I'll admit, I'm a beginner, I've shot 3 times in front of a retail salesperson.... Cabela's, Bass Pro, and Scheels. All of them knew that I was a beginner and had pointers for me, but it was only the Cabela's guy that said anything about the grip on the bow. He had me hold the bow so that I had little, if any, finger grip. He was happy when I had the fingers not resting on the bow. The other 2 places, I choked the crap out of the bow, that thing wasn't getting away Which, I'm sure is incorrect, choking it, that is. So my question is.... What is the proper way to grip the bow? And are there several different ways to grip it, like golf for example?? Also, I'm more of a visual person, so if anyone has illistrations, that would be best, otherwise type SLOW, so I can understand you. lol

Here's how I'd describe it. And I'm typing as slow as I can.[8D]

Hold your arm straight out to the side, palm down with your fingers straight and the thumb extended straight out from the hand. The inside bend of your elbow should be perpendicular to the floor. Now, keeping the elbow and upper arm still, rotate the wrist so that your thumb is pointing up at a 45 degree angle.

Now, keeping that inside bend of your elbow perpendicular to the floor, unlock your elbow. Relax your fingers and thumb. That is the exact position you want. The bow will fit in the pocket between your thumb and fingers, with the center of the grip to the thumb side of the lifeline in your palm. The index and middle fingers will wind up wrapped around the front of the grip, the ring and pinky fingers will be completely away from the grip. They could even curl up into the palm, alongside the bow's handle if you wanted, but it's better to leave them relaxed.

Don't make the mistake of trying to hold your fingers straight out, like you see so many shooters doing. They do this so they won't grab thehandle during the shot, but it'snot a good thing. It does nothing but add muscle tension into your hand and forearm, making it much easier to torque the bow.

The key thing to remember is keeping the hand relaxed. Before the shot, during the shot and after the shot, until you seethe arrow hit the target.

I would explain it as a open handed cradle that the bow grip or handle lays in when at full draw. Your bow grip lays between your thumb and in te valley of your hand. What you're trying not to do is grip the bow and torch it by gripping it firmly.

Your bow arm at full draw is not tense or muscle flexed either nor relaxedwith aslightly bend at the elbow. Your bow arm is more a post that holds the bow out in front of you at full draw.

Hopefully that explains it. Just my .02

On www.bowsite.com there is a very good tutoiral with pictures. I don't know the corect link, but click on these.

bowsite.com, Features, practical bowhunter, get a grip. If I remember right it's dated Sept 1999.

An easy way to learn is to cradle the bow in your palm whenat full drawand touch your pointer finger with your thumb. The rest of your fingers stay off the bow. Kind of like making the OK. Or, trying to make a shadow rabbit.

You didn't mention it, so I'll say it.

Make sure you have a bow sling! Not the shoulder type that you'd use to carry your bow, but the type that attaches below the grip of your bow. I hoping they the salesperson sold you one when you bought it.

BTW ArthurP, great explantion!

I'll third the great explanation from Arthur... he nailed it.