no way.

Nope.

My hybrid has them on it and I like it for when I'm carrying the bow still hunting. And such. I shoot with a semi open grip. No preference here.

Magnus

I shoot with only my thumb and index finger touching with a horizontal hand, so my fingers never grip the bow. But I will take finger grooves EVERY time.  Cuz they look awesome!
ABSOLUTELY personal preference. You've gotta shoot both and see.

My last recurve I built has the finger groves and it does look real nice but I don't grip my bow so it really is not that important other than more work and a cool look. My other bows all have 2 groves on the opposite side of the grip as I usually shoot with 2 fingers curled under much like Asbel does. The groves give me a natural cant every time and keeps me from griping tightly on the bow and causing torque. I find my groups really change when I don't use this method so the finger groves on my last bow are not used when I shoot except for the top 2. Just my personal opinion but works for me.

IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/Chortdraw/Miscpictures015.jpg[/IMG]

These are the grips for the curled finger style I use

Miscpictures015.jpg[/IMG]

try this again?

Generally I'm not attracted to them and have no bow with them. To be honest, I've never even held a bow with them so I should reserve judgement. However, I would think it very unlikely a bow with finger grooves would fit the grip I use. If it didn't it wouldn't work for me at all.

Now, if a bowyer had a "form" for his riser that someone like me could grip and mark, it might be cool to have the grip made with some slight (non-torque inducing) indents to help me to set the bow hand consistently.

By the way, the more important reference for my hand and the grip is where the lifeline of my bowhand is placed on the grip. I'm thinking about taping a small diameter string in this spot (vertical) to set my lifeline on it the same way every shot.

I don't like them and don't need them.

I like them. I have 2 Zipper recurve and one on order. I notice not having them on other bows, I don't notice the one's on the Zipper while shooting. I like the thumb groove on my Stalker too.

I build bows both ways. Seems to be a tossup as to how many people like them and how many don't A lot of how they feel is how well they are done. god bless you all, Steve

Seems like a toss up! Chortdraw, thanks for the photos of the riser never seen one like that before.

My Zipper standard recurve with finger grooves helped me kill quite a few animals. I've never shot a bow and I've shot hundreds- as well as I do that Zipper...Bob built it for me in 1988 I think..

I retired it this past year and now shoot a Centaur I bought from someone else...you guessed it- with finger grooves.  I shoot it lights out when I have time to practice....I grew up with recurves...high grip, finger grooves and straight wrist give me the most consistent hand placement and follow through on release...

Those are what I need for consistency.

Other people need other things....