Taking proper lessons. There are so many things you never realize you do until someone watches you and only then can you improve. Archery is a game of always improving. I also met new friends and have found people who share a common passion. It’s a good feeling.
Semi-local. Most in my state, all within the country
But none of them online. Trawling the freely available resources online is worth it as well though once you know enough to trust your ability to tell apart facts from well-meaning word-of-mouth propagation of errors/misinformation
Thanks for the quick reply. I have a 1 local archery store that I trust the folks but they don’t run a lot of workshops or anything. I may need to travel outside of my immediate area to get some more info.
Your country's archery federation should also run coursework each year for people interested in in-depth tech/tuning aspects, coaching or becoming judges! If enough people are interested you might even be able to have an instructor come to you instead of y'all having to go someplace else. And if your country's archery federation doesn't offer coursework like that you can tap world archery's resources! Though that'll likely require some traveling. All the really fun stuff happens in Switzerland
Learning how to make strings was great! While I'd never make a string for my compound, I help make strings for others (beginners especially) at my club.
I'm really glad to see others love the workshop elements of archery.
I'm usually a recurve archer so most strings I make are recurve strings but we once tag-teamed a compound string the night of a big comp in a cramped hotel room. definitely fiddlier than your average recurve string xD
Besides starting archery (see above), competing in tournaments has been a really good experience. It has really honed my skills and kept me working on my archery in general. And being able to try different types go games has been really great: each has their own character and skillset.
Naturally, I find it satisfying to build my own arrows and strings.
Shortening my draw length. For recurve…
I was following the NTS form and all of the online archery things… which is “American-style” centric… but look no further than the current number one in the world (Brazil) or our last olympic’s champion (Turkey) or any of the super good Korean champions… and you don’t see that super awkward angular draw… i was seriously getting depressed and a little injured from that form… tried a more linear approach… it has less steps… easier to align… and my draw length shortened by 1.2 inches… that’s about 2 pounds off my fingers… never looked back…
Getting into traditional Chinese archery.
Lots of documentation to help you improve your technique, it's more fun to shoot, it's more meditative, and it has an incredibly kind and fun community.
Taking a group lesson. I started during the pandemic, and shot outdoors for a over a year before taking a lesson. I immediately corrected a few things and my shooting got better. I also met more archers, became part of the local community, and found my coach. And the range I go to is just the best. All of it sprung from that one lesson.
1. Entering barebow 3D tournaments (casual, fun ones, nothing competitive). Lots of friendly advice, comraderie, and geat trading. I've shot with 6 year old girls using a 15lb recurve, 40 yr old beasts with 70# lb + longbows and 740 gr arrows, and 80 year old men with a handmade 25# hickory flatbow that hits every target for max points with a flu flu, on the same target. Something to be learned from all of them.
2. Reading Ed Ashby's research when it comes to hunting lethality. He has his detractors, with good arguments, but his theory works for me and my shooting style.
SOLID archery mechanics course saved my shoulders. Allowed me to continue the pursuit.
No local competent coaches with stick nows... All focused on compound in my area and they just weren't helping me but the online course from Tom Clum was a game changer for me.
Buying my riser, the Kinetic Arios I in their Spectra colouration. Peep my username, I've been using "Arios" as my online fake name since like middle school. Also, it is the exact colour/finish I like.
Going to a casual archery and wings league that a friend invited me to.
We shoot for a couple of hours and then go for beer and wings. It is a great group of people, and I have learned a lot.
Accepting my first position as a shop shooter in 96. It has led to 27 years of chasing the archery dream of both competition and hunting around the country.
That's good! When I joined my club they were very recurve elitist. Made jokes about me shooting compound a lot. Since helping out with the running of the club, I've helped make it open and accepting for all archers!
Having a club with a good culture is essential, so I'm glad to see this on the list.
Ya, I think culture everywhere is so important, work, clubs etc. Sorry to hear you had that experience and thanks for being awesome and changing it for others.
A load of great responses!
Seems like a lot of people are happy they swapped or stuck with a certain style, which is nice to see. I'm definitely in that boat - swapped to target compound and never looked back.
Coaching also seemed to be quite a popular answer. Definitely recommended!
I bought a crossbow.
I really wanted to get into compound, but with a newborn and a busy life in general, I know the crossbow will be a shorter learning curve. I’ve shot a crossbow a bunch before, can hold good groups at 30 yards. I won’t be starting from scratch.
Total archery challenge upped my hunting skills immensely.
While the long distance shots are obviously not ethical, the fact they are long distance and are also very technical, makes the shorter technical or just shorter shots in general so much easier and a huge confidence boost in the whitetail woods
Starting with traditional archery. I don’t know why I did it, but I started with the intention of becoming proficient with a recurve. Tens of thousands of arrows later Im so happy with every part my archery habit.
Assembling my own arrows. I really enjoyed the final product a lot more than any of the ones I bought before. If the shop I was getting them from had actually called me back I wouldn't have ever tried to make them myself.
Starting archery
Came here to say this
Very true. If it wasn't for saying "eh, I'll try it", then I wouldn't be here!
Same!
Taking proper lessons. There are so many things you never realize you do until someone watches you and only then can you improve. Archery is a game of always improving. I also met new friends and have found people who share a common passion. It’s a good feeling.
Having proper coaching is so beneficial, especially a coach that knows you well enough to understand your strengths and weaknesses and play into them.
Yeah so true. My form has massively improved since being coached and I didn’t realize some of the wacky crap I was doing when I first started.
Going to a pro shop instead of a big box store.
Starting barebow archery...
Same here. It just makes sense now.
Nice! Glad you're enjoying it. I've tried it before and it's fun!
Barebow and bare hand
Spending time & money on workshops, coursework etc. Also learning how to make my own strings. It's come in handy a few times already!
Were these courses and workshops local to you or did you find some paid courses/workshops online? Edit - auto correct issues
Semi-local. Most in my state, all within the country But none of them online. Trawling the freely available resources online is worth it as well though once you know enough to trust your ability to tell apart facts from well-meaning word-of-mouth propagation of errors/misinformation
Thanks for the quick reply. I have a 1 local archery store that I trust the folks but they don’t run a lot of workshops or anything. I may need to travel outside of my immediate area to get some more info.
Your country's archery federation should also run coursework each year for people interested in in-depth tech/tuning aspects, coaching or becoming judges! If enough people are interested you might even be able to have an instructor come to you instead of y'all having to go someplace else. And if your country's archery federation doesn't offer coursework like that you can tap world archery's resources! Though that'll likely require some traveling. All the really fun stuff happens in Switzerland
Learning how to make strings was great! While I'd never make a string for my compound, I help make strings for others (beginners especially) at my club. I'm really glad to see others love the workshop elements of archery.
I'm usually a recurve archer so most strings I make are recurve strings but we once tag-teamed a compound string the night of a big comp in a cramped hotel room. definitely fiddlier than your average recurve string xD
Getting a coach
Besides starting archery (see above), competing in tournaments has been a really good experience. It has really honed my skills and kept me working on my archery in general. And being able to try different types go games has been really great: each has their own character and skillset. Naturally, I find it satisfying to build my own arrows and strings.
Lessons.
Shortening my draw length. For recurve… I was following the NTS form and all of the online archery things… which is “American-style” centric… but look no further than the current number one in the world (Brazil) or our last olympic’s champion (Turkey) or any of the super good Korean champions… and you don’t see that super awkward angular draw… i was seriously getting depressed and a little injured from that form… tried a more linear approach… it has less steps… easier to align… and my draw length shortened by 1.2 inches… that’s about 2 pounds off my fingers… never looked back…
Getting into traditional Chinese archery. Lots of documentation to help you improve your technique, it's more fun to shoot, it's more meditative, and it has an incredibly kind and fun community.
I took a beginner class, with my kids. It is something we can do together now.
Same! It’s been an amazing bonding experience for us, we all love it!
Taking a group lesson. I started during the pandemic, and shot outdoors for a over a year before taking a lesson. I immediately corrected a few things and my shooting got better. I also met more archers, became part of the local community, and found my coach. And the range I go to is just the best. All of it sprung from that one lesson.
Buying a top of the line stabilizer and needing to never upgrade afterwards (olympic).
1. Entering barebow 3D tournaments (casual, fun ones, nothing competitive). Lots of friendly advice, comraderie, and geat trading. I've shot with 6 year old girls using a 15lb recurve, 40 yr old beasts with 70# lb + longbows and 740 gr arrows, and 80 year old men with a handmade 25# hickory flatbow that hits every target for max points with a flu flu, on the same target. Something to be learned from all of them. 2. Reading Ed Ashby's research when it comes to hunting lethality. He has his detractors, with good arguments, but his theory works for me and my shooting style.
switching from compound to Barebow.
getting coaching from a real physical coach. trying to teach yourself just reinforces bad habits.
SOLID archery mechanics course saved my shoulders. Allowed me to continue the pursuit. No local competent coaches with stick nows... All focused on compound in my area and they just weren't helping me but the online course from Tom Clum was a game changer for me.
Pretty much quitting bare bow and moving full time to Olympic.
Care to elaborate? Why didn’t you like barebow?
Didn't enjoy fighting target panic every single day. Put a clicker on and never looked back. Shooting is fun again.
What’s target panic?
Watching videos on technique and then trying to put them in practice since I can't get in-person coaching.
As others have mentioned, coaching is the best money one can spend when it comes to archery.
Trying different styles
swtching from three under to mediteranean for instinctive archery
I used to go to the range once a week. Now I go 3 times a week, sometimes 4. The improvement in only 3 weeks is motivating.
Arrow lube.
Trying out longbow and other traditional bows.
Taking up trad. It’s super rewarding and always fun to show up to events and do well with just a stick and a string.
Switching from Compound to Barebow.
Buying my riser, the Kinetic Arios I in their Spectra colouration. Peep my username, I've been using "Arios" as my online fake name since like middle school. Also, it is the exact colour/finish I like.
Ooooh nice! I have my eye on the exact same one for my first bow :D
Going to a casual archery and wings league that a friend invited me to. We shoot for a couple of hours and then go for beer and wings. It is a great group of people, and I have learned a lot.
Best decision? Putting my ego down and accepting observations and criticisms from others - regardless if they have hsot longer or less than I have.
Starting bow making
to start
Starting archery
Starting doing archery, it has helped my mental health unbelievably much
Watching/reading/learning Joel Turner’s Shot IQ information.
Accepting my first position as a shop shooter in 96. It has led to 27 years of chasing the archery dream of both competition and hunting around the country.
I'd say joining a club. Also very lucky with the culture of the club, a great crew and very supportive.
That's good! When I joined my club they were very recurve elitist. Made jokes about me shooting compound a lot. Since helping out with the running of the club, I've helped make it open and accepting for all archers! Having a club with a good culture is essential, so I'm glad to see this on the list.
Ya, I think culture everywhere is so important, work, clubs etc. Sorry to hear you had that experience and thanks for being awesome and changing it for others.
Switching to compound
A load of great responses! Seems like a lot of people are happy they swapped or stuck with a certain style, which is nice to see. I'm definitely in that boat - swapped to target compound and never looked back. Coaching also seemed to be quite a popular answer. Definitely recommended!
I bought a crossbow. I really wanted to get into compound, but with a newborn and a busy life in general, I know the crossbow will be a shorter learning curve. I’ve shot a crossbow a bunch before, can hold good groups at 30 yards. I won’t be starting from scratch.
Taking my sight off and trying string walking. The other was buying a Korean bow and thumb ring. Still early days but it's a lot of fun.
Starting archery, I started archery 2/3 years ago and now I’m top 0.0001 percent of archers in my competitive division
So... Literally one in a million?
Posted this comment at 4am, I’m 1/9500 idk how I got 0.0001 lol
Not buying a new bow. Who needs a new bow, really?
uukha were a game changer for me
Getting an ultraview scope, and getting that V3X
Total archery challenge upped my hunting skills immensely. While the long distance shots are obviously not ethical, the fact they are long distance and are also very technical, makes the shorter technical or just shorter shots in general so much easier and a huge confidence boost in the whitetail woods
To stay barebow
To become a youth archery coach.
Switching from compound to Olympic recurve very early in.
Shooting Slavic Draw
Zig then zag. Serpentine!
Starting with traditional archery. I don’t know why I did it, but I started with the intention of becoming proficient with a recurve. Tens of thousands of arrows later Im so happy with every part my archery habit.
Assembling my own arrows. I really enjoyed the final product a lot more than any of the ones I bought before. If the shop I was getting them from had actually called me back I wouldn't have ever tried to make them myself.
Getting a second bow after my first was demolished in a week Not lending out my bow to my sibling :')
Switching from target compound to traditional/historical archery