Handicap
The archery handicap is a number between 0 and 150 that indicates an archer’s ability. It can also be viewed as a measure of precision, such as group size or consistency. Essentially, the lower the handicap value, the better the archer.
For archers without an established handicap, the initial figure is the average of the handicaps from the first three official rounds recorded. Once an archer has a handicap, it can be improved after each round shot.
If you’re on Golden Records, you don’t need to calculate your current handicap – it can be found under “Current Handicap” in your profile.
If you’re curious about the mathematics behind handicaps, see the links below.
Adjusted Scores
Handicaps allow archers of all skill levels to compete against one another. This is done by adding a specific number of points to an archer’s score at the end of the round, helping to balance differences in skill. The points added are determined by the archer’s handicap level and the round being shot. The lower an archer’s handicap, the fewer points are added to their score.
The adjusted total will be 1440 for everyone if all archers shoot exactly to their handicap level. The winner is the archer with the highest score after the handicap adjustment, meaning they shot to their skill level or better. This means that a beginner could potentially beat a world champion in a handicap match if the beginner performs better than their current handicap while the champion only shoots to their handicap.
Example based on our Winter H2H Rolling Ranking
Score of 573 for Alena shooting a Portsmouth round with a handicap of 19. The allowance is 870. The Handicap Adjusted score is 573+870=1443. Alena got the result slightly above 1440 but still indicating that she performed better than before.
Score of 361 for Kat shooting a Portsmouth round with a handicap of 78. The allowance is 1109. The Handicap Adjusted score is 361+1109=1470. Kat’s score is well above 1440. It indicates that Kat shot significantly better than her handicap at that point and Alena only shot slightly better than her current handicap which means Kat is higher than Alena in the rankings.
You don’t need to make any of these calculations, Golden Records adds allowance automatically but if you’re curious here is the table.