This always confuses people - so I hope this blog entry will clear things up. My searches on the internet did not bring this up.

Left handed bows - Held in your right hand and draw the string with your left hand. Commonly used by left handed people *

Right handed bows - Held in your left hand and draw the string with your right hand. Commonly used by right handed people *

* I learned something very important today. If you are right handed you will not necessarily use a right handed bow - same goes if you are left handed. It has very little to do with which hand you use. It is to do almost entirely with which eye you give preference. MOST right-handed people give preference to their right eye, and the left-handed their left eye.

The instructor tested my eye preference by doing this mystical procedure which I didn't quite understand at the time, but will no doubt make more sense as I write it:

She stood 10 feet away from me facing me.
She covered one of her eyes and asked me to point with an outstretched arm at her open eye.
She then told me which eye I gave preference too.
How? I imagine from her perspective, she saw which eye I was using to point, i.e which eye lined up with my finger.

I am right handed and give preference to my right eye. So use a right handed bow which I hold in my left hand (confused yet - I told you it wasn't straight forward)

As an example, an individual I was shooting with is also right handed but gave preference to his left eye. He tried shooting with a right handed bow but didn't do very well. He then changed to a left handed bow so that his stronger eye would be used to target. He started hitting gold very quickly.

The moral of this story is try a few bows before buying one on eBay :) I bought 3 bows on eBay (I went a bit mad) luckily my Wife is a true lefty and I am a true righty - I will sell the spare. 

First day learning how to shoot. I used a Quicks recurve training bow (TD-01 or 02 I think) and had a really fun time. On my first round of 3 shots I missed the target altogether, the next round I got one two the target (just). Then something clicked and I managed to get 11 golds! I hit the center of the target 11 times in a row! My last shot just an inch into the red circle. Wow! I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to my next lesson. Although the description of the blog states I am a member of the Guildford Archery Club, this is not true yet as I am still in the initiation stage but I know I will be joining and carrying on with this fun, interesting, historically fascinating and ever so slightly macho :) sport. My bow and arrows will not end up in my cupboard next to my skateboard, rollerblades, squash racquets, ice skates, miniture rockets, etc, etc, I easily get tired of things - but I have a REALLY good feeling about Archery.

I am a complete beginner, today was literally the first time I have shot a recurve bow. Everyone has to start somewhere :) I will be using this blog to log my achievements but more importantly I will post advice and information on recurve archery as I learn it. The advise will hopefully progress from basic beginner stuff through to advanced hints and tips and then track my progress at the 2012 olympics (hahahaha). I will make this page an important and reliable one-stop-shop for archery information. I hope you enjoy it and I encourage you to contribute in the comments section of each post.