Indoor Classifications & Handicaps

Following the review of the outdoor classifications, we are pleased to announce revised handicap tables and classifications for the 2023-24 indoor season.

The Archery GB Indoor Classification and Handicap scheme allows archers of all levels to benchmark their skill and progress through various awards from the Indoor Archer 3rd Class, right through to Indoor Grand Master Bowman.

What awards are available?

There are eight different classification levels available to all archers, which are grouped into three sets. An archer starts off at the Archer tier, with 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class awards. They then move up to the Bowman tier, again with 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class, and then finally the Master Bowman tier, where the naming gets a little more fun with Indoor Master Bowman (MB) and Indoor Grand Master Bowman (GMB).

These levels cover the full range of experience for the vast majority of archers, Archer 3rd Class is achievable by many new archers within their first year or two in the sport, whereas Indoor Grand Master Bowman requires consistently high performance.

The bowstyle, gender and age of the archer determines the specific scores applied. The scores across different rounds are calculated from handicap tables.

Click here to view the indoor classification tables

Achieving an award

Indoor classifications are all administered at club level, and generally require fewer arrows than outdoor classifications.

Your club records officer can help you to calculate and award your classification. If you want to look up the classifications of individual scores, you can do so using the or classification tables linked from this page, various scoring apps, or online calculators such as https://archerycalculator.co.uk/ or https://archerygeekery.co.uk/

The Archer Tier

The Archer tier is designed so that a wide range of club-level archers should be able to achieve one of its levels. Most archers should be able to complete Archer 3rd Class during their first 1-2 years within the sport. To achieve any award in the Archer tier, the archer needs to shoot a number of complete rounds totalling at least 120 (or 10 dozen) arrows, achieved in a number of ways. The most common would probably be two Portsmouth rounds. The score required for each level is shown in the classification tables. Once they have shot enough rounds above the required threshold, they have achieved an Archer Tier classification.

The Bowman Tier

The Bowman tier is designed for archers regularly taking part in competitive events, from club level right up to national level. Achieving the award is much the same as for the Archer tier, except for two key differences: firstly you require more arrows - a total of 180 (or 15 dozen), which would typically be three 5-dozen rounds indoors, and secondly, Archers should be shooting their scores at competitions, club target days, postal matches, or any other event in line with rule 304 . It doesn’t need to be too formal, but as a guideline it should be an event organised in advance, with multiple people taking part and with rules around practice and scoring being followed as if it were a competition.

The event does NOT need to be Record Status for Bowman Tier classifications. This level of classifications is still administered at club level, so we recommend discussing events with Records Officers to avoid any confusion.

The Master Bowman Tier

In working through the Bowman Tier, archers are likely to have encountered their first full Record Status competitions. This becomes a requirement for the Master Bowman Tier, with only scores shot at World Record Status or UK Record Status events eligible to count towards the classification.

Reflecting the comparatively small number of Record Status indoor shoots, there is no increased number of arrows needed for the Master Bowman Tier indoors, with the requirements staying at 180 arrows ( 15 dozen).

Unlike the outdoor classifications, these awards are still administered at club level, so speak to your records officer when you have completed the requirements.

Eligible Rounds

Most indoor rounds can also be shot on multi-spot target faces (3-spot or 5-spot faces). Whilst these mutli-spot faces are recognised in the handicap tables, they are not treated separately for classifications. This simplifies the classification tables by removing redundancy and brings the indoor scheme in line with how the outdoor scheme works for rounds that allow different face variants. It also reflects the way that records are maintained - there are no separate records for single or triple spot faces. The only exception to this is the Archery GB Vegas round, which may only be shot on a triple-spot face. Just as with the outdoor scheme, if an archer shoots a double round, both rounds should  be considered independently for classification purposes.

Changeover schedule

As with outdoors, old scores and classifications are incompatible with new ones. You can find the document outlining the changeover schedule in the resources section of this webpage.

All archers will now have their indoor classifications archived and be treated as new to the scheme, initially being Unclassified. Archers receive an initial indoor classification after shooting the requisite scores defined by the new system, as detailed in SAP 7.

Classifications will be reassessed on 1 July 2024 (and at the same time in each subsequent year) using an archer’s best rounds from the previous season. Archers then hold this classification for the subsequent season or until improved upon. Archers who have not shot enough qualifying scores during the previous season will be reassessed as Unclassified.

This is all detailed in SAP 7

Badges

New badges will be released for the indoor classifications next year. However, in recognition of the fact that many clubs are still carrying a lot of stock of the old style indoor classification badges, we recommend that for this 2023-24 indoor season that there is a transitional year where old badges can still be used as follows. This does not imply that the scores achieved are equivalent to the old scheme.