I began my second year as League Coordinator for Buckskin Bowmen's summer archery league knowing that the scoring program the Club had used for years was becoming increasingly difficult to manage. With as many as 40 teams, we relied on what was intended to be a simple Excel spreadsheet, but as the season progressed, I discovered recurring errors that could affect weekly outcomes. The file contained more than a dozen tabs, each dependent on team counts and divisions, and required extensive manual setup.
My process each season involved entering all shooters as they signed up, forming teams of three, entering three weeks of scores to establish averages, assigning divisions based on those averages, and then creating a full 13-week shooting schedule. Entering weekly scores was manageable but still time-consuming, and the final weeks required manual schedule adjustments to ensure clear first-, second-, and third-place results. There were many other small issues that required workarounds, and it became clear that a more efficient solution was needed.
I searched for archery scoring software or similar tools, but nothing available was worth the cost or met the league's needs.
On March 30th, I reached out to Jim. I explained our process, the challenges, and what I needed a program to accomplish, most importantly, a system that would simplify my workload and be easy for future league managers to use. I wanted a program that allowed me to enter names and teams once, automatically calculate averages, assign divisions, generate a 13-week schedule, apply an 80% handicap for scoring, and produce weekly printable reports for participants.
Jim and I exchanged questions, and within a few weeks he provided a working template. I tested it, offered feedback, and he quickly delivered a refined program that now saves me hours of work each week. We are currently in our eighth week of league play, and I couldn't be happier with how smoothly everything runs.
Whenever I have a question, Jim responds promptly and resolves it right away. I highly recommend Jim and Formsmith Custom Forms for anyone seeking a simple, effective, and reliable solution tailored to their needs.