A player came in last season with a stick she had bought on the strength of a highlight reel. Extra low bow, the sort of thing an international drag flicker uses. She played centre midfield in a Saturday league, hit the ball well, and could not work out why her straight drives had gone loose and her passing had lost its edge. Nothing was wrong with the stick. It was a very good stick, built to do a job she never asked it to do.
Bow is the specification that most often gets chosen for the wrong reasons, because it is the one that looks most impressive in a video and matters least to how the average club player actually spends a match.
What a bow is, in plain terms
Look along a hockey stick from the handle to the toe and you will see it is not straight. There is a curve in the shaft, and that curve is the hockey stick bow, sometimes called the rake. Two things define it: how deep the curve is, and where along the stick the deepest point sits.
Depth changes how much the face of the stick tilts back as you lift or scoop, which is what makes a ball climb. Position changes where that effect is strongest. Move the deepest point of the curve down towards the head and the stick gets much better at getting under a ball close to your feet — the exact motion behind an aerial, a drag flick or any 3D skill. Move it back up towards the middle and the stick behaves more predictably on a flat, straight strike.
Everything else about bow follows from those two variables. There is no shape that is better in the abstract; there is only the shape that suits what you do.
One rule to be aware of: governing bodies limit how deep a bow is allowed to be, and manufacturers build to those limits. Sticks sold through normal retail are made to comply, but the permitted figure has been revised over the years, so if you play at a level where equipment is checked, confirm the current regulation with your club or league rather than trusting a number you read online.
The three shapes and what each is for
Standard or regular bow
The curve is shallow and sits around the middle of the shaft. This is the all-round shape and the honest default. Straight hitting is clean and repeatable, push passing is predictable, receiving is straightforward, and lifting the ball is entirely possible — it simply asks for better technique than a lower bow does.
Standard bow suits defenders who hit long, players who value a reliable drive, anyone new to the game, and juniors across the board. If nobody has told you that you need something else, this is the shape you want.
Low bow
The deepest point of the curve moves down the shaft towards the head. Aerials come off the stick more easily, drag flicks generate more height with less effort, and 3D skills — lifting the ball over an opponent's stick, dragging it up and across — become far more achievable.
The trade-off is real. A low bow makes a clean, flat straight drive harder to strike consistently, because the face presents to the ball differently. Players who move to a low bow from a standard one usually find their skills improve and their hitting takes a few weeks to recover, if it fully recovers at all.
Low bow suits attacking midfielders and forwards who play in tight areas, penalty corner injectors, and anyone whose game is built on manipulating the ball rather than striking it.
Extra low bow
The specialist tool. The curve is as deep as regulations permit and sits low on the shaft. It exists primarily for drag flickers, and for players whose 3D skills are already a genuine weapon.
In the hands of that player it is excellent. In anyone else's hands it is a stick that has traded away straight hitting and simple receiving for a skill they do not use. If you are not routinely taking penalty corner flicks or beating opponents with lifted skills in matches, this is not your shape.
A short decision tree
Answer these in order and stop at the first one that fits.
- Are you a junior, a beginner, or returning after years away? Standard bow. Learn to hit and receive with a predictable face. Everything else is easier afterwards.
- Do you play at the back, or is long, accurate hitting the most valuable thing you do? Standard bow. You will not miss the aerial capability nearly as much as you would miss the drive.
- Do you take drag flicks at penalty corners as a regular role for your team? Extra low bow, or a low bow if you also play a lot of open field hockey and need the drive.
- Are aerials and 3D skills already part of how you beat people in matches — not in training, in matches? Low bow.
- None of the above, but you want a bit more help lifting the ball? Low bow, and accept that your hitting will need attention for a while.
The honest summary is that most club players are best served by a standard bow, a decent proportion by a low bow, and a small minority by an extra low. That ratio is roughly inverted in what people ask us for, which is why it is worth thinking about before you order.
If you are unsure, the practical move is to borrow a clubmate's low bow for a training session and hit fifty balls with it. You will know within twenty minutes whether the trade-off is one you want to make. When you have decided, the shapes are listed against each stick in the stick listings, and it is worth reading the bow description alongside the carbon content rather than in isolation, since a stiff extra low bow is a very different object from a forgiving one. The rest of the hockey range is there too, and if you are going to start practising flicks in earnest, a mouthguard and a pair of gloves from the accessories are sensible company.