How To Hold A Bow And Arrow - Beginners Archery

How To Hold A Bow And Arrow

How To Hold A Bow And Arrow

Hold a bow and arrow? I'm sure you've probably seen a lot of movie characters like lagolas from the lord of the rings or Arrow from the TV series Green arrow, and while watching these movies your heart melted and you instantly fell in love with the idea of archery and wanted to become a master archer. Or maybe you're just an adventurous person with an open mind and thinks that archery is a wonderful sport.
Well, regardless of whatever reason you might have, archery is a wonderful and thrilling sport which is both relaxing and worth engaging in.



Indeed archery can be fun, but it can also be very dangerous if you don't know the basics of how to draw your bow properly. You might end up hurting yourself or sticking your arrow in someone else's guts, and we all know what happens after that.
So what is the best way to draw your bow, you might ask. Well there are a few things you need to check out first before you go about firing your arrows.

Your stance

Bow grip

A proper arrow grip and positioning

1. Stance:

As a beginner in archery, the stance should be the first thing you should practice and perfect before you go about shooting your first arrow or even hitting a bull's eye.

There are basically 3 major stances in archery, and it's important to master them all, but for now, we recommend the open stance not only because it makes you look like a cool badsss when drawing your bow, but also because it promotes a more stable shot in windy outdoors conditions due to the additional twist and foot angle that gives you a good balance and makes your draw feel smooth and natural.
To do the open stance, your feet should be shoulder width apart, then your front foot should be 30° outwards (your front is usually the leading foot and is the foot nearest to the target).

To get a natural feel of the open stance, imagine you're about to punch an opponent in a boxing match, you will see that your feet naturally takes this form.

Make sure you're not puffing up your chest because this will shift you center of gravity and make it hard for you to balance yourself.
Stand up straight and relax your lower chest and ribs downward slightly towards your stomach, then relax your shoulders and push them downwards too.

2. Bow grip:

Another mistake most newbies make is often gripping their bow so tightly like it owes them money. You're not suppose to hold your bow like that. Although when you see some Hollywood and pro archers taking their shot, they appear to be tightly holding their bow, but it's the other way round, their grip is firm but slightly loose because a tight grip involves a lot of muscle activity which causes the bow to shake therefore making your shot wobbly and off target.

So the right way to hold a bow will be to gently place the grip in between your thumb and index finger. After that, the bow should naturally rest below your thumb, then you can gently fold the remaining fingers on the bow but make sure your grip is a little bit loose but firm so that your bow won't fall off of your palm after you release the string.

3. A proper arrow grip and positioning:

Now you've got your stance and bow grip in place, it's time to practice readying your bow and pulling the string.
Just like the stance, there are several ways to hold the arrow on the bowstring, but since you're a beginner, we recommend you use the popular "split" which requires you place your index finger on the string above the nock (the butt of the arrow) with your mid and ring finger below the nock, while you tuck your thumb and pinky away.

A common mistake a lot of beginners make is that they pull and hold the string for too long which uses a lot of muscle power therefore making their shots shaky and unstable. It's alright to aim and look at your target, but don't hold the string for too long if you don't want a messy shot because of a tired arm.

So there you have it, a brief guide on the basics of how to properly hold a bow and arrow, now you can get those clean shots and start working on your accuracy. Check out catalogs for more tips to help you on your journey to becoming a master archer.
Goodluck.