Recurve Hand Position

[Dozer]

I've been shooting my recurve with a straight wrist since I read some book that said its the only way you should do it. A couple of weeks ago I decided I'd try something different because I was never happy with the stability of my bow arm. I think its a curse of having skinny wrists with XL hands. What I did was shove my hand deep into the grip and set the center of my palm down on the large round portion of the grip. It put me in a very 'broken wrist' style grip but as long as I didn't turn my wrist to far into the bow I found it to be much more comfortable and stable then the straight wrist grip. I know all about the center point of a recurve and all that but I just like this grip better. I was wondering if anyone else does this.

I've also flipped through some of my books and noticed that Papa Bear also shoots like this. Which is funny because I'm shooting a recurve he designed. Maybe theres something to that...

[O.L. Adcock]

Dozer, It really doesn't matter as long as you can do it consistantly the same. Variations in bow hand pressure point has effectivly the same bad results as inconsistant releases do. For the most part, the less we touch the bow, the less likely we are to screw it up!   ....O.L.

[crunch]

I'm goofing around with my grip as well. I shoot well, at least for me, with the pressure of the bow at the base of the thumb; however after approx 25 shots my accuracy falls of as I feel some fatigue. If I get my palm a little more into it I find I don't notice the fatigue.
Play with it a little, then stick with what you feel works for you.
It won't always work, but if you keep changing your grip it'll be hard to know what is working and mental health, believe me I know (LOL), will become an issue.

Good Luck and ATB,

crunch

[Dozer]

I've settled on the broken wrist style of grips. It feels much more stable to me and I have noticed a big increase in my accuracy.

[snag]

OL nailed it. I have found that if I just wrap my index finger around the riser softly and let the other fingers lay out in front of the riser (not touching it) I can get the best and most consistant arrow flight. Do it over and over until it becomes part of you.

[longbowguy]

Dozer:
You are on exactly the right track. There was a trend to a straight wrist style back in the 70s which persists to this day but has been largely superceded. The present idea is to take the weight of the bow well down in the hand, on the thumb side of the lifeline. This is in line with but somewhat above the upper bone in the forearm.

It sounds as if this is similar to what your have discovered on your own. A gentle grip helps the bow to find its own location under the pressure of the draw. - lbg

[LATradHunter]

this may be off topic but for some reason or another when i point my thumb up on the outside of my recurve's riser (kinda makes a V out of my bow hand) I have waaay better accuracy. If I lay my thumb over my fingers I'd be better of throwing arrows by hand.  Anybody have a similar experience?