The position of the hand on the bow handle is very im-portant. The bow should rest in the saddle of the hand withsome bearing on the fleshy part of the thumb. The wristshould be held so that it is in direct line with the bow. If thewrist is bent in toward the bow, the arrow will be prone to flyleft. If it is bent outward from the bow, the arm will tend tocollapse. The weight of the bow should be on a straight linewith the wrist.
The grip on the bow handle is also important. It shouldnot be gripped tightly. This is at variance with the teachingsof the old school which advocated a vice-like grip. If onecould grip the bow exactly the same way each time with thewrist in the same position and the same amount of tension inthe grip, one would get uniform results. But this seems ratherimpossible to do. We must do nothing that will interfere withthe free action of the bow. Therefore, if the bow is cradled orrather suspended in the hand with nothing to hold it in posi-tion except the pressure against the hand, then free bow ac-tion can be had. Neither should the fingers close on the bowhandle until after the arrow has cleared the bow. This re-quires timing—a feat one acquires after much practice. I have
