# The importance of eye dominance and shooting



## rubberpower (Aug 16, 2011)

Eye dominance is a subject a lot of people have not heard about and others have heard the term but know nothing about it. Every person has one dominant eye. If you are right handed then it is assumed you are right eye dominant. The dominant eye controls our coordination and if we are RH and RD (right hand right eye dominant) then all is well. But almost one in three is XD (cross dominant). I came to these figures by years of teaching shooting both in pistols and long bows. Before you can shoot to the best of your abilities you need to draw under the dominant eye. The closer you draw to the eye the more this rule applies. In other words if you anchor on your cheek bone and opposed to under the chin. An anchor point is a place on your body that the drawing hand touches just before you release the pouch. In my case my thumb joint hits a spot under my cheek bone.

How does one determine which eye is dominant? Glad you asked. The best way I can give is to have you get a piece of paper 8 /12 X 11 inches is fine. Cut a 1/2 inch hole in the center. Hold the paper by its edges and well below your waist, have your elbows locked straight. Look at an object on the wall sever feet away from you. Now slowly raise the paper up until you can see the object through the hole in the paper. Do not bend the elbows. When you can see the object through the hole do not move one thing and hold as steady as you can then if you are right handed close your right eye. If you do not still see the object then close the left eye and the object should be seen. If you are left handed reverse these instructions. Now if you closed your right eye and you can see the object with the left eye open then you are XD. Chances are you have been shooting right handed and wondering why you are not hitting the target. Well now you know.

In every case where I have had a student with this problem I have switched them to shooting LH. All at once they started hitting the target. My advice is to switch and get it over with. Sure you can fight it and some days you will really shoot good then as soon as you get tired or stressed the dominant eye takes over and your shooting goes in the dump. Now if you are drawing to your mid chest and shoot instinctive you may get away with not switching. But I still recommend you switch.

If you want more information on the subject you can go to Google and type in eye dominance or cross dominance and get more information than you will ever want to read. There will be some information on the problems that SOME XD people may have.

Cross Dominance and ADD [Archive] - ADD Forums - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Support and Information Resources Community

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ADHD and Mixed Dominance
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Laterality

"Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Vision Therapy or Visual Training"

http://www.healingpathwaysmedical.com/docs/Emotions_Mixed_Dominance_and_the_Brain.pdf

http://creation.com/images/pdfs/home-school-corner/teaching-reading/6655cure-your-child-reading-problems.pdf

Cross Dominance and ADD [Archive] - ADD Forums - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Support and Information Resources Community

You will find other articles on different shooting instructors views and their teaching methods.

If you have any questions please ask. I have been dealing with this issure for over 40 years.


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## bosh (Dec 3, 2011)

Not a problem for me, as I only got one eye. Every cloud has a silver linning!


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## hawk2009 (Dec 30, 2009)

I am left eye dominant after trying your test and left handed so everything seems to be in order, my only problem is I am not able to see very small targets that I am able to hit, for example when I shoot at match heads I cannot see the head at all not from 33ft but can see the stick just, so I use points in the background above or below the target does not matter, I simply draw visionary lines and where they meet shoot if that misses I bring the shot in a little closer till it connects.


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## rubberpower (Aug 16, 2011)

I have the same problem. I have to shoot larger targets and use tracers so I can see where I hit. I have a black tee shirts as a background to make it easier.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Very useful information! Thanks for putting this up.

Cheers .... Charles


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## nutthrower (Dec 18, 2011)

being a Bowhunter for over 40 years this is something you usually learn right off, as with rifle/pistol shooting

very good info to know. with that said I shoot pistols and rifles right handed - bow and SS left handed

I suck at all of them - still having fun after all these years just the same


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## rubberpower (Aug 16, 2011)

nut thrower said:


> being a Bowhunter for over 40 years this is something you usually learn right off, as with rifle/pistol shooting
> 
> very good info to know. with that said I shoot pistols and rifles right handed - bow and SS left handed
> 
> I suck at all of them - still having fun after all these years just the same


I can miss with the best of them.


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## theolithic71 (Jan 2, 2012)

From the videos I've seen in the slingshot community, it seems that there is an inordinate number of left handed (left eyed) shooters. Is this just a coincidence or is there something more going on?


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## rubberpower (Aug 16, 2011)

theolithic71 said:


> From the videos I've seen in the slingshot community, it seems that there is an inordinate number of left handed (left eyed) shooters. Is this just a coincidence or is there something more going on?


I cannot give you a definite answer but in my group there are 3 RH people who are XD so we all shoot LH. By far there are more RH people but due to education in the sporting world a large percentage found out that they are XD. I think that something like 1 in 3 people are XD. With that you will be seeing more LH shooters. If someone has the exact percentage pleas post it.


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## rubberpower (Aug 16, 2011)

Here is a link that give percentages.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_9_53/ai_n27320034/


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## theolithic71 (Jan 2, 2012)

My wife and all 3 children are left eye dominant. The kids are all lefties but the wife is very ambidextrous. She grew up on the tail end of the thought that lefties could be converted to right handed and has adapted to both.

I was wondering if the "right mindedness" has anything to do with marksmanship with the lefties.


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## rubberpower (Aug 16, 2011)

theolithic71 said:


> My wife and all 3 children are left eye dominant. The kids are all lefties but the wife is very ambidextrous. She grew up on the tail end of the thought that lefties could be converted to right handed and has adapted to both.
> 
> I was wondering if the "right mindedness" has anything to do with marksmanship with the lefties.


You really need to do a Google search on XD shooting. You will find more information than you can ever read. I did not include any of that research in here. I also did not cover center dominance or shifting dominance as these are far too deep to get started on in here. There is research that strongly advises people to not try and change dominance. Do some research, you will find it interesting.


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## Northerner (Nov 9, 2010)

This is another one of those interesting topics with conflicting opinions. Here are a couple of interesting threads from an archery forum. A "search" will bring out many more messages.
http://leatherwall.bowsite.com/tf/lw/thread2.cfm?forum=23&threadid=196757&messages=8&CATEGORY=5
http://leatherwall.bowsite.com/tf/lw/thread2.cfm?forum=23&threadid=230954&messages=3&CATEGORY=5

I'm no authority on the topic but I read that Fred Bear and Glenn St. Charles were cross-eye dominant archers. Dr. Jay Kidwell has a good article in his book that explains why it doesn't matter. I'll have to re-read that chapter and see if I can make sense of it. Thankfully the dominance topic doesn't doesn't affect me right now, but it's still an interesting topic to explore.

Cheers,
Northerner


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## rubberpower (Aug 16, 2011)

Fred Bear was RH and RED but switched to break bad habits. According to Glen if you are shooting instinctive it does not matter. If you use sights it will make a big difference. When I was shooting indoors I knew some that switched from RH to LH to break bad habits and did use sights. They had a patch to cover the dominant eye. Seemed to work well for them. Switching has made a great improvement in my shooting.


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## nutthrower (Dec 18, 2011)

_Aw _Fred Bear - brings back memories for sure - off subject I know but have to share (BEAR with me) - I have a FB bow from the 60's, and a very close friend of mine told me to "grab your bow" Fred Bear is going to be at this location, he said you could have him autograph it - so I thought cool, and off we went - got to the store where he was to be and I told my CLOSE friend I'll leave the bow in the truck and go in first to see whats up - well, once inside I did find Fred Bear but not the FB I was hoping for , it was a BEAR (in costume) called fred bear walking around the store for the kids - LOL, Priceless......







We were both "Lefties" so I felt a connection with himm a great man indeed..


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## Northerner (Nov 9, 2010)

rubberpower said:


> Fred Bear was RH and RED but switched to break bad habits. According to Glen if you are shooting instinctive it does not matter. If you use sights it will make a big difference. When I was shooting indoors I knew some that switched from RH to LH to break bad habits and did use sights. They had a patch to cover the dominant eye. Seemed to work well for them. Switching has made a great improvement in my shooting.


Couldn't a person squint one eye a bit when using sights? Squinting should bring more control to the other eye? I used this technique many years ago when my left eye would periodically try to take control. Fortunately the problem went away.

Cheers,
Northerner


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## rubberpower (Aug 16, 2011)

Northerner said:


> Fred Bear was RH and RED but switched to break bad habits. According to Glen if you are shooting instinctive it does not matter. If you use sights it will make a big difference. When I was shooting indoors I knew some that switched from RH to LH to break bad habits and did use sights. They had a patch to cover the dominant eye. Seemed to work well for them. Switching has made a great improvement in my shooting.


Couldn't a person squint one eye a bit when using sights? Squinting should bring more control to the other eye? I used this technique many years ago when my left eye would periodically try to take control. Fortunately the problem went away.

Cheers,
Northerner
[/quote]You can for a quick moment but it puts strain on the eyes and most peoples eyes will start to water from the strain. If you do it for prolonged periods your eyes will have a hard time focusing. From what I have seen those who squint are not consistant shooters.


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