BowCast Blog

As I am getting ready to slip into a new bow, I have been contemplating the change I am going to be making to my brace height - which is currently 7 inches on my Hoyt VTec.  I am moving into a 6 inch brace height - so, it has me thinking...is the speed really worth it?

As I thought through this, I realized it might be worth sharing a few considerations and a definition around brace height on a bow. 

Brace height is the perpendicular distance from the bowstring to the pivot point of the handle. This height is an important part of bow tuning.  Contrary to popular opinion, changing the brace height does not change bow weight. But changing brace height does dramatically affect how a bow performs.

On average, each .5 inches in brace height affects velocity by approximately 2.5 feet per second (fps).  Bottom line, the shorter the brace height, the faster the bow.  So, I am gaining about 3 fps in speed on my new bow, but how do I measure what I am losing in "forgiveness"?

A lower brace height means the string is further away from the archer before he or she draws the bow. As a result, the distance the string travels to reach the full draw position is longer. The larger the brace height, the shorter the distance the string has to travel to reach the same draw length.

So what is the effect pn arrow flight of a higher brace height?  The best way to imagine this is if you hold an arrow by the nock parallel to the floor, and ask a buddy  to push the point to the side a couple of inches, it would be an easy taks to say the least. But if you were to hold the shaft half way down, your buddy would require a little more pressure to move the point to the side.

It is the same effect as with torquing the bow. The less the amount of string (meaning the higher the brace height) behind the cam at full draw requires more pressure to force the cams to push the end of the string out of line. 

So, when looking at a bow setup to match your shooting - the fine balance is between speed and forgivenes - shorter brace height is faster shot speed, however, without proper form, you will have a harder time acheiving tight groups and overall accuracy.  I have spent several years shooting a bow with a 7 inch brace height while I continued to work on my form.  With my short draw length, I am ready to get the additional speed from a shorter brace height.  I do realize that it will be a tough first couple of weeks shooting that new Katera, but I am ready for the challenge.

My recommendation is to shoot a bow that is very close to having a 7 inch brace height.  When you are confident with that setup, look to increase your speed by going with a bow that has a lower brace height.  Welcome the challenge that your form needs to be in order to handle a bow with a lower brace height.

So, I ask you all out there in BowCast land - do you go for speed or forgiveness?  And regardless of what you choose....I'd love to hear why.

PS - I am confident that Brittany is going to be happy with my decision to shoot 6 inches.  It's not the length of your brace height, but whether or not you can hit the spot ;-)

Shoot Straight!

Aneal