One of the concerns over technique that some beginners have is the placement of
the fingers on the string. There are several methods of drawing a bow, and
neither of these are incorrect. They're all different styles taught by different people for different purposes.
One of them is the pinch draw, there's the thumb draw, and the most common
method is the three finger method, known as the Mediterranean draw.
We'll be focusing on the Mediterranean draw in this video. Now there are two major variants.
The first one is the "spilt finger", which involves one finger above the nock and two fingers under the nock.
The other variation is the "three under", which involves all three fingers below the nock of the arrow.
Where beginners get a little worried is when they see someone who is using a different style,
and they think "uh oh, have I been using the wrong method? Have I been taught incorrectly?"
This tends to be more common for people who've learned the three-under method.
The question is therefore what's the difference between these two styles and why do people use them?
Of the two styles, by far the most common is split-finger.
The advantage of using split-finger is
that the direction of the draw is in line with the arrow. This makes for a much
more efficient draw and a much cleaner release. It also makes the placement feel
a bit more natural so if you are shooting Instinctive, it allows you to line up the
shot, pull it back, and release, and you're on target, so your mind doesn't have to
do too much, your body does the alignment, the brain compensates for any differences.
It's also the preferred method for the Olympic style archers who, in general,
prefer the the lower jaw anchor. One of the problems with split-finger is that if
you're shooting with a low anchor, or even a high anchor if you anchor along the mouth or the cheek, there
is a slight gap between the fingers and the eye. So it's a bit harder to compensate
for the difference between that gap.
For archers using sights, like Olympic archers, it's not a problem because it's negated by the use of the sight.
If you are shooting Instinctive, well you're shooting instinctive. There's no aiming involved,
so you don't need to worry about that, but
If you're trying to aim with the arrow, with no sights, and using split finger, it is a little harder.
This is because there's more to compensate for.
In contrast, beginners are often taught the three-under method. The reason is that it brings the shaft closer
to the eye which means it's much easier for someone to sight along the shaft.
For someone who's shooting as a beginner, they're more likely to be
interested in trying to hit the target. So using the arrow as a point of aim and
shooting three-under (that was me shooting split-finger out of instinct there) you shoot three-under, and it
just allows you to bring it closer to your eye. So it's much easier to sight using the arrow using a three-under hook.
Three-under is also used by bare bow target shooters.
It allows them to use different aiming methods. So they might use "string walking" or "face walking".
So, for example, they might touch a different part of their face with the
nock of the arrow, which allows them to compensate for different distances.
It gives them something to reference when aiming in lieu of using sights.
Again, there are problems with this method as well.
One of the problems is that the direction of the draw is actually off center.
You can see I'm applying asymmetric force to the bow.
Rather then being in line with the arrow with split-finger and then drawing it back,
I'm actually going under the arrow and drawing it back,
which means it's slightly off center, and that can make the release slightly more difficult.
Consequently it can be more difficult to achieve tighter groupings.
Generally speaking split-finger is better than three under.
Even though three-under is easier to aim, split-finger simply has a bit more consistency.
Clubs will generally teach beginners who shoot Insitinctive or point of aim using three-under,
but some clubs will go for the split finger method, and there's no real disadvantage either way.
Now if you've learned one method, should you switch to the other method?
To answer that it really depends on what kind of archery you're doing.
If you're using sights, such as in target archery, or you shoot instinctively,
then using the split-finger generally has more advantages.
Whereas, if you shoot three-under with a sight, there is no real advantage to doing so,
and again it's a bit hard to achieve clean release.
If you're shooting using the point of the arrow to aim with, such as in bare bow shooting,
then three-under may be easier.
OK, most beginners are taught three-under as a standard method,
but some places will teach split-finger or instinctive. There's no real benefit or disadvantage for a beginner.
Which method you choose mostly depends on the style of archery that you choose later on.
Anyway, I hope that was helpful, thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.