Scores fall as shooting distance increases

11 studies · 3,747 archers measured

Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

Scores at 30, 40 and 50 metres in the same thirty-two archers, before and after a training programme

distance to the target

Each point is the mean of the 32 archers and the band is the mean ± the standard deviation, as given in table 2 of the study (p. 662). The archers are the same at all three distances. The study measures the effect of sixteen sessions of mental and physical training and its statistical tests concern the training, one distance at a time, never comparing one distance with another: the fall from 30 to 50 metres, 34.07 points before the programme and 34.90 after, is a descriptive reading of the table. The study does not say how many arrows make up the score at each distance, nor which target face was used. A weaker result runs partly against the claim, kept out of the lines because it is on a different scale: thirty women club archers in Tehran, shooting three arrows per distance before a shoulder taping, score a median of 26 out of 30 at 18 metres, 23 at 30 metres and 23 again at 50, in both cases with a minimum of 17 and a maximum of 28 (table 4, p. 13). There, between 30 and 50 metres, the fall does not show, but the result rests on three arrows summarised as a median. Data from: Yudho et al. 2022 and Rajabzadeh et al. 2019.

The numbers in the figure

Series	distance to the target	Value (points, group mean)	Interval
before the programme	30 m	277.66	257.87–297.45 (mean ± standard deviation)
before the programme	40 m	261.25	236.55–285.95 (mean ± standard deviation)
before the programme	50 m	243.59	217.75–269.43 (mean ± standard deviation)
after sixteen sessions	30 m	285.53	264.56–306.5 (mean ± standard deviation)
after sixteen sessions	40 m	267.34	241.12–293.56 (mean ± standard deviation)
after sixteen sessions	50 m	250.63	223.68–277.58 (mean ± standard deviation)

That scores drop as you move back is the easy part, and the figures are there: in eighteen expert archers shooting from twenty different distances the fall is linear, with an r squared of about 0.90 and no jump at the competition distances; across thousands of arrows from real competitions the score loses about 0.03 points per arrow for every extra metre; in thirty-two archers of a regional squad the score goes from 277.7 points at thirty metres to 243.6 at fifty, and the spread between the archers grows by almost a third; and a scoring model calculates that even twenty centimetres count, between a quarter and just under half a point over 72 arrows. The hard part is the shape of the fall. In beginners the collapse is all in the first few yards: from ten to twenty yards they lose fifty-eight points on average, then about twenty for each further step. And in thirty club women the score over three arrows is higher at eighteen metres but identical at thirty and at fifty, that is, the fall stops. The likely reason comes from a figure about the format: at a fixed distance the score rises with the diameter of the face, from 7.7 points on the sixty centimetre face to 8.9 on the hundred. What counts is not distance itself but how large the target is as seen from the shooting line, and that is why seventy metres on the 122 and fifty on the eighty resemble one another.

Also phrased as: "the further you shoot the less you score"; "how much is lost going from thirty to fifty metres"; "scores depend on the distance"; "seventy metres on the 122 and fifty on the eighty are alike"

In practice

It is taken for granted that every distance has its own reference score, and that the step from indoors to outdoors is the most expensive of all.

Evidence

1966
For Archers Published later

Fifty-eight university beginners in a ten-week course, twenty-four arrows per distance out of a maximum of 216. At the end of the course, in a three-distance round, the score halves between twenty and forty yards: about 142 points at twenty yards, 96 at thirty, 70 at forty, with an effect of distance of F = 330.54 and p < 0.01. The fall is not proportional: from ten to twenty yards they lose fifty-eight points on average, then about twenty for each further step, even when the step is only five yards. After a few lessons a beginner scores about 85 per cent of the maximum at ten yards and less than 30 per cent at forty. The distances are in yards and the sample is of beginners.

Transfer Effects and Ultimate Success in Archery due to Degree of Difficulty of the Initial Learning · Robert N. Singer
2008
For Archers Published later

Three elite Brazilian archers followed from March to December, with at least forty observations per archer per distance: the threshold of the optimal performance zone, as a percentage of the maximum score, drops from 90 to 100 per cent at eighteen metres indoors to 91 to 100 at thirty, 84 to 100 at fifty, 83 to 97 at seventy and 76 to 92 at ninety. The same pattern in all three. These are three people, and the measure is an individual threshold rather than the average of a round.

Affective and Physiological States during Archery Competitions: Adopting and Enhancing the Probabilistic Methodology of Individual Affect-Related Performance Zones (IAPZs) · Edson Soares Medeiros Filho, Luiz Carlos Moraes, Gershon Tenenbaum
2012
Context Archers Published later

Nine competitive Korean archers aged sixteen and seventeen, twenty-five arrows each at fifty metres on faces of different diameter: the mean per arrow rises with the diameter, 7.7 points on the sixty centimetre face, 8.29 on the seventy, 8.46 on the eighty, 8.62 on the ninety and 8.93 on the hundred, with an r squared of 0.22 and p below 0.001. At a fixed distance it is the size of the target that moves the score: this is the key to reading everything else, because distance and diameter act on the same thing, how large the target is as seen from the shooting line.

An Archer's Perceived Form Scales the "Hitableness" of Archery Targets · Yang Lee, Sih Lee, Claudia Carello, M. T. Turvey
2016
For Archers Published later

Ten expert men and eight expert women, among them national champions and European and world medallists, thirty arrows from twenty different distances for the men and eighteen for the women, including distances they never practise: the score falls linearly, for the men y = -1.34x + 312.86 with an r squared of 0.90 and for the women y = -0.60x + 294.55 with an r squared of 0.91, and the lack-of-fit test finds no jumps (F(18,180) = 1.76 and F(16,144) = 0.22). The study set out to look for an advantage at the competition distances and does not find one: the fall is even across the whole range.

Specificity vs. Generalizability: Emergence of Especial Skills in Classical Archery · Stanisław H. Czyż, Sarah J. Moss
2019
Against Archers Published later

Thirty club women with Olympic recurve bows, scores over three arrows under the federal rules, measured before any intervention: a median of 26 out of 30 at eighteen metres, 23 at thirty metres and 23 at fifty as well, with the same range, from 17 to 28. Between thirty and fifty metres the fall does not show. Three arrows per distance is few and the score is given as a median: it is a weak contrary result, but it is the only figure that questions the shape of the fall outdoors.

The Effects of Shoulder Kinesio Taping on Shooting Accuracy and Joint Position Sense in Female Archery Athletes · Banafsheh Rajabzadeh, Ali Amiri, Behnoosh Vasaghi-Gharamaleki, Seyed Hassan Saneii
2019
For Model Published later

A scoring model applied to foot position on the shooting line: shortening the distance by 20 cm raises the expected score over 72 arrows outdoors by 0.25 to 0.42 points, more for lower-level archers, and lengthening it lowers the score by about the same amount. Between sixteenth and thirty-second place in major international qualification rounds that is between 44 and 74 per cent of a ranking place. It is a calculation, not a measurement on archers.

Optimising an archer’s foot position to obtain a competitive advantage · James L Park
2020
Context Archers Published later

One expert recurve archer, three drawing techniques with three arrows each at twelve metres: all nine arrows in the centre, and the authors could not relate any postural measure to the result. At short distance the score saturates and no longer measures anything: the opposite of saturation is what makes long distances informative.

Effect of bow drawing technique on skilled archer postural stability: a case study · A. Kuch, J.-F. Debril, M. Domalain, R. Tisserand, T. Monnet
2021
For Archers Published later

The widest count we have, and the only one on real competitions: 3,196 Chinese professional archers in competitions at different distances, with distance treated as a continuous variable and fixed effects for archer and for competition. The score falls by 0.0286 points per arrow for each extra metre, with p < 0.01. Heat makes it worse and does so more at the long distances: above a heat index of 34 degrees the interaction with distance runs from -0.017 to -0.019, between 30 and 34 degrees -0.0083, and between 26 and 30 degrees nothing shows. The study set out to measure the effect of heat, not of distance, and was published online in 2021. The figures come from the working paper deposited on SSRN: the published version is not open access and may differ.

Adaptation and the distributional effects of heat: Evidence from professional archery competitions · Yun Qiu, Jinhua Zhao
2021
For Archers Published later

Twelve competitive Indonesian high-school archers. In setting out the problem the authors report the scores of a youth competition: between 300 and 312 points at thirty and at forty metres, between 180 and 200 at fifty. It is a far sharper step than the one measured elsewhere, but these are figures reported in the introduction rather than measured in the study, and the journal is regional.

The relation between confidence level towards archery ability at 50 meters distance on archery atheletes · Betrix Teofa Perkasa Wibafiet Billy Yachsie, Yudik Prasetyo, I Putu Agus Dharma Hita
2022
For Archers Published later

Thirty-two archers of the South Sumatra regional squad measured at the three distances in the same block of preparation, before a training programme: 277.66 ± 19.79 points at thirty metres, 261.25 ± 24.70 at forty, 243.59 ± 25.84 at fifty, that is 34 points lost between thirty and fifty. The standard deviation rises from 19.79 to 25.84, almost a third more: as they move back, the archers also spread apart from one another. In the post-test, after the programme, the pattern is identical at a higher level. It is a descriptive measurement inside a study about something else.

The Effect of Mental Exercise and Muscle Endurance on the Shots of Archery Athletes · Pijar Kuncoro Yudho, Mugiyo Hartono, Sri Surmatiningsih
2025
Context Archers Published later

269 archers in official Indonesian championships, with official scores by distance category: 291.70 ± 11.89 at forty metres over 147 archers, 325.92 ± 8.68 at fifty over 64, 310.71 ± 12.63 at seventy over 58. The fifty metre group is both the highest and the tightest, so at first sight the score does not fall with distance. But these are different archers, entered in different categories and on different faces: distance is tangled up with level and the comparison does not answer the question.

The impact of mental toughness on accuracy in archery athletes: a comparative study across distances · Febriansyah Dwi Cahyo, Yudik Prasetyo, Bernadeta Suhartini, Mar’atul Afifah, Asyidika Vito Indarto, Achmad Zakaria

Status history

1966 Reported The first study to ask the question measures fifty-eight beginners at ten, twenty, twenty-five, thirty and forty yards: the effect of distance is enormous, F = 330.54, and between twenty and forty yards the score halves. A single study, on beginners after a few lessons and in yards: reported.
2008 Reported The first confirmation on top athletes: three elite archers followed for a whole season show the same pattern as a percentage of the maximum, from 90 to 100 per cent at eighteen metres indoors down to 76 to 92 per cent at ninety. The direction holds where it matters, but these are three people: the picture stays limited.
2012 Reported The figure arrives from the other side, and it changes the question more than the answer: at a fixed distance of fifty metres the score rises with the diameter of the face, from 7.7 points per arrow on the sixty centimetre face to 8.93 on the hundred. What counts is how large the target is as seen from the shooting line, not distance itself. The status does not change, because the question about distance still rests on two small samples.
2016 Corroborated The sample that was missing: eighteen expert archers, among them national champions and international medallists, shoot from twenty distances including those they never practise. The score falls linearly, with an r squared of about 0.90 and no jump at the competition distances. Three independent samples point the same way and none in the opposite direction: corroborated.
2019 Reported The first partly contrary figure, and the status falls. In thirty club women the score over three arrows is higher at eighteen metres, a median of 26 out of 30, but identical at thirty and at fifty metres, a median of 23 in both cases. The fall shows in the step from indoors to outdoors and then it stops. This is a single study, with three arrows per distance and scores reported as medians, so the claim goes back to reported and is to be read with that limit. The same year a scoring model estimates that twenty centimetres less raise the expected score over 72 arrows outdoors by 0.25 to 0.42 points, more for weaker archers: a calculation that points the way of the claim and does not affect the status.
2021 Reported Two additions in the same year, of very different weight. From the scores of a youth competition comes a very sharp step, between 300 and 312 points at thirty and forty metres and between 180 and 200 at fifty, but these are figures the authors report rather than measure. And the first count on real competitions, across thousands of arrows, finds a fall of about 0.03 points per arrow for every extra metre, with heat penalising the long distances more. The picture gets stronger without closing: the status holds.
2022 Reported Thirty-two archers of a regional squad measured at the three distances in the same block of preparation: 277.7 points at thirty metres, 261.3 at forty, 243.6 at fifty, with the spread between athletes growing by almost a third. Moving back does not only cost points: the archers also spread further apart from one another. It is a descriptive measurement inside a study about something else: the status stays reported.
2025 Reported A comparison between categories seems to point the other way: in official Indonesian championships with 269 archers, the fifty metre group scores higher than the forty and the seventy metre groups. But these are different archers, in different categories, on different faces, so distance is tangled up with level and the figure stays context. The status does not change.

Research lines

Studies describe groups of archers, and your own numbers show how far the finding applies to your shooting.

See the full assessment

Cite

APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Scores fall as shooting distance increases (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/scores-fall-with-distance

BibTeX

@misc{campagna2026_punteggiocalacondistanza,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Scores fall as shooting distance increases},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/scores-fall-with-distance},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Follow this claim

RSS feed for this claim

RSS is an address you paste into a feed reader: each time this claim changes status, adds a year to its history or is revised, a new item appears there.

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on competition and scoring