Resist the urge to “shake hands” with your bow. In other words, don’t grasp it directly from a straight angle, as this can put your hand off-center with the grip.
A lot of strength and power goes into pulling back the arrow, aiming, and firing. Your dominant hand is much better suited to it than your non-dominant hand.
The goal is to hold your bow in a way that creates the least amount of torque possible. Torque is a force that causes an object to rotate on an axis—and when you shoot an arrow, too much torque can throw off your aim. The best way to reduce torque is simply through a light grip on your bow. That’s why keeping your hand relaxed is so important as you maneuver it into position. The ball of your thumb joint is located at the base of your thumb. As long as your hand is relaxed when you slide it forward, you’ll naturally make contact with the bow in the right spot!
Try placing a piece of tape over your palm’s lifeline before gripping the bow, so you can feel the spot where your hand and bow should connect. If you grab the bow grip with any other part of your hand, your hand will likely change position once you apply pressure. If you can’t feel the V-shaped pocket, you might be forcing your fingers open too wide. This causes the muscles in your palm to stretch and tense up, making the pocket disappear.
Once your palm is settled, see if you can draw a straight line from your pivot point down to the bottom of your thumb pad where your hand is touching the bow. If you can, your hand is in the right spot!
Because your fingers don’t wrap around the bow with this grip, it’s good training to help you maintain a relaxed grip as you draw and shoot. Place the force of the bow mainly on your thumb and index finger; they should feel firm but not tense. These two fingers are the only ones that really end up controlling the direction of the bow.
You may need to play around with finger placement to find something firm and comfortable, but as with other bow types, most control will still come from the thumb and index finger. If your thumb and index finger press tightly together, you may end up strangling the bow—which causes hand pain and interferes with the accuracy of your shot. You can absolutely wrap your fingers around the front of your bow, but you may find it easier to pull your fingers back at a 45-degree angle (as demonstrated in the previous step) if you tend to squeeze the bow.
Test your grip by trying to wiggle your fingers when your bow is fully drawn. If you can wiggle them, you have a properly relaxed grip. If your palm touches the bow (beyond your lifeline and thumb pad), you will be unable to turn the bow arm inward, which can lead to a bad shot. Rest all the pressure on the ball of your thumb as you shoot, keeping your wrist as straight as possible.
To shoot the arrow, pull back the bowstring while gripping the arrow in your fingers until your hand rests next to your face. Aim the bow, then release the bowstring and let your arrow fly. Relax your fingers smoothly and quickly once you feel confident with your aim. There’s no need to tense up at any point in the shooting process!
You can also make a homemade finger sling out of a shoelace if you prefer.
