Hand Placement
Twelve illustrated panels for right- and left-handed archers: where the bow sits in your hand, what a relaxed grip and a clean hook look like, and the faults that send arrows off line.
Left-handed panels mirror the art. The words and clock numbers stay readable.
Bow pressure lives on the power pad. The grip's pivot point sits in the thumb web.
Open bow hand on the BCA Clock Face. Pivot point in the thumb web (about 2:30 RH, 9:30 LH); power pad at the base of the thumb.
Knuckles at about 45°. Pressure on the pad, not the fingers.
Seen from the target side, facing the grip. The knuckle line sits at about 45° to the riser; the power pad is shaded under the grip.
The pressure point lines up with the bow's centerline and the forearm bones.
Seen from behind the bow hand. The power pad is a dashed outline because it's under the grip; the force line runs through the pad and down the forearm.
Fingers relaxed. The hand pushes; it doesn't hold.
Seen from the target side. Fingers relaxed in a birds nest, pivot point in the thumb web; the hand pushes, it doesn't hold.
Choked grip. The fingers torque the bow: arrows spread left and right, or go left (RH).
Same view as BH-02. Fingers wrapped around the grip, knuckles stacked vertical (0°), parallel to the riser.
Fist grip. Squeezing adds tension and torque.
Same view as BH-02. Closed fist, knuckles horizontal (90°) across the grip.
Heeling. Pressure slides to the heel: arrows go high.
The wrist drops, so pressure slides off the power pad to the heel of the hand, toward 6 o'clock. Arrows go high.
Straight wrist. The force goes through bone, the same way every shot.
Top-down over the bow arm. A straight line from the power pad through the wrist and forearm.
Broken wrist. The pressure point moves from shot to shot.
Top-down over the bow arm. The wrist bends, so the force line leaves the forearm and the pressure point moves shot to shot.
Canted bow. Arrows go left or right.
Archer's eye view of the whole Genesis bow, edge-on, tilted off a plumb line.
Hook in the groove, straight wrist. The back does the work.
Hook in the groove: string in the first finger joints, back of the hand flat, straight wrist. The back does the work.
Cupped wrist, fingertip hook. The forearm tightens and the release fights its way off.
Cupped wrist with the string on the fingertips. The forearm tightens and the release fights its way off.