Target panic affects almost one competitive archer in two
1 study · 155 archers measured
The summary today
The figure that gets quoted comes from a single survey: sixty-nine British competitive archers at county level or above, inside a sample that also included eighty-six golfers, and a little under one in two says they have suffered from target panic. The same work shows two things that help in reading that number: the problem rarely travels alone, because about three in four of those who report it also report having choked, and the commonest form puts physical symptoms and performance anxiety together. The limit lies in how the counting is done. Respondents decide for themselves whether the label fits them, the recall is retrospective, and a questionnaire about target panic draws in mainly those who have dealt with it, so the percentage runs higher than it would if club members were called at random. One country, one sample, a definition left to each respondent: the number gives an order of magnitude, not a measurement.
Also phrased as: "how many archers have target panic"; "how common is target panic"; "target panic prevalence"; "is target panic common among competitive archers"
In practice
On the shooting line archers say that target panic visits almost everyone sooner or later, and that anyone who has shot for years has already lived with it at least once.
Evidence
-
2020
For Archers Published later
69 British competitive archers at county level or above, inside a sample of 155 athletes with 86 golfers: 43.5% of the archers report having suffered from yips or target panic, against 36% of the golfers and 39.4% of the whole sample. The diagnosis is the respondent's own and the recall covers a whole career.
Personality Predictors of Yips and Choking Susceptibility · Philip Clarke, David Sheffield, Sally Akehurst
-
2020
Context Archers Published later
The same survey, taking the 155 athletes as a whole (69 archers and 86 golfers), shows two things that help in reading the percentage. First, the problem rarely travels alone: 28.4% report both yips and choking (44 people), 11% yips only (17), 39.4% choking only (61) and 21.2% neither (33), so of the 61 who report yips, 44 also report choking, about three in four. Second, among those 61 the commonest form puts physical symptoms and performance anxiety together, 47 cases, against 8 with physical symptoms only and 6 with performance anxiety only. Both figures cover archers and golfers together, not the archers alone.
Personality Predictors of Yips and Choking Susceptibility · Philip Clarke, David Sheffield, Sally Akehurst
Status history
- 1984 Not studied Nobody in the registry's bibliography had counted how many archers had had target panic: the problem was described, but how widespread it is had not been measured.
- 2020 Reported The first and so far only count arrives: among sixty-nine British competitive archers, 43.5% report having suffered from target panic. It is a retrospective survey based on self-diagnosis, in a sample from one country, so there is evidence on archers but it is limited: reported.
Related
Related articles
- Target panic in archery: what it is and how to manage itTarget panic in archery: what it is, its three forms, how common it is and which remedies help, with the weight each one carries in the studies.
- The arrow goes by itself: yips and premature release in archeryEarly release as the studies see it: how archers describe it, how common it is in kyudo, how many get over it and why it differs from the release block.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). Target panic affects almost one competitive archer in two (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/how-common-target-panic-is
@misc{campagna2026_targetpanicdiffusione,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Target panic affects almost one competitive archer in two},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/how-common-target-panic-is},
note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
Follow this claim
RSS is an address you paste into a feed reader: each time this claim changes status, adds a year to its history or is revised, a new item appears there.
Registry updates by email
At most one email a month, sent only when something has changed: claims that change status, new claims, Lab predictions registered or resolved, new studies and new books.
Sign-ups are handled by Systeme.io, the service that runs the newsletter. Every email has a link to unsubscribe with one click.
Other claims in this domain
- ReportedA larger working memory does not make an archer more accurate3 studies · 79 archers measuredStatus since 2012
- ReportedA longer quiet eye improves shooting accuracy3 studies · 58 archers measuredStatus since 2017
- ReportedA mental profile tells archers apart from athletes in other sports only in part5 studies · 550 archers measuredStatus since 2018
- ReportedA mental training programme improves the elite archer's mood1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023
- ReportedA mental training programme reduces burnout in elite archers1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023