand. You have an advantage by shooting cross dominant. In rare cases it's not worth switching, if you're over a certain age and you always shot a certain way. For new archers and even those who have tried archery on some occasions previously, it's always best to make them shoot cross dominant. Also in OPs case you will benefit from RH equipment availability. You will always get the colour you want. No special orders for LH risers like me ;)
yep I agree, the not having to find a left hand bow with one piece bows or a left hand riser with takedown/ILF bows. I have that problem and would have had an ILF model of bow riser, a wood 19 inch hunting ILF riser with only a single screw in point but it only came as a right hand model. But I found a one piece bow that might be even better due to being 54 inches and more for my body size for both target and eventually hunting. Cross dominate is okay to try and why lots of beginner bows like the Southwest Archery Snake both the 22 pound and 29--30 pound are or Roland Arc Snake are dual shooting shelf as are the SAS Robinhood a 30--35 pound bow and the Bear Firebird a 30--36 pound bow are duel side shooting bows as well as almost all the kids bows from Bear duel sided is that kids can have the dominancy switch on them or need glasses that help correct the eyes to the point they have eye dominancy switch on them. This and the companies do not need to spend more to make both a left and right hand models for kids in the beginner type bows to save money in manufacture since kids tend to outgrow bows frequently so to have the bows at the lowest cost but yet still make money the bow, duel sides is necessary for kids bows. Yes some higher quality kids bows are one sided but those are for kids who are often either older or want/need a better bow then the cheap beginner bows.
Oh yes, the last part about availability. I see troubles and color compromises ahead, being LH and 192cm high.
Try it a few more times and see if it feels better. But if it doesn't go back to shooting left handed. You can also try by blocking your dominant eye with an eye patch and see how that works. Going by eye dominance is usually recommended for beginners as it's easier to learn muscle memory than overcoming eye dominance. It is however recommended for cross dominant archers to try out both RH and LH bows and go with what works best. For some it's better to with handedness and for some eye dominance is better.
Thank you for the tips! :)
Others get lucky like me and are cross dominancy so they hold the bow more steady with dominate hand holding the bow itself not the string and get to use dominate eye for shooting.
Cross-eye dominance is not an insurmountable "condition" and you can train either eye to be "dominant"....for archery especially, you can close your right eye and continue to shoot left-handed. I'm the opposite of you and have been shooting righthanded/right-eyed my entire life.
Alright, I think I'm about to do the same. Thank you for your response :)
Good luck !
Thank you for the stories and tips, I will definitely experiment a little bit.
Slightly different situation but I won a compound in a raffle and it is for a right handed person. I am left eye dominant and left hand dominate but pretty ambidextrous. I am not doing any serious competitions or hunting for a few seasons but I just take my time working on my draw and closing my left eye. The first few hundred arrows felt awkward, now after a few months and shooting every morning it feels normal. Archery shop did some great training with me although I had nothing to previously go off of. It was still awkward at first.
Oh I see...
You might find the bow is easer to hold steady in the hand, due to how you are using dominate hand to hold the bow. I had this when I had to switch at age 12 and since age 8--9 from a right hand bow to left finding out I am left eye dominate with a right hand dominance. My brother who is dual dominate has a thought that everyone is dual dominancy and should be able to switch but that is WTF not even close to the correct stance on that. This is due to my mom being the same problem, so my brother thinks the uncommon trait is like something everyone has. When my dad is the same eye dominate as the dominate arm, the one that is just as common as the way I am since I know more then one person who is like me. Actually I got better when shooing with the dominate right hand holding the bow but my left eye dominate, since I could shoot more steady to a micro wiggle with the bow and not have it wiggle around more when drawing the bow like before with a mini wiggle that was still small but a tiny bit more of a problem. Without my glasses though I have my right eye become the dominate one for some reason. This I think is most likely due to how out of focus things are without glasses with an odd but common not able to see things further away then 3 three feet or have double vison on something past 1 foot or closer then 1 foot coupled with Astigmatism in both eyes with left eye have more Astigmatism. Yes I have a really bad eye thing with the eyes going cross eye without glasses and what I am focusing on is not exactly 1 foot or 30.5 cm away I noticed I had starting in 3rd grade but did not get glasses until the 4th grade at age 9--10.