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Club tournament checklist: from announcement to final standings
Most club tournaments do not go wrong on the line. They go wrong in the parking lot, the week before, when nobody wrote down what "the rules" were.
This is the checklist I wish every club officer had taped inside their bow case. It is written for a hosted club shoot — a night or a day with standings, more than one bale, and people who care about the result. It works for Indoor 300, Vegas 450, or a 3D course. It works whether you use this site or a clipboard. The tool is the smaller half of the problem; agreements are the bigger half.
If you only want the quick version, jump to the one-page recap near the bottom. If you are still deciding what to shoot, read Vegas 450 vs Indoor 300 first.
Two weeks out: decide the things people will argue about later
Write these down in one message to your members. Not five messages. One.
- Format. Indoor 300 (12 ends of 5, values 0–5 plus X), Vegas 450 (15 ends of 3, values 0–10 plus X), or 3D (per-target scoring). Do not say "indoor" and assume everyone hears the same thing. The format guides are here if you want to link them: Indoor 300, Vegas 450, 3D.
- Face. 5-spot, single spot, three-spot, or a named 3D course. If the faces are not hung yet, say who is hanging them and when.
- Line rule. Does a shaft touching the line count as the higher ring, or does the color have to break? Whatever your club or organization uses, put it in words. Line-cutter arguments almost never come from bad people; they come from two honest people holding two different rules in their heads.
- Tiebreaker. Most X-count? Most 5s? Shoot-off? Decide before anyone is tied. A tiebreaker invented after the tie is a fight.
- Who is eligible. Members only, guests welcome, divisions by bow type or age. If there are divisions, say how someone picks one and whether they can change after the first end.
- Photo rule. On a hosted night on this site, a photo is required before the next end unlocks. If your club runs differently, say what you expect. See photo-proof scoring for club nights for why it exists and what a fair photo looks like.
- Cost and payment. If there is an entry fee, say what it covers, how to pay, and what happens if someone cancels. Keep it boring and in writing.
A good test: could a new member read your announcement and know exactly what to bring and what to expect? If not, the announcement is not done.
One week out: people and places
- Confirm the venue and the time window. Doors, first arrow, last-end warning, hard stop. Ranges have other bookings. Find out whether you can run long.
- Confirm the number of lanes or bales and how many shooters per bale. Indoors, four shooters on a three-spot bale will slow everyone. Decide rotation before you need it.
- Assign the jobs. I like three: a line captain (safety, timing, pull calls), a score lead (knows the tool and the format, can answer "how do I fix this"), and a floor float (helps new shooters, swaps faces, handles the dead phone). The roles are laid out in more detail in the league night playbook. One person can do two jobs at a small shoot. Nobody should do all three.
- Get the roster right. If you are running on this site, enroll members ahead of time or make sure they know how to join the shoot themselves. A roster fixed at 6:55 p.m. for a 7:00 start is a roster with mistakes in it.
- If you are hosting multiple clubs, have the partner club admins accept the invite early. Discovering on the night that their members cannot join is a bad way to meet your neighbors.
- Hosting fee and approval. On this site, hosting a tournament has a fee and an admin verifies the payment before scoring opens. Do that days ahead, not from the parking lot. The pricing page lists the current numbers.
Three days out: test the boring stuff
Most hosted-night failures are equipment and connectivity, not archery.
- Open the shoot yourself on your own phone. Start the first end. Take a test photo. Go back.
- Check the range's connectivity at the actual line, not in the lobby. If it is bad, tell people to rely on mobile data and to sit near a window if that helps.
- Make sure someone has a spare battery pack and a charging cable for the most common phone types. You will use it.
- Confirm that people know how to use the in-app camera and that it needs browser camera permission. Ask them to try it at home once. The walkthrough shows the flow.
- Print one backup paper sheet per bale. Paper is a backup, not the source of truth. If it is used, write on it what was decided and photograph it.
Day of: before the first arrow
Arrive early. Bring a whiteboard or a big sheet of paper. Put this on it where everybody can read it:
- Format and face
- Line rule
- Tiebreaker
- Photo required: yes
- Line captain tonight
- Last-end warning time
- Where to find the shoot (QR code or link to the club page)
Then do a two-minute briefing. Say it out loud even if you already sent the email. A script that works:
> We shoot five. We walk up together. Two people call every arrow out loud. Somebody photographs the face with the arrows still in. We enter the scores, lock the end, and only then pull. If you are unsure about a line, ask before anybody touches an arrow.
Point new shooters at the indoor etiquette article if they want to know what is normal on an indoor line. Someone who arrives cold and confused will spend the first hour learning process. Someone who has read the basics will spend it shooting.
During the shoot: your job is pace and fairness
Your job as the organizer is not to shoot well. It is to keep the line moving and the card honest.
- Watch the pace. Groups that talk for five minutes at the bale with arrows still in will finish late and cranky. "Call, photo, lock, pull, move" is the rhythm.
- Watch for unlocked ends. The floor float should glance at bales, not over shoulders, and help anybody who is stuck.
- Handle disputes at the bale. Arrows stay in. Both people look. The posted line rule decides. If it is a hosted night, the photo is on file. The decision stands for that end. If your club has a protest process, use it after the night, not in the middle of end eight.
- Do not make exceptions for friends. If you would not let a stranger re-score an end, do not let your buddy do it. Standings only mean something if the rules are the same for everybody.
- Keep safety first. Nobody crosses the line while people are shooting. A tournament is not a reason to loosen that.
- Call the last-end warning. People who are behind should finish open ends, not start new ones, once you call it.
After the last end
- Check that every shooter has locked their final end. Incomplete cards are much easier to fix while people are still standing there.
- Look at the standings for anything obviously wrong: a zero total, a missing shooter, a card that stopped at end nine.
- Apply the tiebreaker you announced. Read the tied cards out loud. If there is a shoot-off, run it on a fresh face with the same rules.
- Announce results only after you have checked. A correction after you read the winners out loud is worse than waiting five minutes.
- Close the shoot so the standings stop changing. Then post a short result note for members, including the format and anything odd that happened.
- Write down what broke. The fan was too loud, the third bale had glare, two people could not get a photo to upload. Put it in a note you will find next month.
One-page recap
- Write the format, face, line rule, tiebreaker, and photo rule in one message.
- Decide who is line captain, score lead, and floor float.
- Fix the roster and test the tool before doors open.
- Brief everyone out loud. Put the rules on a board.
- Keep the rhythm: call, photo, lock, pull, move.
- Settle disputes at the bale with the posted rule.
- Verify every card is complete before announcing winners.
- Close the shoot, post results, write down what to fix.
FAQ
Do I need a formal rulebook?
No. You need a short written list that everybody has seen. If your club or a governing body has official rules, say which ones you follow and where a house rule differs.
What if someone shows up late?
Decide in advance. Many clubs let a late shooter start at the current end and shoot the remaining ends; some do not allow late starts in standings. Either is fine. Pick one and apply it to everyone.
What if a phone dies mid-end?
Pair the shooter with a partner's phone for that end or use a spare battery. Do not pull arrows and reconstruct the face from memory on a hosted card.
What if the format is wrong on the card someone started?
Stop and fix it before scoring more ends. Mixing Indoor 300 values into a Vegas card is the most common mistake; Vegas 450 vs Indoor 300 explains the difference.
Can we run this for a small club of eight people?
Yes. Skip the extra roles, keep the written rules and the photo habit. Small clubs benefit the most from having the rules written down, because nobody wants to be the one who says no.