Proper recurve grip?

[2Blade]

What is the proper grip for a recurve bow? Ive been told to use a loose grip and with a longbow use a rather firm grip. On my curve I grip fairly hard to keep the bow from jumping around ive seen Fred Eichler use a loose grip and his bow does tend to fall to the side I personally dont like that but it looks to work for him. Should I stick with my firm grip or got to something diffrent? Any help would be great.

[McDave]

As you draw the bow, your drawing hand might rotate a little.  If the bow is held loosely, the bow can rotate to match the string.  If the bow is held in a tight grip, it probably won't rotate, and the string will be torqued, resulting in a miss.

If the bow is held too loosely, and you aren't using a bow sling, which few traditional archers use, your bow hand will grab the bow when the arrow is released, or slightly before in anticipation thereof, resulting in a miss.

So the goal is to grip lightly enough to avoid string torqueing, but firmly enough to avoid grabbing the bow on release.  I do this by holding onto the bow mainly with my thumb and forefinger, which is encircled around the bow, and letting the other fingers drift off to the side.  There are other ways.

[2Blade]

Dave ive seen this grip and I tried it today and it made my bow kick to the side and I shot high it seems like an easy grip should I go with that?

[McDave]

I don't think it made your bow kick to the side.  The loose grip probably enabled you to see the kick to the side, which is an advantage, in a way, because now you know something in your form is making your bow kick to the side.  It could be that your shoulders are lined up to the left, which would cause a kick to the left, or it could be something else, but I don't think there is anything in a loose grip that would cause your bow to kick to the side.

[2Blade]

Im not sure I know that it kicks to right sorry I didn't mention which direction anyway it kicks so hard to the right that if I didn't have my fingers around it it would smash to the ground literally smash. Ive seen another trad bowhunter in my videos who lets his fingers float while holding the bow with his index and thumb and his bow doesn't kick one bit.

[McDave]

A lack of back tension can cause a kick to the right, for a right handed person.  Of course, there are a lot of other things that could cause that too.  But back tension is important, and if you want more information on that, check out Fred Asbell's article in the latest edition of Traditional Bowhunter magazine.  Probably what you really need is for someone to look at your form, either in person, or you can video yourself shooting and post it on this forum.

[twotimer]

as mcdave stated,back tension is very important,plus not chokeing or grabing the bow,finding the happy medium on the grip is a tedious journey.if i fail to get my back muscles into my draw the shot is doomed also,bow arm alignment is another factor to consider,as for my grip i try to get a firm grip with the index finger and thumb and let the other three fingers sort of curl under against the riser.i use to have a lot of right kick problem,mine was caused from tilting the bow to the right upon release to see were my shot was going,"peeking".good follow thru will cure that.a good conditioner,if you have a place to do it,is to shoot at about 5 yards with your eyes closed and just practice draw,grip,anchor,release.i'v been shooting for years and still do this exercize at least once a week for about an hour.good luck.practice,practice,practice.it will come togather.  

[2Blade]

Thanks I wish I knew how to use back tension ive tried and I got so frustarated that I almost smashed my bow lol. So I went back to a dead release.

[fingers]

2Blade, try 'back tension' like this, think of it more as chest expansion. Forget about the back, expand the chest, the back will tense just fine and you will feel your back as you do it. To just pull your shoulder blades together doesn't do it. I look at it as; when you pull your bow back to anchor you have two arm shoulder units that once in position remain static in that locked state. These two units move independent of each other and create a spreading by being slightly out of line and then coming inline by a forward or spreading movement of the chest. Yes the back muscles do contract together but that isn't what the focus or attempt should be as other muscles become involved when you do that. If you take two sticks with a hinge connecting them, then place them so that each end is against an object so that the hinged center is above the line between the objects by a few inches. Now push the hinge down so it is inline. The stick's ends spread apart easily and push the objects with a minimal effort. This is the way correct back tension works. Incorrect tension is if you knowingly want the hinge to come inline so you grab the sticks on each side of the hinge and twist it into a straight line using alot of strength in the effort. In short, you lose the benefit of using a lever.