Among beginners, those who score more hold the drawing shoulder at a smaller angle
1 study · 104 archers measured
The summary today
There is a single study, from 2025, and its conditions are far from those of a shooting line: 104 Malaysian engineering students who had never shot, nine arrows at 3 metres with a plastic toy bow at a 20-centimetre target, with angles measured in two dimensions from video at the frame of the release. The 55 who totalled at least 10 points out of 90 held the drawing-arm shoulder at 75.4 degrees, the 49 who stayed below that threshold at 86.1, and the authors name 70 to 80 degrees as the favourable range. In the same sample the elbow separates the two groups even more (103.1 against 83.4 degrees), while trunk and wrist differ by one and three degrees. The differences are group means with no statistical test, and there is a confounder: the men held the shoulder at 66 degrees on average and the women at 91, and the men scored more, so part of the difference may come from sex rather than technique. It is an association in complete beginners: it says something about a first attempt, not about how the shoulder of someone who has shot for years should sit.
Also phrased as: "shoulder angle in beginners"; "drawing elbow high or low"; "closed drawing shoulder"; "drawing arm posture in beginners"
In practice
Beginners are often corrected on the position of the drawing elbow and shoulder, on the idea that a drawing arm lined up and closed in behind the arrow is what gets arrows into the target.
Evidence
-
2025
For Archers Published later
104 Malaysian biomedical engineering students with no experience, all drawing right-handed, nine arrows at 3 m with a plastic toy bow at a 20 cm target; angles measured with Kinovea, in two dimensions, at the frame of the release. The 55 who scored at least 10 points out of 90 held the drawing-arm shoulder at 75.41 degrees on average, the 49 below 10 points at 86.08; the authors name 70 to 80 degrees as the favourable range. These are group means, with no statistical test.
Machine learning methods to classify engineering students’ ability to perform recreational archery activities using biomechanical data · N.R.H. Basri, M.S. Mohktar, W.n.l.w. Mahadi
-
2025
Context Archers Published later
In the same sample the drawing elbow separates the two groups more than the shoulder does (103.09 against 83.38 degrees), while trunk (169.08 against 167.64) and wrist (157.27 against 160.15) differ by a few degrees. Split by sex, the men hold the shoulder at 66 ± 28 degrees and the women at 91 ± 25, and the men scored more (16.02 against 9.31): the shoulder difference between those who score and those who do not may partly reflect sex.
Machine learning methods to classify engineering students’ ability to perform recreational archery activities using biomechanical data · N.R.H. Basri, M.S. Mohktar, W.n.l.w. Mahadi
Status history
- 2025 Reported The first and only study takes 104 students who had never shot, with a toy bow at 3 metres: those who total at least 10 points out of 90 hold the drawing shoulder at 75.4 degrees at the release, those below at 86.1, and the authors name 70 to 80 degrees as favourable. The elbow separates the groups even more, trunk and wrist hardly at all. These are means with no statistical test, muddied by the difference between men and women: an association in complete beginners, so reported.
Related
Related articles
- Common beginner mistakes in archery and how to avoid themThe most common beginner mistakes in archery, from posture and release to equipment, and what the measurements made on beginners actually show.
- The anchor point in archery: biomechanics and common errorsThe anchor point in archery: the hand-to-face contact points, how much the string really touches the face, the drawing elbow and shoulder, common errors and how to find the right anchor.
- How archery is taught: what the studies on beginners sayWhat studies tell anyone teaching archery: how much beginners improve anyway, and what courses, starting distance, videos, goals and mental work add.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). Among beginners, those who score more hold the drawing shoulder at a smaller angle (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/drawing-shoulder-angle-beginners
@misc{campagna2026_angolospallacordaprincipianti,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Among beginners, those who score more hold the drawing shoulder at a smaller angle},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/drawing-shoulder-angle-beginners},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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