# Pressure of Release Hand Against Face



## SonnyThomas (Sep 10, 2006)

For sure it isn't bone to bone like some say. Okay, there is no force. My teeth aren't touching and I have a relaxed jaw, not sloppy, just natural. I developed a feel that is all mine, not someone else's.


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## Bobmuley (Jan 14, 2004)

It doesn't matter what you do, as long as it's consistent and repeatable.


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## So_cal hunter88 (Oct 14, 2014)

I keep my face relaxed and after I have pulled back I set my hand on face just slightly, I have a kisser button for another reference point 


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## lees (Feb 10, 2017)

I'm in the no-facial-pressure camp personally. The string only contacts me at the tip of the nose and that's it. I shoot a wrist-strap release so my anchor is very light contact of the edge of the index finger against the jaw; if it's off the jaw or pressing inward in any way at all, that indicates I'm out of alignment. The entire works from the elbow to the wrist has to be completely relaxed (except the tensors maintaining the wrist angle on the strap and the index finger tension) and that's how I get the light contact. 

I do keep my jaw shut for consistency reasons....

lee.


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## David99907 (Apr 2, 2018)

Cool thanks for answering everyone, I usually go through and watch as many different compound shooters on world archery as I can to think about form, but it's impossible to tell how much pressure someone's hand has on their face, or whether they've closed their jaw... All a matter of feel I guess


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## whiz-Oz (Jul 19, 2007)

One of the better philosophies is that if you want to become consistent, you have to be able to minimise variation in all aspects of your technique. 

The best way to make something consistent is to eliminate it entirely. I tell the guys here at work that my performance is 100 percent consistent because I do nothing. 
Nobody argues with that. 

If you hold your bow with the barest amount of face contact possible as your reference points, you will either have none at some point, or the barest contact. This keeps the range of variation easy to detect. Either you can just feel it or you can't. 

If you've decided to hold your hand with a comfortable pressure against your face and that your nose gets pushed out of line against the string.. that makes it heaps harder to get consistent because you can vary quite a lot of pressure and won't be able to tell the difference easily between 4/5's as much as you normally push and 5/5ths. 

If I give you a down feather to hold, you can tell the difference between it and your empty hand quite reliably. 

If I give you a brick to hold and then put a feather on it, you'll have a 50/50 chance of guessing if it's there or not if you can't see it.


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## x-hunta (Mar 10, 2010)

whiz-Oz said:


> One of the better philosophies is that if you want to become consistent, you have to be able to minimise variation in all aspects of your technique.
> 
> The best way to make something consistent is to eliminate it entirely. I tell the guys here at work that my performance is 100 percent consistent because I do nothing.
> Nobody argues with that.
> ...


One can equally argue that with higher pressure of face contact there is less opportunity for movement of the release hand. Both methods have their merits and their cons, as with most things in archery it boils down to what the archer is most comfortable with.


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## whiz-Oz (Jul 19, 2007)

I know plenty of archers who are super comfortable with things that make life harder for themselves. 
It's only when they pay for someone to give them advice directly that they start taking notice.


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## V3505 (Jan 31, 2013)

The problem I see with pressure against your face is how much force you have to exert when making the shot; less muscle is better. With a wrist strap, not such a big deal. With a handheld, pressure against your face adds to the amount of force needed to make the shot.... factor in being tired, and there's no way to gauge the force = inconsistent. for me, too much pressure causes arrow to hit left.


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## Mahly (Dec 18, 2002)

Repeatable form and a few good contact points can improve the inconsistency issues.

For ME, most bows are too short ATA. Meaning I have very light pressure on the nose, but a little more at the corner of the mouth.... especially with my 3-D bow. 

But having a solid, repeatable form, and a properly set Draw length, and release/loop length, I can keep it quite consistent.

I set my contact points to have the least amount of side pressure possible. I don’t worry as much about pressure directly behind the string (nose).


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