I recently ran into US Olympic medalist Corey Cogdell at the local trap and skeet range. She was there shooting trap in the World Cup as part of her training regimen, but still took the time to chat with me. That’s just the type of woman she is.
During our conversation, I learned that she shoots right-handed, but is left-eye-dominant. That’s called being “cross-dominant.” To see which eye is your dominant one, keep both eyes open and point at something across a room. Next, without moving, close one eye, open it and then close the other eye. Whichever eye was open when your finger appears on what you were pointing at is your dominant eye.
Normally, cross-dominance is a situation that simply sucks for a shooter because you’re supposed to shoot with both eyes open–whether it’s a shotgun, rifle or handgun–but if you’re cross dominant and you do try to shoot with both eyes open, you’ll shoot poorly because the target is never where you’re aiming.
The conventional solution for cross dominance has always been to shoot from whichever shoulder corresponds with your dominant eye. Most folks simply close one eye–even though that’s really not the proper solution as it causes eyestrain and costs you depth perception and half your peripheral vision. Corey fixes her cross dominance with a couple of patches of scotch tape over the left lens of her shooting glasses to occlude her vision in her dominant eye. That solution lets her shoot right-handed with both eyes open, avoid eyestrain, and catch the movement of the target anywhere in her field of view. She’s one of the world’s finest shots, and her tip is well worth trying if you’re cross-dominant and have trouble hitting targets because of it.
Scott Mayer
www.tacticaltshirts.com
“Shooting Guns & Having Fun”
In 2008, Mayer returned to the editorial side of publishing, this time in the digital field, as Editorial Director for Guns & Ammo, Shooting Times, Handguns and Rifleshooter online magazines. After a brief stint in 2011 as the Digital Media Director for an ABC TV affiliate, Mayer returned to the outdoors industry and Safari Club International where he is currently Assistant Publisher and Multi-Media Communications Editor.
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