Holding bow

[Junction hunter]

I finished reading Fred Asbell and he talked about having a straight wrist and holding with thumb and pointer finger. This has helped. The problem is that when I hold this way my left hand startes to hurt (right handed shooter). But when I hold with my whole hand the pain goes away but I torque the bow at release.    

Wondering if I'm holding the bow wrong?  :confused:  
My question is about where to hold the bow. Should I hold lower where the brace hight is or higher on the handle?

[Diamond Paul]

Your wrist has less strength with this grip, so it takes a while to get used to it.  To get the grip, put the "v" of your hand (formed by thumb and index finger) in the throat of the grip (deepest part); now, slightly roll your forearm inwards (towards the bow).  This will put your thumb slightly lower than your index finger and roll you forearm away from the string when you shoot.  Your hand should be right up against the arrow shelf of the bow (my feathers actually brush my hand when I shoot).  The other thing I do, which I did shooting compounds competitively, is to lightly tuck my last three fingers into my hand; I don't clinch them (like a fist), just lightly close them; my thumb and index finger lightly touch to hold the bow.  This grip will put all the bow pressure on the meat at the base of your thumb, and you won't torque the bow.  It takes some getting used to, though.  Good luck, Paul.

[McDave]

I think most of your pain is coming from the straight wrist rather than holding with your thumb and pointer finger.  If you'll relax your straight wrist just a little bit, but still hold the bow with only your thumb and pointer finger, you'll find that it's a lot easier to hold, and you won't torque the bow.  Or, try rotating your wrist a little so your three little fingers are pointing more out to the side and more of the weight of the bow is on the thumb side of your grip.  Maybe I'm not describing it very well, but if you experiment with small changes in your hand position, you'll find a position that's much stronger and easier to use.  It may not be the ideal straight wrist position, but you may be able to shoot better with it than some position that is weak and painful to hold.

[Junction hunter]

Thank you Thank You Thank you!!! Tried the above this morning. It felt a little funny but no pain and good groups. (At 13 yards and under anyway.) Most importantly no pain.
I did notice that the bow moves slightly left  after release so I'm loosing some cant. It didn't seem to effect the shot but did notice it during follow through after arrow is released (been working on holding the bow for a count of 2 before lowering the bow). Unsure if I do this during releases or during follow through. Is this natural after releasing the tention on the bow or am I still torqueing the bow?

P.S. Paul, Thanks for the term (throat of the grip) I'm suprized you guys understood my criptic discription regarding brace hight. I knew that is were it was messured but forgot the term. Again thanks guys.

[Diamond Paul]

If the bow moves left, I'd guess that you are not pulling straight back on the release; you are probably plucking the string some, maybe because of a loss of back tension at the shot.  Try to think of pushing your elbow straight back, and pushing your bow hand straight into the spot, as you shoot.  The bow should recoil straight away from you, and the shooting hand should come straight back along the side of your face.

[Junction hunter]

Paul,
Shot last night and tried pushing strait with bow hand/arm and it stopped the loss of cant. No pain in hand and good groups. THANKS!!!!!
This problem might be solved.

[Diamond Paul]

Great news!  It took me a while to get used to the grip, but I can't hold one any other way now.  Keep up the good shooting, Paul.