Open or Closed?
 

I was just wondering when you hold your bow do you shoot with an open hand or a closed hand. I personally shoot with an open hand but I was reading an article this weekend that suggested a partially closed hand is more accurate. I use to shoot closed handed but saw more accuracy when I started opening my hand. How do you shoot and what are your experiences????????

closed hand by habit...could shoot open handed though if it was needed

open hand no closed hand no.

Relaxed hand yes

open hand because most people tend to grasp the bow more firmly as you shoot which tends to twist the bow towards your thumb. watch someone shoot with a closed hand and you'll see what i mean.

Exactly.

You shouldn't be forcing your hand open any more than you should be gripping your bow. You should be shooting with a relaxed hand. If proper, the fingers will naturally curl around your bow but NOT grip the bow. This is where a wrist sling comes in handy. I shoot with such a relaxed grip that if I don't have a wrist strap on the bow, it shoots right out of my hand.

exactly use a relaxed grip

When I shoot, my pointer finger is just barely touching the tip of my thumb, but I am not gripping it.

Neither.

Shoot with a relaxed grip.

If someone were to walk up to you while at full draw they should be able to flick your fingers and they move just like if you were unconscious.

As Rob stated, you shouldn't force either one. You could go either way on my grip. I do not hold a tight grip nor do I have a wide open grip---somewhere in-between has proven to be comfortable and accurate for me.

same grip I use

Neither...

always shot closed grip,last year trying to learn open grip.guess i'll try relax grip.never heard of it before,but i'll try it.always looking for better things to try.thats why i love bow hunting.

Really an open hand grip (where you force the hand open and stick your fingers out) is almost as bad as a closed one. It still puts torque on the bow just from a different angle. Regardless of what your hand is doing, minimal toucing with the palm on the riser, and a relaxed hand are key.

My hand in the pic really is a bit more stressed than i try for, but hey... we all have room for improvement!!!

Derek

Open, relaxed hand

open yet fingers are slightly bent and relaxed.

I had a buddy who shot with his hand open and he actually shot his index finger with his arrow. His finger was pointed up and it took the meat off the inside of his finger. Just like everybody else said you want you hand to be relaxed so the bow fits in the saddle between your thumb and index finger. It also helps if you have a level on your sight.

open hand gives me more accuracy.

I tried shooting open hand, even with a wrist sling or ring sling I find myself closing my hand trying to "catch" the bow which threw my accuracy off. Now I shoot with my thumb and forefinger loosely closed around the grip. My other 3 fingers are folded in with fingernail side against the grip to help level the bow as needed. Not sure if that adds anything to accuracy but someone taught me that and it works for me so thats how I shoot.

I shoot with an open hand.