# Back to shooting with grip woes...



## DyinQuivers (Feb 9, 2010)

Hey all,
So after being out of the archery game for 3 months or so (rotator cuff surgery) I'm back shooting. Now I've always had decent form, and last year was shooting 4-6" groups at 60 and 70 yards and had everything dialed in great. I was shooting 60 or so arrows a day and with a new bow and smaller pins was more accurate than ever. Now that I'm back shooting, the first thing that I'm having a hard time with is getting my grip hand to be consistent on the bow. I used to have everything down to where it was a routine but now I'm psyching myself out with questioning what angle my bow forearm should be at, and what part of my hand should be on the grip. I've got my bow turned way down to help me start building my shooting muscles, and want to make sure that my muscle memory is heading back into the right direction. I shoot with a relax grip/open hand but can literally shift what part of my palm is contacting the grip, and move my groups left to right and right to left. I think this is cause torque issues on the riser and affecting my POI. Atleast that is what is feels like to myself...

Before I start developing bad habits, I ask you, what is the proper part of your hand to place the grip at? How straight should my bow arm be and what angle should my wrist be at? I'm shooting a Strother Infinity with a wrist strap/index trigger release and Code Red drop away rest. I notice that sometimes I am creeping out of the valley at full draw and this is also psyching myself out mentally...

I have used the search function but have not come up with anything that directly relates to my problem/questions. Thanks for the help ya'll!

Mike


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## muddyfuzzy (Sep 7, 2011)

there is a good explanation on grip location in nuts&bolts. a high angle is good as it puts less hand in the bow but is the most difficult to repeat. the opposite is true for a low grip angle, they are easy to repeat but can allow you to get too much hand in the bow. personally i'm between high and medium and this works well for me. everything i've read and seen has the grip to the right of the life-line (for a rh shooter) and this is what i do. the closer you get to the life-line the more the hand will want to flex under pressure making it virtually impossible to go "bone to bone" under a load.

as far as the bow arm it should be slightly bent. i used to shoot with more of a bend in my bow arm and was never able to set my shoulder until i i changed to a slight bend. doing this allowed me to relax more and improved my sight picture leaps and bounds. trust me i'm no pro, just passing along what limited knowledge i have on the subject.


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## da white shoe (Mar 10, 2009)

I have always remembered Randy Ulmers' discription of a low-wrist grip. He said, "pretend that there is a steel rod running parallel and exactly between the two bones inside your forearm. Where that rod would exit your palm is where this point is."
This is describing a low-wrist grip though. There are a lot of different bow handles and bow shooters. There really is no right way or wrong way. Whatever works... works.


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

Some of the traditional recurve archers develop their bow hand placement by how their bow reacts. The goal is for it to jump straight forward on the shot. 

This is more difficult for compound archers. First so many shoot parallel limb bows that it's not easy to feel the bow's reaction. Second is that it's easy to let a little anticipation creep into your shot.

In any case, getting a feel for how your bow reacts on the shot will help you figure out the best hand / arm position. Of course the best place to learn this is on a blank bale where you can focus on something besides the target.

Allen


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## DyinQuivers (Feb 9, 2010)

Thanks for the advice guys. I was reading earlier that its not a good thing to have the bow contact the bow hand in the crease at the bottom of the hand at the wrist, that its more appropriate to have it square on the meat below your thumb??

Mike 

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

somewhere on the internet is a video by Larry Wise showing how to determine your bow hand placement. It's not on youtube. I think it's something like bowtube? 

It shouldn't take too long to find it with google.

Allen


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## Splitshafts (May 7, 2012)

The ball of your palm is where the bow grip should contact your hand. the bottom three fingers of the grip hand should be "Tucked" into your palm. That will make your knuckles turn away from the handle at a 45 degree angle. I would suggest not pointing your indext finger straight out. As it may contact the broadhead on the draw cycle or relase (God forbid)! that would be a huge problem.

If you push too hard on the handle, you'll find that all of your shots go high (heeling). Try to set the web of your thumb and index finger just below the bow shelf. As you draw use the release to set the handle into your hand. Then draw the bow slightly above your target. Settle into the target. Try not to lift up into the target. That will cause your shoulder muscles to start to flex. That makes your bow arm unstabke at full draw.


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