  We point out that hard exclusive production of tensor mesons $f_2(1270)$ with
helicity $\lambda=\pm 2$ is dominated by the gluon component in the meson wave
function and can be used to determine gluon admixture in tensor mesons in a
theoretically clean manner.
  We present a detailed analysis of the tensor meson distribution amplitudes
and calculate the transition form factor $\gamma+\gamma^*\to f_2(1270)$ for one
real and one virtual photon.
