The Archery Two-Step

(..or one step forward, two steps back)

I admit it. I am a geek (just as well, really - that's how I have earned my living for the last twenty-odd years).  I like numbers.  I like the way that using numbers can tell a story, and target archery really does boil down to numbers in the end, doesn't it?  The really good thing about archery numbers is that they can be quite forgiving of the novice (that's me) but really very hurtful to the expert. I know that sounds a bit odd, but stay with me.....

Since I started shooting scored rounds, I have kept a record of my scores, which are available for all to see!  I have found this really useful in judging my progress; not against anyone else, but against myself.  Sometimes, at the end of a round, it feels as though I haven't really shot to my potential, and that I could have done so much better.  Then I look back at my previous score for the round and find that I have beaten my personal best by some margin. Isn't it strange how the human mind can be so misleading?

This is all a little bit introspective, and it is human nature to want to measure your abilities against others as well as yourself.  Comparing just the scores for a particular round is the obvious way of judging ability, but this clearly favours the more experienced or stronger archer over the novice or someone with the basic inability to pull a 40lb bow.  Whilst it is fine for competitions, it does not recognise progress, which is why handicaps are so great.

Why are they great?  Well, firstly, they level the scoring across the dozens of rounds available to target archers: scoring 371 for a Short Junior Warwick (2 doz arrows at each of 30yds & 20yds) is equivalent of scoring 642 for a Metric II (3 doz arrows at each of 60m, 50m, 40m & 30m).  Both give a handicap of 60, allowing the archer to try different rounds.  Secondly the handicaps can be used to adjust scores in tournaments and competitions, so that archers who shoot above their ability on the day are rewarded, whilst those who are having an off-day may go home with the proverbial wooden spoon (or the aluminium/carbon composite spoon for those who can't resist high-end kit).

In many clubs the records officer will maintain a list of handicaps for each of the scored rounds, and provide each archer with a 'running handicap'.  This figure is the average of the previous running handicap and the handicap for the latest round, if lower.  As the running handicap is rounded up, you need to better your running handicap by 2 or more to get it lower.  An initial running handicap is set as an average of the handicaps of an archer's first three scored rounds and running handicaps are reset at the end of the season to the average of the three best handicaps over that season.  In general, the running handicap for an improving archer will continue to go down, but someone who has lost form or ability may find their running handicap rise at the end of the season.

So what is this about one step forward and two steps back?  My records page has a graph showing the  handicap scored for each round and the running handicap at the time of the round (not after it), against the date of the round.  Here is a snapshot of the graph at the time of writing:

After the first half-dozen rounds, there is a pattern : better handicap; worse handicap; worse handicap. Or one step forward, two steps back.  This is remarkably consistent until the very latest rounds, where it does break down, but the zig-zag nature of the Round Handicap line just goes to show that progress is not linear, and you should expect the odd off-day - there will be a better one round the corner.

Over time the downward slope will flatten out and the two lines will converge, but the zig-zag nature of the round handicap line will still be there.  That's why handicaps are forgiving of the novice - a high-ish handicap will benefit you against someone with a handicap in the teens. Those with very low handicaps need only miss with one arrow and all is lost.  What's that you say? Really good archers never miss?  OK, so they rarely miss, but even good compound archers sometimes hit gold on the wrong boss.....