Grip Anxiety

[Mattador]

Ever since I started shooting, I have heard that you only need to use three fingers to hold the bow, or else risk torquing it and compromising your accuracy. The problem is, whenever I shoot like that, my arrows fly wild and I get a wicked case of string slap. Could someone enlighten me as to what I'm doing wrong?  

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

Every bow is different and every shooter is different.  Try just getting a hold of it and working from there.  If it's a recurve I expect you will feel you can let some fingers off and if it's a long bow you will want to hand on tighter.

[Mattador]

It's a recurve. I'm just having trouble with the concept of torque, and how I might prevent it without slapping my arm until it's black and blue.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

I shoot exclusively longbow, but I know if you practice proper alignment you will minimize your issues with torque.  I think that alignment would be more important than grip, just hold onto your bow loosely and make sure you are exerting all your energy directly towards and directly away from your target.

I have to admit that I don't have to worry about torque as much shooting longbow as recurve, so take what I say with a grain of salt and hopefully someone that shoots recurve will be along soon.

Good luck

[McDave]

It's possible that when you grip the bow more loosely, it doesn't feel secure and you may try to compensate by moving your bowhand more into the bow, so the pad under your thumb is more toward the centerline of the bow.  This would move the inside of your forearm closer to the bowstring, and cause the bowstring to slap it.  It would also be a cause of your loss of accuracy.

The pressure point of the grip should be to the outside (thumb side) of the lifeline on your hand.  This helps keep your forearm back away from the string, and is the best way to hold the bow for accuracy.

For best accuracy, you should be able to hold the bow with one or two fingers and your thumb, although this varies from person to person.  You may be shooting too heavy of a bow.

There are two ways the bow can be torqued:  the grip can be twisted, or the string fingers can exert sideways pressure on the string, usually in the direction of moving the bow from a cant toward the vertical. But you can check for either type of torque by relaxing your bowhand grip slightly at full draw.  If there is no torque, nothing should happen.  If there is torque, either the bow will try to straighten up or you will feel the grip twist slightly in your hand.  You control bowhand torque by keeping a loose enough grip that the grip can move in your hand as you draw the bow; you control string torque by keeping your drawing hand relaxed enough that the angle of your drawing hand is the same as the angle of the string.

There are many good archers who shoot with a five-fingered grip on the bow, but I agree that it helps me to notice when I'm torqueing the bow if I hold the bow with as few fingers as possible.

[s_mcflurry]

A couple of things.  First, like McDave says, turn your hand out a bit.  Your ring finger should be barely touching the grip or off entirely, your knuckles should at about 45 degrees, and the meat of your thumb should be your pressure point.  As far as grip pressure, I think someone equated it to holding a raw egg...enough to hold but not to crush.  Second, if your bow arm is straight out and your elbow locked, unlock the elbow and have a slight bend in it.  Third, you can also try having a little bend at your bow shoulder so that it's not locked out completely at your side...bring your arm in a bit.  The last two will help with arm slap and chest clearance but will also decrease your draw length.

[eric-thor]

mc dave hit it on the head ... if you need a visual referance pick up a copy of Masters of the Barebow III.

northwest bowhunter ;i shoot both longbow and recurve the only thing that change in my grip is the wrist angle not the fingers or hand tension,
id sugest making a wrist sling out of para cord so your hand is always loose and totally relaxed ,with no chance of dropping the bow.
and bow torque is no longer an issue no matter what u shoot.

my 2 cents  

[ncsaknech1ydh]

Hi Guys: This is as much of a question to all of the above posters, as it is an answer, I guess, if that makes sense!

I have learned so much from this site the past 6 months, I have changed nearly everything I do as far as drawing and loosing my arrows and am more accurate than I ever thought possible for myself, again, mostly thanks to the tradgang site.

One thing I would not change is in that when I started shooting compounds 25 years ago, right or wrong, I was taught to draw the bow and let the handle come back naturally into the web of my hand, when I changed to traditional 20 years ago I kept this same practice, shooting quite a few different bows, this may be hard to believe, but I have never used a sling, but my fingers or thumb are in no way are wrapped around the bow handle in anyway until after the shot is gone, I know this for sure because I have my wife from time to time watch all aspects of my shooting form as I loose the arrow and tell her what to look for if I think I may have a problem or if I want to check that what I am doing on shooting form is the same thing that I think is going on in my head.

Again, I don't plan on changing this, but in your opinions, is this wrong as far as form goes?

[eric-thor]

not wrong just risk of dropping the bow it all depend on your timing and consistance with it

[Ragnarok Forge]

If you hit well consistantly then it is fine.  I have seen a lot of thrown shots when people grip the bow to early to keep the bow from dropping out of their hand.  It is all in what works best for you.

[Mattador]

Thanks everybody for your advice, McDave especially. I have never had torque explained to me in such straightforward terms; it helped a lot.

[smoke1953]

It took me nearly 3 yrs. to get to the point that McDave explained so well and what a difference it has made. The side pressure feels odd as if you may lose the bow but muscles and tendons slowly adjust. I have small hands and therefore I use a full grip where others may not.

[rnharris]

holding the bow with most of the pressure in the web turns your hand in towards the string more or to the right and i have noticed some slap with bows that prefer to be held that way!

i now prefer to shoot bows that let me grip them more and hold them with more side pressure actually i shoot best when i can naturally point my fingers strait out when holding the bow and getting ready to draw it.

less torque means more accuracy but most longbows i shoot, shoot better when gripped more, better control maybe?

every bow will have a sweet spot when it come to the way you grip it, recurve or longbow you just have to find it! best of luck!