Applied average thought excersize

[jmiller278]

Below is an exercise that I have thought about some. I don’t think anything could come from it, but just an idea being kicked around, looking for someone to shoot holes in this or perhaps tweak the idea in order to improve the game.

Something I have thought about recently is the question of handicapping bowling in a manner similar to golf, which can accommodate a player’s change in game play given a tougher shot, or house, or even improvement over the course of the year.

Unlike bowling, the golf handicap isn’t necessarily an average of your past rounds, but more a reflection of what you could possibly shoot, given your past performance.
The golf handicap takes into account the X number of lowest scoring rounds out of your past Y. I believe its 10 best of your last 20. And then factors in a percentage as well as the slope rating of a course. This makes it equal for players that are from other courses to compete evenly on a new course, together.

If instead of bowling averages running from game 3 to the end of the season, I often wonder what would it be like if you were to incorporate a system similar to golf which would even the playing field a bit (in my opinion).

I’ve thought of this because I bowl in 2 different houses and scoring is very different at each one. I often say that one is 15-20 pins higher than the other due to wood vs synthetic, and above vs below ball returns. So how is it fair for someone who bowls at the lower scoring house, to enter a tournament at the higher house and benefit from the extra handicap?

Also, I think this method would eliminate the possibility of sandbagging, since a certain number of your lowest rounds would not count towards your applied average.

Third, if someone were to get serious about bowling mid-year and practice or perhaps purchase some new equipment that is game changing. This person is going to exceed their average nearly every week, benefiting from the lower scores posted in early weeks.

But if a system were to be developed where lets say… only the 21 highest games out of your last 42 were applied to your average. Then you take 80% of that since most leagues use 80% of some number. Also, using house bowling averages, imagine some factor based on the house shot typically applied, or the average bowlers average.. house wide. And develop a House Rating. This number in conjunction with your Applied average would, SHOULD reveal a universal rating which can be used for any tournament in any house.

Anyway, just a thought as to if anyone has ever heard of any scoring systems like this. I had entertained re-calculating my own entire league scores to see if the outcomes of the teams would be any different. But the workload would have been enormous.

Perhaps that’s my answer, just too much work. But the GHIN can do for golf, so I assume any similar handicapping system would work. If you want the GHIN to give you a handicap card, which they send every week I think then you have to pay for the service. Similar to what the USBC charges for your card.

If a 220+ avg bowler has an off night, and shoots a 600 lets say. That could affect your average a couple pins. It may take 4-5 weeks to regain those pins, if ever. So that bowler will receive 3-6 pins over the total of the night which could very well affect a total score. Or if you are looking at a big tournament, that could be the difference in cashing or not.

Likewise, if an erratic bowler who shoots 400’s every week and tosses in a 550 every once in a while, they have proven that they are capable of shooting a decent score, but that makes it difficult if you are the unlucky team to bowl that person the week they have a stellar round given the handicap difference.

This is where I noticed in my own league that if we were to bowl ANY other team on many given nights, we would have won the league over and over. It was almost like whoever bowled us, had the nights of their lives. I'm sure it wasn’t that bad, but it seemed like it. I know of at least 4 instances in our short 8 week quarters that we had 2nd overall game scores, only to lose all 7 to the team we were bowling. Many times the last place bottom feeders. We finished the year with highest total pin count and in 2nd to last place.

On the stat sheet, you could still show a cumulative average which would be as is now. But the average used for matches, the applied average, would be more representative of what a person is capable of bowling this day, at this location.

If you notice during the baseball playoffs, they track playoff stats. Mostly because who cares how many homeruns this guy hit in April. Its all about October. If a guy is hot, he is treated differently, even if he was the worst player on the team all year.

Feedback?

[bowl1820]

Something I have thought about recently is the question of handicapping bowling in a manner similar to golf, which can accommodate a player’s change in game play given a tougher shot, or house, or even improvement over the course of the year.

Your talking about the Golf Slope rating, that's been brought up and discussed before in regards to bowling over the years. But has never gone anywhere.


Here's article you might be interested in

A Better Average System, Or, How Good Are You, Really?
http://bruceonbowling.wordpress.com/...apping-system/