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a famous saying in golf, that “there is no way to practice for a two foot putt to win the Masters”, and your question is in the same ballpark. Clearly it is a mental hurdle, and if you’ve shot well enough to be in a winning position, then your final shot needs only to be on a par with your shooting on the day to see out the event. So it comes down to trust, which is what makes this shot so much more important than all the others that got you to this point.

I use two drills that have helped me considerably, and I put them into my constant practice sessions. The first I use at home on my eight metre garage range, and the other I utilise at club practice at tournament distances. They are both fun, and challenging. My home session starts out with blank butt arrows, then for recurve I practice expanding past the clicker for a dozen shots, holding and letting down. This strengthens that area past the clicker, and was a famous drill of the great archer of the 70's and 80s, Ed Eliason.

Now I shoot for score, 15 arrows at a series of half inch diameter spots for compound (one inch spots for recurve). I do this because it is a size target which allows me to regularly score a perfect 150. You can adjust the diameter of the spots to fit your own level of accuracy. Logically then, I reach a point in my round, where I’m clean for 13 arrows, and this then creates a mental pressure to nail the final duo. Often its the second last arrow which pressures me most, but as I record all my rounds, this procedure does facilitate a personal mental pressure situation to finish out clean. Yes, I do shoot quite a few 149’s, it builds a trust factor I can take into the real competition scenario.

The club drill I really like I learnt from the great Australian champion Clint Freeman. It is a distance round of 36 arrows shot against a phantom competitor. It works like this - let’s take a distance, say 50 metres, and on the 122 centimetre face I shoot as a veteran recurver, my average end score is 52. So I place six scores in a hat, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 and 55. I then shoot my first end, and draw out a score. I may be one or two in front, or perhaps even, or two or three behind. My second end now puts the pressure on me to either catch up, or protect a lead. I continue this format until the last end, where I may be in front, level, or down a score. Whatever happens, I now have six pressure arrows to get my head-to-head 'medal', and obviously most often that last arrow is critical. I need it to win, or to head into a shoot off, or protect the lead I’ve built over the five ends previous.

These drills give you a template to work from when the real situation arises. Get past the “real situation” a couple of times and it really does get easier to keep that trust level high. Familiarity breeds confidence, and even my “created” familiarity scenarios add mental ammunition to the battle. I believe they have helped me to be the best I can be.

Roy Rose

I AM DOING QUITE WELL AS A COMPETITIVE ARCHER BUT OFTEN HAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH THE FINAL ARROW OF A TOURNAMENT OR A MATCH. WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS?