Handicap Tables - where to find them?

messyhead

Member
Hi folks. I've searched on here and found some references to the AGB handicap tables, but I can't for the life of me find them. The Documents on the AGB site are impossible to find anyting useful. I found the classification tables, but not the handicap ones.

I know that there was a copyright on them, but is that still the case, or are they downloadable somewhere?
 

Bertybobby

New member
Yes, you need 3 scores to get a handicap. Then average the 3.

After that if you score below your established handicap by more than 1 handicap point your handicap will reduce by the improvement divided by 2. So if your handicap is 40 and you then shoot 36, your handicap will reduce to 38, and so on.
 

fbirder

Member
Is the average score used in those tables, taken from the average of 3 rounds? So then the handicap would be the rating for that average score?
No, but I can see where it might be confusing.

The method for calculating the handicap gives a non-integer result (not a whole number). To get the score required for a certain handicap you'll need to round those scores to the nearest whole number.

So, for a York give scores of 1287.4, 1285.3, 1282.8 and 1280 for handicaps of 0, 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The AGB tables give scores of 1287, 1285, 1283 and 1280.

So you allocate a handicap for anything equal to, or greater than, the rounded value. Then, the archer has shot three qualifying rounds you take the average of their three rounds and round it up to the nearest whole number (so handicaps of 20, 20 and 21 would be 20.3333 - rounding up to 21).

After that it gets more complicated.
 

fbirder

Member
Yes, you need 3 scores to get a handicap. Then average the 3.
That will give an incorrect answer in some cases.

Suppose I shoot a York and score 1255, 1254 and 1255 - for an average of 1254.7. The CPB tables say that means I get a handicap of 9.

But the AGB tables say that I get individual allocations of 9, 10 and 9. These get averaged to 9.66666 - which, according to their rules, gets rounded up to 10.
 

Bertybobby

New member
That will give an incorrect answer in some cases.

Suppose I shoot a York and score 1255, 1254 and 1255 - for an average of 1254.7. The CPB tables say that means I get a handicap of 9.

But the AGB tables say that I get individual allocations of 9, 10 and 9. These get averaged to 9.66666 - which, according to their rules, gets rounded up to 10.
I know, but I was trying to keep it simple...

For me personally I don't shoot handicap competitions so it's for my own record rather than needing the absolute accuracy one point up or down.
 

messyhead

Member
Is the actual method to work it out, published anywhere? I'm wanting to write a small app to work these out, so I'd need to know the written rule.

(before anyone points me to archersmate or the like, I'm wanting to do this as a project while learning java)

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
 

eljetico

Supporter
Supporter
Is the actual method to work it out, published anywhere? I'm wanting to write a small app to work these out, so I'd need to know the written rule.

(before anyone points me to archersmate or the like, I'm wanting to do this as a project while learning java)

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
I have the handicap algorithm in Ruby if of any interest...
 

Mark31121

Member
Ironman
Is the actual method to work it out, published anywhere? I'm wanting to write a small app to work these out, so I'd need to know the written rule.

(before anyone points me to archersmate or the like, I'm wanting to do this as a project while learning java)

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
If using the equations you will get a couple of inaccuracies compared to the tables - these are from rounding "errors" in the original calculations. If you're part of an AGB club someone should have a copy of the green book for comparison
 

eljetico

Supporter
Supporter
If using the equations you will get a couple of inaccuracies compared to the tables - these are from rounding "errors" in the original calculations. If you're part of an AGB club someone should have a copy of the green book for comparison
Good shout. Further to this, my understanding is the rounding errors are/were due to the differences in floating point precision of 'old' (8-bit?) hardware vs 'new' (32/64-bit) hardware. I have a list of the mismatches somewhere...
 

eljetico

Supporter
Supporter
Yeah, that could be useful. I've done a bit of Ruby.
Just looked it over - there's some 'proprietary' stuff in the code so I'll clean that out/generalize it and put it on GitHub with some documentation and tests. Got to make some time, though...
 

messyhead

Member
That will give an incorrect answer in some cases.

Suppose I shoot a York and score 1255, 1254 and 1255 - for an average of 1254.7. The CPB tables say that means I get a handicap of 9.

But the AGB tables say that I get individual allocations of 9, 10 and 9. These get averaged to 9.66666 - which, according to their rules, gets rounded up to 10.
Are the AGB tables available anywhere? It looks like the CPB tables don't do the rounding already.
 

fbirder

Member
Are the AGB tables available anywhere? It looks like the CPB tables don't do the rounding already.
I believe that, while the algorithm is in the public domain, the tables themselves are still copyright AGB. As such, they are only available in what used to be called 'The Green Book' - every club should have at least one copy of this.

When I became Records Officer for our club I couldn't find our copy, so I bough one from Quicks - but they no longer seem to sell them. You can buy a paper copy of the Rules of Shooting, with the Handicap Tables, for ?15 from AGB - https://www.clickersarchery.co.uk/products/1204/archery-gb-rules-of-shooting-with-binder/
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
I believe that, while the algorithm is not in the public domain, the tables themselves are still copyright AGB. As such, they are only available in what used to be called 'The Green Book' - every club should have at least one copy of this.

When I became Records Officer for our club I couldn't find our copy, so I bough one from Quicks - but they no longer seem to sell them. You can buy a paper copy of the Rules of Shooting, with the Handicap Tables, for ?15 from AGB - https://www.clickersarchery.co.uk/products/1204/archery-gb-rules-of-shooting-with-binder/
Strictly, algorithms are not IP, so copyright, patents don't apply...
You can copyright an expression of an algorithm, but not the thing itself.

Just like you can copy a recipe. So long as you don't use the same words as the original, it's free for use. So far as I know, the same rule applies to instructions in general.
 
Top