How hand pressure is spread over the grip does not predict where the arrow goes

The summary today

Only one study has measured this directly, and the result went against what archers hear on the range. Fifteen experienced archers each shot eighteen arrows at thirty metres with force sensors built into the grip: taken one archer at a time, the spread of pressure was related to where the arrow landed in one archer out of fifteen for up and down, and three out of fifteen for left and right. In the rest of the group there was nothing. It is a single study from 1992 with few arrows each, so a small effect could have slipped through: the statement holds in the direction of the result, not as proof that the hand does not matter. What can be glimpsed elsewhere is a different thing, and it concerns consistency: a shooting machine loses accuracy when the grip on the bow changes from arrow to arrow, and in four traditional archers each one shot best with a different grip from the others.

Also phrased as: "hand pressure on the bow grip"; "how you hold the bow and where the arrow goes"; "grip pressure and group direction"; "pressure distribution on the grip"; "the bow hand pushes the arrow right"

Evidence

• 1992
  For Archers Published later

  15 experienced US recurve archers, 8 from the national squad with FITA scores above 1,250 and 7 below 1,150, 18 measured arrows each at 30 m with a force sensor array inside the grip: for every archer the spread of pressure was correlated with where the arrow landed on the target. Threshold r = 0.40 (one-tailed, p = 0.05, 16 degrees of freedom): significant in 1 archer out of 15 for the vertical position and 3 out of 15 for the horizontal one.

  Archery Bow Grip Force Distribution: Relationships with Performance and Fatigue · Philip E. Martin, Gary D. Heise

• 2020
  Context Model Published later

  A shooting machine built to select arrows, with no archers: in the first version the bow hand was not clamped, the bow came loose on every shot and the grip landed in a different place each time, with reduced accuracy; in the second a polyacetal clamp holds the bow and lets it jump forward on release, the way a hand does. It does not measure pressure distribution: it shows what happens when the grip does not repeat.

  Development of an Archery Robot for the Selection of Arrows · Masashi Ohara, Naoki Kawasaki, Jun Nakahama, Yogo Takada, Hitoshi Watanabe

• 2021
  Context Archers Published later

  4 Malaysian traditional archers with more than four years of practice, 6 arrows at 5 m with each of the four bow grips described in a Mamluk treatise, in random order: the effect of grip on distance from the centre is significant only in the first archer, F(1.89; 9.46) = 4.66, p < 0.05, in favour of the intermediate grip; in the other three there is no effect. The best grip changed from person to person.

  The Influence of Saracen Archery Grasping Techniques and Forearm Muscles Activation on Shooting Performance in Traditional Archery: A Pilot Study · N. F. Kamarudin, A. F. Salleh, M. S. Salim, M. F. Kasim, N. Omar, M. J. Masnan, C. C. Lim

Status history

1. 1990 Not studied In the registry's bibliography nobody has yet put a force sensor inside the grip and compared the pressure of the hand with where each arrow lands.
2. 1992 Reported The one study that measures this arrives: fifteen experienced archers, eighteen arrows each at thirty metres, force sensors on the grip. Archer by archer, the link between pressure distribution and where the arrow lands is significant in one archer out of fifteen vertically and three out of fifteen horizontally. The claim as it circulates on the range finds no support, so it is written in the direction of the result and takes the status reported: a single study, and the result is a negative one.
3. 2020 Reported A shooting machine built to select arrows adds a detail that does not answer the question but sits beside it: in the first version the grip on the bow was not fixed and changed from shot to shot, and accuracy dropped even with no archer involved. It is an equipment test, with no people in it, and in a technique claim it counts only as context, so the status does not move. It does say where to look, though: not at how the pressure is spread, but at whether it repeats.
4. 2021 Reported Four traditional archers try four different grips on the bow: accuracy changes significantly in one of them only, and the best grip is not the same for all. It points the way the claim does, but it is four people, six arrows per condition and five metres of distance, so the status stays reported.

Related

Related articles

• Why do my arrows go left, right, high or low?Where your arrows land is a report: how to read impact patterns, and what the measurements say about the sight, the grip, bow torque and launch speed.
• The bow hand: where it pushes, how much it closes and how much torque mattersHow the hand sits on the grip, how much expert archers squeeze, and what the measurements say about grip pressure, its consistency and bow torque.

Research lines

• 17 studiesGrip pressure and bow torque: from 1971 to today
• 22 studiesTraditional and historical bows, from models to archers

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedBetween one and a half and two tenths of a second pass between the clicker sounding and the arrow leaving7 studies · 94 archers measuredStatus since 1990
• ReportedA camera diagonally behind the archer measures the vertical sway of the aim well, but not the horizontal1 study · 3 archers measuredStatus since 2010
• ReportedA continuous final pull through the clicker leads to better shots9 studies · 56 archers measuredStatus since 1993
• ReportedA sound or light cue about the angle of the bow arm tightens beginners' groups2 studies · 1 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA thumb grip on the string is less tiring than a finger grip3 studies · 9 archers measuredStatus since 1990

See all claims on technique and biomechanics