Handicaps

[Blackarrow]

Hi everyone,

What are people handicaps and do they use there handicap for anything other than seeing if they are improving when shooting different rounds.

I myself have a 32 handicap (unofficially as I haven't shot any tournaments for a couple of years), officially I could enter in a beginners handicap catagory, but that would be grossly unfair .

I don't use my handicap for anything other than gaugeing my performance and avoid entering handicap competitions like the plague! But thats just me

 

[TimCroot]

Until the GNAS can free the handicaps from copyright and distribute it more widely a lot of people (i guess) dont have much idea of their handicap. Records officers should have the data?

Unlike golf handicaps is there any allowances for a handicap differance in shoots?

 

[joetapley]

A time based graph of handicaps shot can be a useful indicator of development (or not) particularly if tied into coaching activity/form changes.

 

[Trunkles]

I compile a handicap improvement chart at year end which is good for encouraging beginners/novices/those of us who have not been doing this for very long. With some people you get a nice steady trend of reducing handicap. We also have a club handicap shoot which has been won by a junior for the last two years. I can also see that my current scores are poor for my current handicap.

 

[Tuck]

You don't have to shoot at a Tournament to score for a handicap - any round shot to GNAS rules counts - ie all club target day rounds - any round shot at a club with witnesses counts.

Youre Club Records Officer should advise.

 

[Trunkles]

But it can only be counted if you submit it to your club. On a normal club shoot I collect all the score sheets and collate them. But for shooting elsewhere e.g a tournament or at another club or "on your own" then they need to be submitted. Each club will have its own procedure to do this

 

[Alex Greig]

How is the handicap applied to your score?

 

[Trunkles]

Your handicap has no effect unless it is a handicap shoot where an allowance for your handicap will be added to your score to "level the playing field". They are often used in leagues to allocate you with people of a similar standard.

 

[LineCutter]

The problem with handicaps is that they're useful for tracking your performance across different rounds, but not very good at levelling the playing field.

Our club handicap shoot is never won by a "competitive" archer, but always by a novice having a good day. The handicap allowance is fixed, but the spread of scores shot decreases as the handicap improves.

I still enjoy our club handicap shoot, but more for the effect it has on the beginnersthan for my position in the ranking (plus I can always compare scores directly with my peers - like a normal competition).

 

[Furface]

Yes, "competitive" archers do find it frustrating. Handicap shoots go to those who shoot above their standard, and this is more difficult the better you get. What would improve the system a tad would be some form of "smoothing", where freak scores can be ignored. For instance, if someone steadily progressing through the 50s has a day when the angels are with him, and he shoots a 20 hcap score, then his handicap will decrease massively that day; however, it will not then change (probably) until the reassessment the season after next! (This happened recently at my club) So he will never be competitive in Hcap competitions, despite shooting above his normal standard, nor would he be able to use the handicap as a gauge of progress.
In my view, HCAP competitions are wonderful for beginners/intermediates, but should be also have awards for normal "high score" winners. So everyone can be competitive.

 

[Micky]

I have a handicap of 24, and apart from when I compete at the club I simply don't use it. It's of no earthly use at any of the tournaments that I go to, because they're all based on straight score, and if they're based on handicap then I haven't got a snowball's chance in ...

Having said that, I do use it to compare my performance on a particular round if I've shot something other than a FITA or Hereford. Because I only submit 12 doz scores to our records officer I know that it's not an artificially low handicap, so it's a good guage of how I'm doing on a day to day basis when I don't have a score to compare it to.

You know, I make sense on Planet Micky

 

[Furface]

I have a handicap of 24, and apart from when I compete at the club I simply don't use it. It's of no earthly use at any of the tournaments that I go to, because they're all based on straight score, and if they're based on handicap then I haven't got a snowball's chance in ...

Having said that, I do use it to compare my performance on a particular round if I've shot something other than a FITA or Hereford. Because I only submit 12 doz scores to our records officer I know that it's not an artificially low handicap, so it's a good guage of how I'm doing on a day to day basis when I don't have a score to compare it to.

You know, I make sense on Planet Micky

Well....
a) In your first paragraph you imply that you will never shoot a PB at a tournament (otherwise you would stand a chance in a handicap element). If you go in to tournaments thinking like that, you never will.
b) Second paragraph implies that you would get a better handicap if you shot the shorter rounds. This is a common fallacy. Try it. In terms of arrow numbers, these are allowed for in the construction of the tables (have a glance at the section on "Score for two dozen arrows, and work it out); in terms of shorter distances, the shorter the distance, the higher the expectation (A "Full House" on a Short Junior Western rates a handicap of 26).
c) Combining the two, because you are selecting the rounds you submit to your records officer, you are distorting your handicap anyway. The handicap is the result of your best scores. If you do not submit scores with a lower handicap, you are artificially keeping your handicap high, not stopping it from being artificially low. And what happens at re-assessment time?
And why is your club records officer not pestering you?
Sadly, Planet Micky seems a little out of kilter!

 

[Micky]

Wellllll...

a) No, I don't shoot my pb's in tournaments right now. I had a fine season two years ago and have been struggling to match it ever since. Nothing to do with kidding myself, I simply don't have the ability at present to match my pbs. Maybe it's all in the head - probably is - but that's something I'm working on.

b) I do shoot lower handicaps on shorter rounds. I've consistantly shot lower handicaps when I shoot Nationals, Warwicks etc. But if I can't maintain a standard for 12 dozen arrows over my maximum distances then I don't count it as MY standard. I don't see the point of parading a sub 20 handicap when I can't do it on a FITA. To me, that's a false handicap. I rarely compete at any tournaments which aren't FITAs, Herefords or 720s. Anything else is shot at the club.

That kind of answers (c) as well I think.

Because I don't compete in handicap tournaments I don't see that I'm falsifying my handicap in any way - up or down. I don't use it for anything else but comparing my lower rounds against my 12 dozen rounds and my 720s, and when the guys at the club decide to throw me into our club tournaments and handicap the hell out of me See the thread I put up about our All Comers Warwick a couple of months ago to see what I mean...

So, Planet Micky may be a bit out of kilter with recognised thinking, but it makes sense to me. Besides which, if I'm alone up here then I get all the cake

Oh, and my club records officer doesn't pester me because I explained this to him - I'm not sure if he agrees either, but he does at least understand my logic... amazing man

 

[joetapley]

I agree with Micky's viewpoint (even as a club records officer) that handicaps are there to be used by archers as they think fit.

I also agree that lower handicaps are easier at shorter distances (that's why to get higher classifications you have to shoot the longer distance rounds). Combination of wind effects, sensitivity to equipment and equipment setup and archer technique and archer friendliness of the GNAS scoring system.