Classifications & Handicaps in Archery

As archers improve they can measure their progress by looking at their handicap and by gaining GNAS classifications.

In the 1980s David Lane developed a set of handicap tables that ranged ability from beginning juniors to international compound archers. Any score shot on any outdoor round has a corresponding handicap, ranging from 100 to 0.

The main use of handicaps is that they enable different rounds to be compared. If an archer scores 700 on a Albion they should expect to score about 437 on a FITA 70M round, for example. An archer's current handicap is the rolling average of their three best scores in any given year.

Ranging from 3rd Class to Grand Master Bowman (GMB), GNAS classifications are set at various handicap levels, with minimum distance requirements. For example, a Lady Recurve archer will achieve her second class when she shoots three scores of handicap 57 or better at distances of at least 50 yards.

GNAS classifications and requirements do change, but the handicap tables remain constant.

We use a reverse engineered version of the D.Lane tables and there are some very minor variations. GNAS numbers are used for classification calculations.