How is an archery handicap calculated?

It depends on who runs the competition. Under NFAA league rules, your handicap is 80 percent of the gap between your average and a perfect game, with the average taken from your last six games. On a 100-point game, an average of 80 gives a handicap of 16. The NFAA field handicap uses your best three of your last seven field or hunter scores instead. Clubs and other associations use their own formulas, so ask your organiser.

Does a lower handicap mean a better archer?

In an allowance system like the NFAA's, yes. The closer your average is to a perfect game, the fewer points are added to your score, so the strongest archers carry the smallest handicaps. Other schemes may use a different scale, so check how your league or association counts before comparing numbers.

Do all archery leagues use handicaps?

No. Under NFAA league rules the league chooses between a team and an individual handicap, but club leagues outside NFAA sanction set their own rules, and some shoot scratch only. Ask the organiser how the league is scored before your first night.

Handicap System

An archery handicap system evens out competition between archers of different standards. Each archer is given an allowance based on their established scores, and it is added to the score they shoot, so a newer archer can beat a stronger one on the day. Leagues, clubs and associations each set their own rules for working handicaps out.

Details

A handicapped competition keeps two results. The scratch score is what you actually shot; the handicap score adds your allowance to it. A competition can use both: the NFAA's rules allow handicap and scratch shooting in the same tournament, so the strongest archer can still win on scratch while everyone has a chance on handicap.

The NFAA's league rules show how one system works. The league chooses a team or an individual handicap. Each archer's average is worked out every week from the last six games shot; during the first two league series, the high and low games are dropped and the remaining score is used instead. An individual handicap is 80 percent of the gap between the archer's average and a perfect game. A team handicap is 80 percent of the gap between the two teams' averages.

On a 100-point NFAA indoor game, an archer averaging 80 is 20 points short of perfect, so their handicap is 16. An archer averaging 95 gets 4. Because the allowance is only 80 percent of the gap, the stronger archer still starts a few points ahead on their usual form, and the newer archer has to shoot above their average to win.

The NFAA also keeps a separate handicap for its outdoor field and hunter rounds, recorded on an official handicap card. It is 80 percent of the gap between a perfect 560 and the average of the archer's best three of their last seven scores, counting only scores shot in the last 12 months. In the NFAA's own example, a best-three average of 450 gives a handicap of 88.

Other organisations run different schemes, and some publish handicap tables that rate a score on one round against scores on other rounds. The scale, the rounds covered and how often a handicap changes all differ, so check the rules of your league, club or association before you compare numbers.

A handicap moves with your average, so it rewards improvement over the season rather than a single good night. Keeping your own record of the games you shoot makes it easy to check your average and your allowance when the league posts its standings.

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Common questions

How is an archery handicap calculated?: It depends on who runs the competition. Under NFAA league rules, your handicap is 80 percent of the gap between your average and a perfect game, with the average taken from your last six games. On a 100-point game, an average of 80 gives a handicap of 16. The NFAA field handicap uses your best three of your last seven field or hunter scores instead. Clubs and other associations use their own formulas, so ask your organiser.
Does a lower handicap mean a better archer?: In an allowance system like the NFAA's, yes. The closer your average is to a perfect game, the fewer points are added to your score, so the strongest archers carry the smallest handicaps. Other schemes may use a different scale, so check how your league or association counts before comparing numbers.
Do all archery leagues use handicaps?: No. Under NFAA league rules the league chooses between a team and an individual handicap, but club leagues outside NFAA sanction set their own rules, and some shoot scratch only. Ask the organiser how the league is scored before your first night.