How deep of a Hook?

[Predator1]

How deep do you guys put the string in your fingers? When I started shooting a few yrs ago I would just grab the string with my finger tips. Literally, like where your fingerprint would be. A year or so ago I guy told me to grab the string with my knuckle. The one just behiund the fingertips. What say you.

[daveycrockett]

First groove behind fingertip for me.

[McDave]

When I started using a deeper hook, my accuracy improved immediately.  Sometimes when my shooting falls off, I notice that my hook is relaxing, and when I tighten it up, my shooting improves.  I put the string in the first joint of my fingers, and then curl the fingertips so that they point sideways, rather than to the front.

I fought this for a long time, because intuitively, it seems to me that you should be more accurate without as much of a hook.  I guess the reason I'm more accurate is because I don't have to strain as much to keep the string on my fingers when I use a deep hook.  Anyway, it works for me.

To be honest, when I shoot my lighter weight bows, which isn't very often, I find that I may be less accurate with a deep hook.  Maybe with a lighter weight bow, I can keep my hand relaxed without a deep hook, and the extra skin just gets in the way.  But with my heavier weight bows, the deep hook seems to help a lot.

[sweet old bill]

first grove in back of the fingertips...a deep hook seems to work for me.

[deermaster1]

between first and second creases, closer to the first than the second works for me.  try different grips and long as they are atleast at the first crease.  good luck!

[WestTnMan]

First finger crease. Stay far away from shooting off the finger tips. Get a good hook you can hold. Shoot off the tips long enough and you will eventually let go of one when you didn't plan too.

[wapiti]

1st joint of middle finger. String lays across pads of ringer finger and index in a natural manner. You can vary this by placing the string in 1st joint middle finger and laying string across center of pad of ring finger and let the string fall across index in a natural manner. This grip is called the Fisher release. Taught to me by Dan Toelke. It gives an amazingly clean release with the same relaxed grip/hook as the traditional deep hook 1 st described.

[JRY309]

I like the first crease on index and ring finger and between the first and second crease on the middle finger.It works for me,I get a good clean release.Plus my hand seems more relaxed when shooting heavier bows.

[AllenR]

A good position will keep your string hand and arm as relaxed as possible while still holding the string.  One of the characteristics of mammals, is that our muscles contract much faster than they relax.  Also, the longer a muscle is fully contracted, the slower it is to relax.

Most of us can hold the weight of our bow on our finger tips, but we have to use a lot of muscle to do it.  On release, the muscles are slower to relax and the fingers are slower to get out of the way of the string.

A deeper hold is easier to hold because of simple leverage.  Muscles are used at less than maximum, so are quicker to relax.  This let's the string push the fingers out of the way easier and more consistently.

To have a more consistent release, you can't do anything, you have to quit doing something and that something is holding.  The string moves too fast for us to be able to consciously move our fingers out of the way, so the most consistent release is simply to quit holding an let the string push the fingers out of the way the same way every time.  Much easier to do if the muscles holding the string can relax the same every time.

Since we all have differently shaped hands, we will have slightly different spots that will work for us.  Usually, it's somewhere in the middle joint with the back of the hand flat.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

deep hook just like the others.

[pseman]

Between the first and second joint. I also started out shooting fingertips and would have never believed that a deep hook would give a better release. I switched to help with TP and found that my accuracy improved immediately.

I make sure that my finger tips point back toward me when gripping the string. This ensures a deep hook and prevents it from opening/slipping when I draw. The deep hook relaxed my hand and gave me a much greater feeling of control over my release, which for me is the source of my TP.

[scriv]

Deep hook, my bow is only 43# at my draw.  Some consider this a light bow.  Feels good to me after a few hundred arrows.  :D