I have heard and read different how to's on this. Here is what I have from the AMO Standard.
For Dealers and General Use:
"For practical reasons not requiring precise terms, draw length is the distance, at the archers full draw, from the nocking point on the string to the back of the bow at the arrow rest."
Many use the pivot point, that standard is for Manufacturers. Which is: 26 1/4" DLPP + 1 3/4" = 28" draw.
I measure from the nock groove to the back of the bow at the arrow shelf. This seems most accurate since the width of the shelf can vary from bow to bow.
"back" meaning the side away from the archer.....
hence the DIY method of attaching a clothese pin to the arrow shaft, and drawing the bow. Pin slides on the shaft, and stops at your draw length. Thus measure from the valley of the nock to the close side of the clothese pin.
Done!
Yup I measure mine from the nock point at anchor to the back of the bow or the side away from the archer. This way I know how long my arrows need to be.
The clothespin method is good for arrow length but inaccurate for figuring draw weight for tuning.
Hey, "we ain't got no shortage of opinions on much of anything!" as Grandpa would say. My experience here is that longbow draw length is measured from bottom of nock to the back (facing archer in this case) of the hand grip on level with the arrow shelf ... while recurves are measured through the handle to the back of the bow (away from archer). These differences being due to the generally flat handles of longbows and generally deep-recessed grips of recurves. Now that so many of us are shooting hybrids, who knows. I still measure the shorter distance to the backside or belly side of the grip, as when pulling a bow on a scale. dave
I like the old Hill method of putting a yardstick into your chest below the neck and reaching out with both hands.Where the tip of the middle fingers touch is the draw length. If you want to add an inch for broadhead clearance thats ok. If you measure from drawing an arrow on the bow you can flex in or out a few inches to suit yourself but the first way is set in stone to the length of your arms.
AMO method is best. It works for all bows - compounds, longbows, and recurves...Van
Van knows!! The back of all bows is the part farthest from the archer, the belly is the part facing the archer. Shawn