Questions and Answers

This page posts questions asked by our members related to the sport of archery or about our archery club. Questions can be posted via the “Contact” area at the front of our website, or by sending your questions in via email or by Personal Message (PM) WhatsApp. We will publish the question on this page for all members to see (other members may have thought of asking the same question). We will also post our answers here too. We look forward to receiving your questions soon………………

Question – “How is a handicap obtained?”

Initial Assessment – A beginner, or archer not in possession of a handicap will not receive a handicap until they have shot three complete rounds.
The handicap awarded will be the average of the handicap rating for the 3 completed rounds, rounded up to the next larger whole number.
Examples,
First 3 completed rounds of 79, 71 & 68, (average 72.6 ) giving an initial handicap of 73.
First 3 completed rounds of 76, 75 & 77, (average 76) giving an initial handicap of 76.
First 3 completed rounds of 86, 87 & 81, (average 84.6 ) giving an initial handicap of 85.
If any of the rounds do not qualify for a handicap, the archer will be given a handicap of 100 until they improve.

Ongoing Reduction of Handicaps – The process of handicap reduction is continuous, and will be reduced every time an archer shoots a round to a better standard than their current handicap. The new handicap will be an average of their current handicap, plus handicap for the round shot, rounded up to the next larger whole number. (the archers handicap cannot go back up, if the average rounded up, is higher than the current handicap, then the current handicap will remain)
Examples
An archer with a handicap of 45 who shoots a round with a handicap of 44 (average 89) retains a handicap of 45.
An archer with a handicap of 45 who shoots a round with a handicap of 45 (average 90) retains a handicap of 45.
An archer with a handicap of 45 who shoots a round with a handicap of 46 (average 91) retains a handicap of 45. (the handicap cannot go back up)
An archer with a handicap of 45 who shoots a round with a handicap of 43 (average 88) has a new handicap 44.
An archer with a handicap of 45 who shoots a round with a handicap of 42 (average 87) has a new handicap 44.
An archer with a handicap of 45 who shoots a round with a handicap of 40 (average 85) has a new handicap 43.
An archer must shoot a round with a handicap at least 2 better than their current handicap for their handicap to improve.

Annual reassessment of Handicaps – At the beginning of each season, 1st January for outdoor season, and 1st July for Indoor season, the Clubs record officer will re-assess the handicaps of all the archers in the club.
The handicaps allocated at the beginning of each season will be equal to the average of the archers best three scores shot during the previous season, and rounded up to the next larger whole number.

The handicap and classification schemes are run by the club records officer and records are maintained on the Golden Records Online App

The Outdoor season runs from 1st January to 31st December and the Indoor season runs from 1st July to 30 June.

Question – “Can you please tell me how a Portsmouth round is scored?”

Answer – Portsmouth rounds can currently be shot indoors or outdoors (The Portsmouth round is an Indoor round, but due to the Pandemic over the last few years when clubs were not permitted to shoot indoors over winter were and still are permitted to shoot this round indoors or out), When the round is shot indoors for all bows disciplines except compound the scoring is 10, 10, 9 (for rings in Gold), then each ring running out – 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. However for archers shooting compound bows the gold rings are scored 10, 9,9, all other rings score as above. To ensure compatibility if the round is shot outdoors the same scoring process applies. Hopefully this helps you and answers your question.