ORIGINAL: Double Creek
My best advice for any new shooter is to spend a couple years absolutely obsessed with it. Read and watch everything you can get your hands on... Some tips that I think helped me:
1. Understand and master back tension. Back tension takes care of so many other issues if properly applied.
2. Use a weight that you can comfortably hold while you apply back tension.
3.Shoot using the gap method. Research it on the big internet forums and really get a grasp on it.
4. Shoot 3 under, it makes gap shooting 10 times easier as it puts the arrow much closer to the target. A 12 inch gap is easier to recognize than a 28 inch gap!
After a very shot period of time, GAP becomes natural and you never even think about it.
One thing that I've learned is this..... Everyone can shoot decent groups at 15 yds, even with horrible form and poorly tuned equipment. The 20-30yd shot is what seperates the men from the boys and solid, repeatable form coupled with tuned equipment makes that much, much easier..
Excellent advice. I did it that way, pretty much. I started shooting arecurve back in the late 70s. I was young and had no one to teach me. I just shot and was developing a bit of an instinctive style. As I got older and started hunting small game, I developed the gap method out of necessity to insure I hit the animal. I really didn't know what it was called, just took the time to find where the tip of my arrow needed to be, in relation to the target. I did so just so I could aim. As I learned about shooting, I fixed form problems and started shooting more instinctive. Just as you mentioned. People will developed a kinesthetic awareness after a while of gap shooting. I will now use both methods. If a deer, hog, or what ever steps out and gives me time to aim, ill gap it. If I'm fishing or shooting moving targets (like rabbits), its pure instinctive. I feel it is important to learn both. Use which ever you like the best, or both.