Can anyone explain how handicap leagues can be competitive?

[Ball99999]

If people get bonus pins how often do people who are better actually win matches?
I'm worried that if I bowl well one week and then the next week the next team gets a ton of pins it would be very difficult to beat them

[JaMau24]

Well, last season in one of my leagues we were probably the best scratch team... We got first, and the team with the most handicap got 2nd.

This season, our team is WAY better, and we're 8-0 so far despite given up a bunch of pins the 2nd week. Will probably be giving away even more this week. Maybe close to 300 pins. We'll see how that goes.

[chrono00]

most leagues do 80 or 90% handicap. say 80% which most do. if you average 200 and i average 100, i get 80 handicap. so if we both bowled our averages, with my 80 handicap i would still lose 200-180. handicap (assuming your not a sandbagging douche) gives the lower average a CHANCE, but still favors the better bowler. by the 80% standard, if you bowl average, I still have to bowl better than my average to beat you. and the higher average is obviously more consistant, so it's more likely that they will hit their average as opposed to the lower average hitting theirs and/or scoring over average.

[Ball99999]

OK I get the 80%.. 100% would suck though and I think I read someone describe their league as you did but at 100% of 200.

[chrono00]

yea some will do 100%. that benefits soley the lower averages. and from someone who averages relativley low (around 145-150) I agree 100% is complete bull****. if someone puts in the time/practice and/or has the natural skill to be that good at something, bowling in this case, they shouldn't have any any advantage completely stripped of them. the 80-90% still gives the higher average the advantage, but gives the little guy so to speak, a shot to win and stay competitive. the better average will still win the large majority of the time.

the only problem with say 80%, is some people are just ****in dumb headcases and as soon as they see they are giving up 120 pins to the other team, they buckle becuase "we'll never make up that many pins"
it's really not that hard if everyone is bowling around average. i've been on teams that were giving 200+ and made them up by the 7th frame. I've also been on teams that were getting 200+ and it was gone by the 5th.

[Hampe]

Wow....100% of 200 that's crazy. I think most of the leagues/tournaments around here are 60% of 200.

[Zothen]

Handicap leagues are for people who are not good bowlers to be some what competative with the good bowlers. So if you take the standard handicap which is 90% of 220,a 85 average bowler will have about 121 handicap,160 average is 54 handicap,213 average is 6 handicap,etc. What does this all mean? It means that a really bad team can beat a really good team if those players bowl over their average. Example-You put a guy with an 85 avg with 121 handicap against a guy with a 213 avg with 6 handicap and the 85 avg bowls a 200 game and the 213 avg guy bowls a 200 game,the 85 avg guy would win because he bowled 115 pins over his avg while the 213 who bowled a 200 game was 7 pins under his avg.

If you think thats high,then you can always join a scratch league where no one gets a handicap!

Hope this made sence?

Zothen

[thwacking]

Wow....100% of 200 that's crazy. I think most of the leagues/tournaments around here are 60% of 200.

I bowl in a 100% league because it is just for social time not for wins and losses. We have a few 200+ bowlers quit us but the majority of the bowlers like the extra competitive edge that enforces bowling above your average and not down to the competition. We still have little scratch prizes in addition to our bragging rights of winning the league which is probably a total crapshoot. 85% seems to be the most common in my area I believe because it is a mix of skill and provides overall competitiveness.

[Purplepotatoe]

The competitiveness of a league falls more in hand with the spirit of the bowlers. Than it being scratch or handicap. Im a scratch bowler who bowls in handicap leagues, and there is still competition against enough of the teams to make it a fight for victory. Just because a person has handicap doesnt mean they cant also be competitive. Sure you didnt say this, just wanted to mention it.

[billf]

I'm worried that if I bowl well one week and then the next week the next team gets a ton of pins it would be very difficult to beat them

If your bowl a scratch league and bowl well one week and not well the next you still won't win so what's the difference really? The way our leagues are set up I get a couple of pins handicap in one league, none in another and obviously none in my scratch league. The thing they all have in common is if I have a bad game, I will lose that game. If I'm bowling a 180 average bowler who is getting 32 pins and he bowls a 200, I still need to bowl at least average to beat them. The way I look at it, if I don't hit my average then I don't deserve to win.

[J Anderson]

Wow....100% of 200 that's crazy. I think most of the leagues/tournaments around here are 60% of 200.

Our local USBC tournament uses 100% of 230 with a maximum handicap of 90. In other words any one who averages 140 or less gets 90 pins handicap. The first season that I bowled lefty I entered with a 130 something average, shot 263 the first game, and bowled well enough the other two to cash in both singles and doubles.

The USBC published a summary of a study on handicaps awhile back. Even at 100% handicap, most of the time the winning team will be from the top half of the league based on average. Only at 114% do bottom half teams win as often as upper half teams.


And to Ball99999's original question, the whole point of handicaps is to make things more competitive. The idea or perhaps the ideal is the all matches will be close enough that each game comes down to the last frame with neither team having the game locked up, and total wood still in doubt right to the last frame of the last game.