Hand position-high or low?

[Jerry Tee]

May be we should start calling the grip a handle because we don't grip it.

[geoffretired]

How about, correct hand placement facilitator device?LOL Sounds techy enough to make some catalogue or other. It can be used instead of a breath test, too. You're not drunk if you can say it. If you feel the urge to say it , you have already had too many.

[Davros]

Being new to U/L there is a lot of experimenting to do. Reading geoffretireds journal thoughts leaves me streets behind in that field! Whe i got my bow I straight away put my old KG1 (recurve) lovely comfy wooden handle on it. I'll now try the original, lower grip and see how it affects my scores.

[geoffretired]

Davros, I had KG1 as my first bow. Lovely comfy grip! The trouble was I could put my hand on it in all sorts of positions. I found that the grip needed to tell me if I changed the way I was holding it. Made my own for that reason. Any change in position and it felt wrong/different

[pwiles1968]

Still new to this but I am definitely high with knuckles at about 45 degrees, my bow has the very small plates at the side of the bow for grips, the heel of my thumb sits on the metal at the front of the riser, so if I try a low grip when I draw it slides to the top of the grip area, the throat if that is the correct word? dont know if there is any way to stop this so i can try a lower grip?

It appears from the design of the grip sections at the side that I should be in this area anyway, it does mean my hand is at the same height every shot, I may take the side pieces off the bow as they dont actually do much for me at all.

[geoffretired]

Paul, I think I know what's going on here. When you talk about high grip and low grip I think you mean where you place your hand into the grip area.Up at the top or further down which means it slides up when you draw the bow.
When the others talk of high or low grip they mean the slope of that part that you put your hand against. A high grip means the slope is about 45 to horizontal and throws your wrist high or nearly level with the thumb. A low grip slopes down more steeply and allows the wrist to be low compared to the thumb.
You guessed right about the shape telling you where to put your hand in the first place. Your hand should fit into the grip so it doesn't need to slide up, as it is there from the start.
I can e-mail a sketch if I didn't say that correctly.
Hope this helps
Geoff

[wingate_52]

High grip for me. With the 3 other fingers at 45 degrees. I used to get a blister on the second finger where it was in contact with the edge of the wooden grip, but now it is a hard callous. Do not grip the handle, support the bow.

[Davros]

Interesting subject, I'm experimenting myself. Have shot R/C for ten years with a high grip. In fact I had a KG1 for the first two years - super high grip. Changed to a PSE Zone R/C and didn't like the lower grip so I purchased a new KG1 grip and modified it to fit the PSE riser. I always imagined that the smaller area of contact with the handle reduced the margin of error of centre of pressure when compared to a low grip.
Recently I changed to U/L, again put my KG1 wooden grip onto it but does not shoot right! Something to do with the balance of the bow or perhaps the design? I observe that MOST U/L bows have very low grips is this for a reason?
I have now lowered the grip and after 6 mnths shooting short ranges only am getting 29 handicap scores.

[Bald Eagle]

I found with the hoyt tec compounds, grab hold of it, draw up, let your hand ride to the top of the throat and the bubble will settle central

[greydog]

I think the reason you see alot of recurves shot with a high grip and compounds shot with a low one is mainly due to the way the different designs resist torque.
Recurves seem to be more torque resistant allowing you to go for a high hand position to get a nice line of force high up through the throat of the handle.
Compounds, especially the shorter you go on axle to axle length become easier to torque with a high hand grip unless you are very consistant with your wrist. A low hand grip just allows you to bypass most wrist movement and you can compensate for the slightly lower line of force through cam tuning, or sometimes tiller tuning.
In the end, neither is more accurate than the other, it all comes down to feel, personal preference and what you find most easily repeatable