My Personal Best Followed By My Personal Worst

Written by Walt in Archery
The View from Stowe Archers
The View from Stowe Archers

As soon as I drew the string back and settled into my anchor, I knew something was off. I could feel the tension in my back begin to slack, my sight pin moved erratically on the target face, and I had a tremendous urge to punch the trigger and hope for the best.

There was a cascade of problems that I just couldn’t seem to fix. I tried adjusting my stance, adding tension in my back, adjusting the release in my hand, adjusting my anchor. Nothing seemed to help and one bad end was followed by another.

By the time it was all over, I had shot the worst 600 Round that I can remember and all I had to show for it was a sore shoulder and fatigued back. Those 60 arrows were a painful reminder of my performance during the Spot Leage last year.

I’ve been working on my spot shooting lately and I thought that I had things figured out. My scores had improved considerably and I anticipated shooting a 575 (or better) in this particular 600 Round. The reality was a miserable 536 (with 5 X’s).

The most frustrating part of this terrible shooting was that just the opposite happened the night before. I shot my personal best Indoor 3D Round with a 340. With the exception of a couple of 8’s – all of those shots felt good and my sight pin was steady.

I’m hoping that it was just an issue of fatigue. It has been a while since I’ve shot back to back days. My 600 Round performance has me a little worried. My club’s Spot League kicks off in a couple of weeks and I really don’t want to be my team’s anchor.

2016-peterson-mease-invitational-600-round 2016-peterson-mease-invitational-indoor-3d

Walt

My name is Walt White and I've been riding motorcycles on and off since my early twenties. After more than a decade away from the sport, I came back - and I've been making up for lost time ever since. Based in Southeast Pennsylvania, I write and create videos about real motorcycle ownership: the bikes I ride, the gear I test, the roads I explore, and the community I've found along the way. I ride a 2022 Yamaha MT-09 SP and a 2023 Kawasaki Ninja 400, and I try to give you the honest take you'd get from a friend rather than a press release. I'm also a husband, dad to three girls, and a pitbull owner - which keeps life interesting off the bike too.

One thought on “My Personal Best Followed By My Personal Worst”

  1. Hey Walt, we all have bad days. I’ll go shooting somedays and not be able to hit anything after scoring well in steel challenge a couple days before. Just remember it’s supposed to be fun, relax and don’t over think it. 😉

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