I'm wondering about your hand position. When you're on the hoods just applying normal braking, regulating speed, any old hand position that's comfortable will do, but when I'm descending on the hoods or otherwise braking hard I roll my hands more to the outside so I can have all three middle fingers lower on the lever and with more of the finger wrapped around the lever. My hands are of average size and I've never had to go to the drops to get more leverage.