Target panic/anchoring issues

TRG

Member
I'm in the grips of bad target panic when it comes to shooting indoors.
I'm shooting recurve and have very little issues outdoors, I have also done quite a bit of blank boss shooting during which I feel quite relaxed but the moment I try to shoot indoors (usually at 20m) I feel I am underdrawing and cannot get to my full draw where the string does not connect with the nose. However there is bone on bone contact with the side of the jaw. Also, sometimes I end up with "punching" with my string hand and not getting a good clear release.

I tend to over think the whole thing and try to correct it but it becomes worse.
What is best, should I forget the string connection and just use the side of my jaw as an anchor point?

I have thought about using a clicker but I tend to give the arrow nock a death grip and ends up ripping the fingers off me.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Target panic can be sorted out if you take a sound course of action. Shooting blank boss may remind you of how you want to shoot, but it does not solve anything if you go back to a target and suffer the TP all over again.
TP is like a bad habit; by the time you have another attack, it's already too late to prevent it.
It is very very difficult to " stop doing" whatever sort of TP an archer is suffering from.
A better way is to have a new routine, planned out in your head first. Then do a mime of the routine you want to use. In your case it sounds like you would use your outdoor routine as that seems to be working ok.
So, the plan ( in your head) is to shoot the way you mimed; like your outdoor shots.
Next; you need to make your shots indoors , as easy as possible to get right. The things you can do to make things easier are;
stand very close to the target( 4m) with a normal indoor face.
have one criterion in mind that you must get right... the string comes to your anchor that you use outdoors.
Draw and shoot and score the shot as 1 or 0 ....................... 1 point if you succeed with getting the string where you want it; and 0 if you don't.
( don't complicate this by saying things like; nearly right is half a mark. You did it right or you didn't so accept what happens and continue. DO NOT SCORE by where the arrow lands. That is not part of your string contact routine.
The chances are there will be a few duds in the early stages but the good shots will eventually start to happen and then become more frequent.)
When you are getting a lot of good shots and very few duds, you will start to relax, and that is the time to challenge yourself a little more.
Move back a few steps and start the process again.
Once that is succeeding and you are relaxed, move back some more and just shoot. Score the good shots as 1 and the duds as 0 until you hardly get any duds.
Gradually, your form will get back to normal and your groups will settle down after that. Don't try to shoot groups before your form is correct, otherwise your mind will be on the wrong aspect. You want your mind on that string contact; that is what you are working on.
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
No need to grip the arrow nock at all...
I don't shoot target so I may be talking tosh.
I'd suggest trying not to think about more than one thing, maybe think "anchor and" then loose. Or maybe think of your breathing.
You don't want to go around "aiming" it causes all sorts of trouble ;)
Del
 

steve Morley

New member
A lot more distractions on the Indoor shooting line and a lot more people watching can make it hard.

For me to deal with nerves is to focus on how well I've executed the shot and not what happens at the target end, I pay no mind to what others score or where they are in the running. I shoot 60 arrows and looking for 60 perfectly executed shots, eventually my subconscious figured out that well executed shots tend to find the spot with the least amount of mental/physical effort, before I couldn't believe just how hard work it was.
 

jerryRTD

Well-known member
Use a clicker and set it short. Your 'death grip' is just you worrying that you can't or won't get through the clicker. Use a shallow hook not a deep hook.
 

mbaker74

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
Put a blank target at 4 or 5 yards and shoot at it with your eyes shut, so its just an arrow catcher.... With your eyes shut, you can focus on not death gripping the string and getting the reference on your jaw and nose right.
Once you have the feeling and you know you can do it, open your eyes, still blank boss, still 5 yds.
Then, when you can do that, move the boss to 10 yds.
Eventually, add a target pin or similar to "aim" at.... but focus on your anchor point
Eventually you will get to the point you can use a normal target face, wont be a quick process though,, been there done it....
 

TRG

Member
I have been shooting outdoors in my back garden at a very small distance (about 5-7m) and at a blank boss. I have since changed the way I draw and anchor because of a tendon injury that has occurred in the base of my thumb joint on my bow hand. I do know that you are not supposed to add anything to the throat area but the throat is digging into the sore area and causing all sorts of hell and new problems. I did however add a tiny bit of sugru onto the throat to see if it cushions the thumb (I have senst removed it as I wasn't sure of torqing problems.
 

TRG

Member
Forgot to add that I have had x rays done to the thumb so I'm waiting on results from that and I'm in the mood for a bit of tinkering around to see what suits me... I also have been thinking of going back to basics and strip the bow right down and go bare bow, or I could go back to using the clicker
 

little-else

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
one thing I notice aboout shooting at short distance is th angle you present yourself to the target is different. I am failry tall so tend to shoot down at 20yds and I thus find it very difficult to anchor in the same way as I do at longer distances as it just feels wrong, even though am drawing back to the same point, kissing the string, getting shoulders and elbow in the same position etc it just feels odd as the horizon is different.
I dont do this myself but it used to work in my other sport. Draw with your eyes shut and see where you are pointing. Relax down, shuffle yourself around (if possible move the target face up or down to suit) repeat. When you are happy the do thesame, open eyes and make those minor corrections and loose. I find that when I do this lining up on one of the triple spots is easy and the others require a bit of adjusting of the stance (not arm)
 

lcaillo

New member
I'm in the grips of bad target panic when it comes to shooting indoors.
I'm shooting recurve and have very little issues outdoors, I have also done quite a bit of blank boss shooting during which I feel quite relaxed but the moment I try to shoot indoors (usually at 20m) I feel I am underdrawing and cannot get to my full draw where the string does not connect with the nose. However there is bone on bone contact with the side of the jaw. Also, sometimes I end up with "punching" with my string hand and not getting a good clear release.

I tend to over think the whole thing and try to correct it but it becomes worse.
What is best, should I forget the string connection and just use the side of my jaw as an anchor point?

I have thought about using a clicker but I tend to give the arrow nock a death grip and ends up ripping the fingers off me.
Being a long time clicker shooter, I think it is great, but not for this problem. I prefer to deal with it head on. My suggestion is to pick some random numbers between 1 and 6, plus let down. Make a plan for each end to hold on the target for the number of seconds of one of the random numbers, or let down. Then do that until you feel confident that you can anchor, aim, release, or decide not to shoot the arrow without the numbers. Random practice is very important as it leads more quickly to the ability to transfer a skill. Letting down is important because you should be able to do so if you feel you are not going to loose a good shot or you start feeling anxious.
 

TRG

Member
I have made a very interesting discovery in the last week or so.
I was doing an outdoor shoot using 2 sets of arrows that I had recently re-fletched (my second attempt at fletching and it had turned out better than expected) so basically I wanted to test out how well the arrows flew and for some reason or another, I found myself staring down into the sight and I really mean staring down, like it was tunnel vision. Normally when I draw I am aware of the string coming towards me and I start to flinch and cannot get to full draw but when I starting staring down into the sight everything that is around me (including string coming towards me) seems to evaporate and was able to get to full draw (including string touching nose)
Now, I've started the same method indoors, staring deep into the sight, and again....able to get to full draw and very little flinching and my grouping is improving. Last night I had part one of the WIMMA postal shoot and to be honest, besides the nerves, I just went for it and didn't think much of grouping etc...just kept thinking of staring into the sight. Not only the groups had greatly improved plus my full draw but also my scores which to be honest I had little thought about in the first place.

I would also like to say that I have dropped the weight of the limbs down a fraction as I am now shooting 26# indoors (SF Premium Plus +) and shooting 28#outdoors (KAP Winstarr 1) and both sets seems to work well with me at the moment.

**I had a chat with one of my parents who doesn't shoot but she made an interesting point of where the TP issues may have stemmed from. I had an accident around the end of 2014 at the club where I was at full draw and on release I heard an almighty bang, my arrow bounced off my arm and onto the floor shattering the nock and my arm ended up with a deep point size wound in which I still have the scar, the TP issues started soon after that when I started to panic at the thought of coming full draw and that happening again.

- - - Updated - - -

As for the blank boss shooting, that may work for a while but as soon as the target is pinned back on, the problems creep back in again as someone once told me
 

Mrrikki

New member
Hope you continue to progress and beat it, I occasionally get TP normally indoors when my glasses steam up at full draw, I then hold for too long hoping they clear (I shoot compound) and eventually have to release usually hitting the gold but not as good a shot as before. It then messes me up for the next few arrows.

For me I get back on track with some deep breathing, relaxing my shoulders and going through a shot mantra in my head.

I agree with the blank boss shooting, we discussed this as my level one coaching course and the tutor said blank bosses rarely solves the issue.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S7
 

lcaillo

New member
I'm in the grips of bad target panic when it comes to shooting indoors.
I'm shooting recurve and have very little issues outdoors, I have also done quite a bit of blank boss shooting during which I feel quite relaxed but the moment I try to shoot indoors (usually at 20m) I feel I am underdrawing and cannot get to my full draw where the string does not connect with the nose. However there is bone on bone contact with the side of the jaw. Also, sometimes I end up with "punching" with my string hand and not getting a good clear release.

I tend to over think the whole thing and try to correct it but it becomes worse.
What is best, should I forget the string connection and just use the side of my jaw as an anchor point?

I have thought about using a clicker but I tend to give the arrow nock a death grip and ends up ripping the fingers off me.
If you overthink things, you probably have figured out what you need to do to execute a good shot. Focus on whatever the MOTION component of that shot sequence is and practice doing that motion, no matter where the arrow lands. Get the motion right and forget about the target. Chances are you are very good at aiming and shifting it more to the subconscious it will not be hard to tighten your groups up once you get your timing and shot motion down.
 

Mickle

New member
TP ain't a lot of fun is it? I've been working on it for a couple of years now. For me, a) get stronger, it's worse when fatigue sets in. b) have coaching, I couldn't spot the technical errors that sneaked in when it was happening. c) I dropped the draw weight (temporarily) so that I wasn't struggling with it. d) I realised my mental program was pants, so I downloaded the 'archery target panic' talk from Lanny Bassham's site, which is good. e) I tried Adam Chowdreys (sp??) target panic MP3, nope, he misses the boat and only addresses calming you down, not TP at all. f) I bought 'Instinctive Archery Insights', from amazon on kindle, can't remember the author, sorry. This is very good actually. g) I'm currently trying the MP3 d/l from hypnosisdownload.com, is it working? not sure, it's trying to get me to trust in my subconcious and allow it to shoot the shot. We shall see, makkes sense.

Blank boss training is good too, but it's not the whole story. Introducing target faces is a good thing too. Different sized faces, you could also try a field face so there's a target but it's not relevant to any score. Learn to enjoy the process of shooting, whilst not chasing a score or the gold.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Getting over TP can be done by making the shot process so simple it is difficult to get it wrong.
Stand just a few yards from the target, so there is little to lose as no one competes at distances like that.
Aim as easily as you can, which can be done using a very large sight ring aimed at a target pin. I made a large sight ring from a paper clip. and taped it to the appropriate place on the riser. The large ring allows the sight to settle round the little pin, but with so much space inside the ring, any wobbles will still allow the pin to stay inside that ring. Not dead centre though, we are making things easy, so anywhere in the ring is fine.Often the aim is a point where things turn sour. The sight moves just a little and it seems way off centre and we can panic about that.
With the short distance and big sight ring you are now ready to shoot like a beginner. All you have to do is draw as you know you should till the string reaches your face and allow the release to happen. TP often upsets that simple routine and some sufferers find even a simple routine goes wrong when they first try. Keep trying, though, and soon there will be a half way decent shot. That is the beginning of your new style. As you get used to making the simple shots in a decent manner, you can start to make the shooting just a little more challenging. You could move back two more yards, or make the sight ring a little smaller. OR aim at something a bit bigger. Any of the last options means the space inside the ring is getting slightly smaller, so the aim is getting slightly more challenging. The wobbles will have to be settling down more to allow you to shoot with the same ease. Moving further back is a slightly easier option as there seems to be more space inside the sight ring, but the extra distance can counter that a little.
 

lcaillo

New member
Geoff's suggestions are right in line with my thinking. You have to simplify the problem. The essential issue with TP is a fear of failure facilitated by a focus on aiming and outcome rather than a focus on process. Once you get back to loving the feel of execution of a great shot, rather than being afraid that you won't be perfect, you can start to shoot again.

Trust your feel for a good shot. If you can't do that, work on it till you can. The target is just a piece of paper in the way of the arrow.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
rather than being afraid that you won't be perfect,
Icaillo and Mickle.
This is a key feature of tp I feel. Most often the sufferer is fully aware of what they can't do. The bit that lets them down. In my case it was being unable to get the sight round the gold before the shot went off. My years of struggle were all about trying the force the aim into the gold before the release, and failing everytime. I came to expect it to be wrong and became tense.
The simplicity of the method I was given to use was the key to its success.
One thing to remember is that the bad bit has to be ignored as much as is possible. What has to take our attention, is the part that will replace that bad bit.
As an example, I had to get the sight round the gold and be patient with the release until after that stage was in place. Quality of aim was not the prize. Being on aim to some degree BEFORE release was the only thing I had to get right. Success did not come right away, the old habit kicks in very strongly. However, the truth behind the plan I was given, was so convincing I KNEW it would work sooner or later.
The first time the sight was round the pin when the release happened, I was sweating with nerves, but after that one shot, I jumped up and down like a kid at Christmas. That was the first shot in over ten years where the release happened in the right part of the sequence. After that, it was a matter of working till the good shots started to happen more often and continuing to use the new routine deliberately. By that I mean the new routine had to be considered before making the shots. I reminded myself of the order of events and those few stages were the building blocks that created the shot. I was so busy sticking to that plan that I rarely bothered about where the arrows landed. That didn't seem to matter now. Doing the right things at the right time brings better results. Wanting better results with nothing in place to deliver them is futile.
 

lcaillo

New member
Icaillo and Mickle.
This is a key feature of tp I feel. Most often the sufferer is fully aware of what they can't do. The bit that lets them down. In my case it was being unable to get the sight round the gold before the shot went off. My years of struggle were all about trying the force the aim into the gold before the release, and failing everytime. I came to expect it to be wrong and became tense.
The simplicity of the method I was given to use was the key to its success.
One thing to remember is that the bad bit has to be ignored as much as is possible. What has to take our attention, is the part that will replace that bad bit.
As an example, I had to get the sight round the gold and be patient with the release until after that stage was in place. Quality of aim was not the prize. Being on aim to some degree BEFORE release was the only thing I had to get right. Success did not come right away, the old habit kicks in very strongly. However, the truth behind the plan I was given, was so convincing I KNEW it would work sooner or later.
The first time the sight was round the pin when the release happened, I was sweating with nerves, but after that one shot, I jumped up and down like a kid at Christmas. That was the first shot in over ten years where the release happened in the right part of the sequence. After that, it was a matter of working till the good shots started to happen more often and continuing to use the new routine deliberately. By that I mean the new routine had to be considered before making the shots. I reminded myself of the order of events and those few stages were the building blocks that created the shot. I was so busy sticking to that plan that I rarely bothered about where the arrows landed. That didn't seem to matter now. Doing the right things at the right time brings better results. Wanting better results with nothing in place to deliver them is futile.
Great explanation. There is a lot here that can help others.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

aquatoo

Member
It might be interesting to note that the clicker was first adopted as a cure for target panic. It can bring its own problems though. Anticipating the clicker, making a deliberate release rather then just letting go when the clicker goes off and not being able to get through it as you tire over a round.

It's all fun though, or should be!

- - - Updated - - -

It might be interesting that the clicker was first adopted as a cure for target panic. It can bring its own problems though. Anticipating the clicker, making a deliberate release rather then just letting go when the clicker goes off and not being able to get through it as you tire over a round.

It's all fun though, or should be!
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
It can bring its own problems though.
Yes, a clicker can bring its own problems. So can a sight or a poor tab or a poor draw alignment, slipping hand on bow grip, high bow shoulder, aiming with the rong eye. Heeheehheee.
In a nut shell ;Shooting brings its own problems!
But as you say, It is fun or should be.
Getting things right instead of wrong is just something to do; before you go to collect the arrows from the gold or the grass.
 
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