hand position

[bloodtrailer]

does everybody shoot there bow with an open hand or do you wrap your hand tightly around the grip

[tedicast]

I shoot open handed. I don't close my hand to grab the bow untill well after the shot, and the bow is moving forward, tightening up my wrist sling.

These pics are in sequence, taken with my digital camera set to take 3 frames per second.

[michihunter]

Great Pictorial Ted. I shoot with a "relaxed" grip. I let the bow draw into the crook of my hand. I was taught that you can't torque a bow if you aren't holding it. And it's true. Try turning your bow without a firm grasp of it. It's darn near impossible. Here's a pic of my grip.

[Scottyluck]

michihunter said:

Great Pictorial Ted. I shoot with a "relaxed" grip. I let the bow draw into the crook of my hand. I was taught that you can't torque a bow if you aren't holding it. And it's true. Try turning your bow without a firm grasp of it. It's darn near impossible. Herars a pic of my grip.

Actually, you can still torque it. You can put pressure on the grip qith your thumb causing torque issues.
You need to be completely relaxed.

I also shoot with an open handed grip.

[michihunter]

scottyluck said:

Actually, you can still torque it. You can put pressure on the grip with your thumb causing torque issues.
You need to be completely relaxed.

I also shoot with an open handed grip.

If you are putting pressure on it with your thumb, you are "holding" or "gripping" the bow. If you don't grip the bow, you can NOT turn it. Try it.

[Scottyluck]

You can still influence the position of the bow with an open grip. Especially if you have a fatter, wider grip. Also if you shoot with a low wrist. The more contact your hand has with the grip, whether open or not, the more influence it can have.
I'm not saying it happens to everyone since everyone's form is different. Just stating that certain factors make it possible.

[michihunter]

I agree SL that there are things that will influence a bows tendencies in a persons hand position. By finding the natural crook in the hand and allowing the bow to be pulled into it, you will decrease the chances of anything negative happening. I normally tell my sons to hold the bow by the string horizontally and place the bow hand over the grip and pull up into it. It will settle in nicely and will give you an understanding of where the bow fits into each individuals hand.

[Greg Krause]

I shoot open grip and have also found that by removing the grips on my hoyts i get better groups at longer ranges. i went to "side plate" grips and then just the riser. Makes it very hard to tourque.

[mahly]

Relaxed and slightly open hand. By that I mean I am sure NOT to FORCE my hand open. the hand is very relaxed, and the fingers naturally curve around the grip (not actually touching it). Similar to michihunters pic.
I USED to put the grip in the center crease of the hand , but now I find I shoot a little better turning the bow hand out (clockwise) a little bit, and let the grip of the bow sit in the meat of the lower thumb (IF I could find my dang camera, I could take a pic LOL).
When shooting well, I will hold that position until the bow rotates a full 90 degrees in front of me (held up by a sling)
tedicast: what kind of camera is that (if I can't find mine...I'll need a new one LOL)
BTW, VERY nice form on the RELEASE hand (many people forget to keep the release hand RELAXED).
NOTE: the following is NOT a criticism!!! Looking at the bow hand, it looks like your making a conscious effort to keep that hand open (whatever works for YOU!) and in the last pic the hand is finally relaxing (though the thumb seems to be tensing up to keep the bow from moving). It doesn't look like your doing anything that would affect the shot though, just noticing what I see. Again, NOT criticizing, just noticing the differences in our shooting style.