Handicap Types

Our goal at Shooting League Management is to allow each league to run the league in a manner that they want, not to dictate the league because of the limitations of the software. Not every league wants to use the same handicap system; therefore we have recreated the most popular of the various systems and allow the league manager to decide which (if any) handicap system to use.

The type of handicap is set at the league’s creation and cannot be changed once scores have been entered and the first week of the league has been closed!

Handicap Type #1 – All Things Equal

This handicap system attempts to level the field with experts shooters and novice shooters alike. The lower the score posted for each week, the larger number of handicap points will be added onto the shooters score. And because the handicap is recalculated after each week, the number of handicap points assigned to a shooter will be the same for each round shot for a given week. The number of handicap points assigned can be capped by a maximum handicap score per round value that is assigned when the
league is created. Therefore it is possible that a shooter will not receive their full amount of handicap points for a given round.

Handicap Calculation:
(TargetsPerRound-TargetsBroke-1)+((TargetsBroke / TargetsPerRound)* Handicap Percent).
(ex. Broke 18 targets, 85% Handicap Percentage) -> (25-18-1)+((18/25)* 0.85) = 6.612

Handicap Type #2 – Team Handicap

For this system we calculate the handicap based upon the team score and then apply that handicap to each member of the team. If a league has teams composed of six shooters, but only uses the top 5 scores each week, then only the top 5 scores will be used to calculate the team handicap for each round.

The handicap calculation in the same as defined in Option 1.

Handicap Type #3 – DECA Handicap

This handicap system works the same as Option 1, but we use a different calculation to determine the handicap for each round. This is the same formula used by the DECA Management league software.

Handicap Calculation:
(MaxHandicapScore -TargetsBroke) * HandicapPercent.
(ex. Broke 18 targets, 85% Handicap Percentage) -> (24.5-18) * 0.85) = 5.525


Additional Handicap Information

Maximum Handicap Score per Round
This is the highest possible score allowed for a shooter in an individual round with the handicap applied. This value allows the league to award a shooter for shooting a clean round over someone scoring with their handicap applied.

Handicap Percentage
A weighted value used for the handicap calculations. We default to a 90% handicap percent in our calculations, but you can control to the degree that handicap scores are factored.

Remove Hi & Low Scores
When setting the handicap information for a league, you can choose to remove the high and low scores from the shooter’s calculations. This option keeps a very good (or bad) day from hurting a shooter’s overall average, plus it also helps to reduce the possibility of sand-bagging in order to improve a shooter’s chance at maintaining a high handicap. The number of rounds removed from the calculation varies depending upon the number of weeks the league runs.

Apply Handicap Post Week
This is another option that has been included solely to reduce the amount of target manipulation in calculating a handicap. Normally, the previous week’s handicap is applied to the current week’s scores to determine this week’s handicapped score. If this option is selected, this week’s scores are included to calculate the handicap to be applied to this week’s raw scores in determining this week’s handicap score. Therefore, the shooter doesn’t know exactly the number of targets they need to hit to cover their handicap
score – yes this is sneaky, but effective!