I ultimately decided to go with the bottom left design. Because everyone's hand sizes are different, the hole in the top right design could have posed as a drawback if it was too big or too small. 

Using high density foam, I used a handsaw to cut out what would act as the basic form of the handle. I made sure that this form was a lot smaller than what I sketched so that when I packed clay onto it, I would have more to work with.