After trapping yesterday and skinning the catch, I had to take a short break before heading up to the league to post up my second week score for this league event.  I’m not sure what is it called, but each contest has a name.

I learned a little more about “handicap” and I’d like to share some of it with you today.  Well, it will sort of look like a math lesson before I get through with it, but you will totally understand when it is all over.

Remember X + Y = Z?  Well, in the world of handicap it has some of that.  Remember X/2 = Y?  Well, in the world of handicap it has some of that.  Remember that in the world of mathematics you have to complete things within a parenthesis first before proceeding with some other function?  Well, in the world of handicap there is some of that to do.  Now this formula isn’t too far removed from math read and studied in the books, in fact, what you learned in school is actually why you learned it in school in the first place.  You are about to use those lessons in a real life situation.

Here is the Math question:  Bears Butt is wanting to figure out his handicap for archery competition.  His lane captain says he must post up two scores that he has shot while actually in the competition.  So, Bears Butt goes to work and shoots his arrows at the target for his first weeks score (W1 = First weeks score).  The next day, Bears Butt returns to the shooting lanes and shoots his second weeks score (W2 = Second weeks score).

To begin to calculate a handicap, you must first add up the two scores and calculate the average of those scores.  To get an average of any number of line items, you must add up all the line items and divide by the total number of line items.  That sounds sort of crazy, but that is the way it is done.  So if you have two line items, you will divide by 2.  If you have three sets of numbers or 3 sets of line items, you will divide by 3 etc.

To further calculate the handicap, you will take the average you just calculated and subtract it from the total number possible for one score.  In this case the total number you could possibly shoot in one week is 300.  So the formula looks like this:  300 – (W1 + W2 / 2 ).  But!  That is not all true!  You only get 80 percent of that number as your handicap.  So we must further calculate our formula to include that 80 percent calculation.  300 – (W1 + W1/2) X .8 = Handicap.

Bears Butt shot a 114 on Week one and last night he posted up a WHOPPING 136!  Now that was shooting like he has never done before!  Not bad for an old guy with a recurve bow, no sights, new arrows and 5 lessons under his belt!

Let’s do the math:  [300 – (114 + 136/2)] X .8 = [300 – (250/2)] X .8 = [300- 125] X .8 = 175 X .8 = 140!  (Remember in math, you calculate what is inside the parenthesis ( ) first, and then concentrate on what is inside the brackets [ ] and then finish off the rest of the equation).

So, there you have Bears Butt’s first ever handicap in anything competitive he has ever done in his entire life.  A solid 140.

What happens now is that the league captain, will take Bears Butt’s two scores and add 140 to each of them and then total up his two weeks worth of scores.  Let’s look at those numbers.

116 = 140 = 256 and 136 + 140 = 276 for a grand total score of 532 out of a possible 600.

My fellow league members are jumping for joy about now to think they are still in the running for the gold!  I must improve or they will not want me to play on their team in the future!

Bears Butt

February 11, 2015