Stage Design vs. Shooter Ability across the Divisions

[motosapiens]

HOA is the only thing I care about, no matter what gun I shoot. I rarely look at the scores past the combined scores. taking a division is the same as taking a class win....doesn't mean much to me if someone else shot the match better than I did

But the thing is, if an open shooter only beats a production shooter by a few percentage points in HOA, the production shooter actually shot a much better match. There is a reason HOA does not truly exist in uspsa scoring. I think Nimitz said it best when he said every division is almost like a separate match.

If the production shooter shot a better match then they would have been HOA

That seems like bad math to me.

Since everyone knows that it is faster to shoot an open or limited gun than a production gun, if I were shooting limited and only beat a production shooter by 5%, I would know in my heart that he shot a better match than I did.

[EkuJustice]

Stage design can effect it a lot. A stage with several ways to shoot where tor limited or open guy can post up and shoot a better plan eliminate positions and has longer harder shots leans more toward to open shooter. If it's all closer targets wide open shoot 8 through a port and only 8 avaliable then move a fair distance to another port and do it again it cuts that capacity benefit way down

[fastluck13]

There is definitely a difference. Probably 100% open, 90% ltd, 80% prod/SS, 60% revo.

I live in AZ so see enough top dudes regularly to believe that to be true across matches, stage designs, etc. Some matches it will be more or less but in general there is a difference.

With that said, I obsess over overall rankings. If you consistently win SS for example, what presses you to get better other than trying to beat open dudes.

[Shoot-em-All]

If you are putting on a major match the common thought is to set it up for "C" & "B" shooters. I do not agree with this. A major match should draw in the "GM" & "M" shooters because of the stages and the challenge of those stages. If those folks see your match as one of great and challenging stages it gives the C&B shooters a chance step up beyond a comfort level and see what they can do. Like a golfer with a 36 handicap that person can still play at "Pebble Beach"

[38supPat]

Agreed but don't make the mistake of confusing challenging with overly punitive. A partial target at 25m with hardcover is a challenging shot for all levels but a 25m partial target with no shoots becomes punitive to the lower level shooters.