I’ve been practicing thumb draw archery for a long time now. I’ve shot countless arrows, experimented with different bows and techniques, studied historical methods, taught other archers, and made plenty of mistakes along the way.
Looking back, some of the things I thought were important when I started weren’t nearly as important as I believed.
And some of the things I overlooked turned out to be the things that mattered most.
If I could go back and talk to myself when I was first learning thumb draw, there are five things I would tell that younger archer.
Not shortcuts. Not secrets.
Just lessons that would have saved me a lot of wasted arrows and probably made me a better archer much sooner.
1. Spend More Time on Fundamentals and Form
When people first discover thumb draw, it’s easy to become fascinated by everything that makes it look different.
The long draw. The thumb release. Khatra. Different historical styles. Fast shooting. Different anchor points. Different thumb rings.
There’s a lot to explore.
The problem is that it’s easy to become so interested in the advanced techniques that you never build a solid foundation underneath them.
If I were starting over, I would spend far more time developing basic form.
I would work on my grip
My back tension during the draw
My shoulder alignment and balance.
My release.
And most importantly, I would work on doing those things the same way every single time.
Most people think they are missing due to the fact that “they can’t aim”
The reality is their aiming issue will be mostly solved if their form is corrected.
I’ve taken students brand new to thumb draw shooting, never showed them the first thing about aiming and focus nothing but on correct form.
These students will be grouping bullseyes within two sessions
Consistency isn’t exciting, but consistency is what creates accuracy.
A lot of archers spend years searching for that one technique that will suddenly transform their shooting when the true answer is thousands of quality reps of good fundamental form. Notice I used the word “quality” reps rather than just “reps”
Reinforcing bad technique with more reps is a recipe for disaster
Build the shot first.
Everything else has something to stand on after that.
2. Forget About “Speed Shooting”
Speed shooting gets attention.
It looks impressive in videos. It makes thumb draw archery look almost superhuman when someone can put several arrows downrange in a matter of seconds.
Naturally, new archers see it and want to learn it.
I did too.
But if I could start again, speed shooting would be one of the last things I’d concern myself with learning
Speed should be the result of efficiency and quality of movement
When you’ve repeated a technique hundreds of times, unnecessary motion begins to disappear. Your hands know where to go. Your body doesn’t have to consciously think through every step of the process.
That’s when speed starts appearing naturally.
Trying to manufacture speed before developing good mechanics usually accomplishes the opposite.
You practice sloppy movement faster.
And the more you repeat that sloppy movement, the better you become at doing it wrong.
Learn to shoot one arrow correctly.
Then learn to do it again.
And again.
Speed can come later.
You will learn that your focus was never about getting your arrows off the string faster but rather getting your arrows to the string was always the key in the first place
3. Arrow Spine Is More Important Than Khatra
This one would have saved me a tremendous amount of experimentation.
When people begin studying Asiatic archery, they quickly encounter khatra—the movement of the bow during and immediately after the release.
And sometimes khatra gets treated almost like a magical solution to arrow clearance.
The arrow isn’t flying correctly?
More khatra.
The arrow is kicking sideways?
Your khatra needs improvement
The arrows aren’t grouping like they should?
Khatra.
But there’s something much more fundamental that needs to be addressed first:
Is the arrow actually matched to the bow?
Arrow spine matters.
A lot.
The width of the arrow pass, draw weight, draw length, point weight and the characteristics of the arrow itself all affect how that arrow behaves when the string is released.
Khatra can influence arrow clearance, but it shouldn’t be used to compensate for poorly matched equipment.
Historical archers didn’t have access to modern carbon shafts manufactured to remarkably consistent spine specifications. We do.
Take advantage of it.
Get your arrows properly matched to your bow and your shooting style first.
Then work on khatra.
A well-tuned arrow combined with good technique is far more valuable than trying to use an exaggerated bow movement to correct a problem that began with the arrow.
Once you do this, you’ll find there is a natural khatra that requires little thought and is actually hard coded into your form work if you don’t fight it
4. Train at Close Range
Everybody wants to move the target farther away.
There’s something satisfying about hitting a target at 30, 40, 50 yards or beyond.
But distance can become a distraction when you’re learning.
If I were starting over, I would spend a tremendous amount of time shooting at close range.
And I mean close.
5 yards and under
At close range, hitting the target isn’t the objective.
Form is.
You can stop worrying about where the arrow lands and start paying attention to what your body is doing.
Was my back tension correct in my draw?
Was my shoulder alignment correct?
Where’s my focus?
Did I “creep” on the string before releasing?
Did I expand my chest on release?
Did this shot feel like the previous shot?
Most of my training is very rarely done beyond 10 yards. Much of it is done around 5 yards, working nothing more than fundamentals and form.
Yet when you see me at the range shooting, I am consistently able to group 20 to 50 yards
When the target is far away, your brain naturally becomes concerned with the result.
When the target is only a few yards away, you can concentrate on the process.
That’s where good form gets built.
There’s another advantage as well.
You shoot more arrows.
Less walking back and forth means more repetitions in the same amount of training time.
And repetitions—good, quality repetitions—are what build skill.
Don’t be embarrassed to stand close to the target.
You’re not practicing to impress the target or anyone else at the range.
You’re practicing to build the archer.
5. Find a Coach
This may be the biggest lesson on the list.
You cannot always see what you’re doing wrong.
You can read books.
You can watch videos.
You can study historical manuscripts.
You can record yourself shooting.
All of those things are valuable.
But there is no substitute for having an experienced set of eyes watch you shoot.
Something that takes you six months to figure out on your own might take a good coach six minutes to identify.
Your shoulder is slightly out of position.
You’re collapsing just before release.
Your bow hand is creating torque.
Your draw isn’t reaching the same position each time.
You may not feel any of those things.
To you, the shot feels normal.
That’s precisely the problem.
Once you’ve repeated something enough times, even incorrect movement begins to feel natural.
A good coach interrupts that process before the mistake becomes deeply ingrained.
And you don’t necessarily need someone standing beside you every week.
Modern technology has made coaching easier than ever. Video allows an experienced instructor to slow down your shot, examine your mechanics and identify problems you might never notice yourself.
This is a service I’ve provided for people with my FAST FORM ONLINE COACHING that has enabled me to help people across the world correct issues they’ve been suffering from in their learning process.
Good coaching doesn’t replace practice.
It makes your practice more valuable.
A good coach can take a process that would’ve taken you 2 years to correct, IF you even noticed the problem initially, and correct it in less than 2 minutes.
They can give your the drills, the homework and take away the frustration that leads to many people putting the bow down.
The Lesson Behind All Five
Looking at these five things now, I realize they’re really variations of the same lesson.
Don’t rush the process.
Build your fundamentals before chasing advanced techniques.
Build efficiency before chasing speed.
Tune your equipment before trying to compensate with technique.
Master the shot at close range before worrying about distance. Many of these drills are in my book “The Thumb Draw Codex”
And seek guidance instead of spending years trying to solve every problem alone.
Thumb draw archery has an incredible amount of depth. That’s one of the reasons I’ve stayed fascinated with it for so long.
There is always another technique to explore, another bow to shoot, another historical tradition to study and another level of skill to pursue.
But the deeper I’ve gone into archery, the more I’ve come to appreciate the simple things..
A clean draw.
A relaxed bow hand.
A good release w/ back tension.
A properly tuned arrow.
One good release w/ chest expansion
Then another.
If I could go back and teach the younger version of myself how to become a better thumb draw archer, I wouldn’t start by teaching him more.
I’d teach him to do less—better.
