floating anchor point?
Does it make sense to have the draw hand floating in mid-air? Or is it better to let it rest against the face/ear/cheek?
Provided that you use the arrow point touching your finger at the grip to get a consistent draw-length, a floating anchor is fine.
Most of the draws that had the hand behind the head also had the arrow touching some part of the face like the corner of the mouth. This meant, as Stephen said, the arrow point determines draw length by being touched by the bow hand, but the other part of a consistent draw is to maintain the same relationship between the eye and the arrow in each shot.
I was discussing with another archer the other day that the consistency of a draw is the most important thing in shooting regularly at a high level of precision. Some people can achieve this by the set of the shoulders and the degree of compression of the elbow of the drawing arm. These people often had teachers who observed and corrected their shooting. I know a few people who attained this kind of style by themselves but it is rare. I found it easier to have the feather lightly touch the same part of my face.
When using a thumb ring, the path of the string is away from the face and this type of locating the arrow is not injurious. It is a bit more exciting when using three fingers and the arrow on the other side of the bow, but I have seen people successfully do it. There are a lot of really good archers out there.
I was discussing with another archer the other day that the consistency of a draw is the most important thing in shooting regularly at a high level of precision. Some people can achieve this by the set of the shoulders and the degree of compression of the elbow of the drawing arm. These people often had teachers who observed and corrected their shooting. I know a few people who attained this kind of style by themselves but it is rare. I found it easier to have the feather lightly touch the same part of my face.
When using a thumb ring, the path of the string is away from the face and this type of locating the arrow is not injurious. It is a bit more exciting when using three fingers and the arrow on the other side of the bow, but I have seen people successfully do it. There are a lot of really good archers out there.
I shoot using a floating anchor point, without the arrow touching my face. I also use arrows of varying length - sometimes the point touches my bow hand, more often it doesn't it doesn't. My draw length stays within 3 or 4 mm or so. The location of my arms and hands tells me what draw length I'm at, and the pressure of the string on my thumb helps (although that, along with pressure felt on the first finger, is more important in determining my thumb angle).
I've also found that my Hwarang talks to me, and tells me when to stop pulling. This is an added bonus when shooting, but I find I can still keep a consistent draw length when doing strength training with latex bands which do not talk to me.
It is all a matter of practice. Use a mirror to draw back a few hundred times, using the mirror to guide you but really focussing on where your arms are. After a while you can start weaning yourself off the mirror.
Oddly enough, I found that my accuracy increased a lot since switching from Turkish draw to the longer, floating draw (this might just be me ...). It's also a little easier to get forward and offside shots off from the saddle because you can pivot your shoulder joint.
I've also found that my Hwarang talks to me, and tells me when to stop pulling. This is an added bonus when shooting, but I find I can still keep a consistent draw length when doing strength training with latex bands which do not talk to me.
It is all a matter of practice. Use a mirror to draw back a few hundred times, using the mirror to guide you but really focussing on where your arms are. After a while you can start weaning yourself off the mirror.
Oddly enough, I found that my accuracy increased a lot since switching from Turkish draw to the longer, floating draw (this might just be me ...). It's also a little easier to get forward and offside shots off from the saddle because you can pivot your shoulder joint.