Figuring progressive handicap

[oltymer]

OK, lets take a month of league bowling. You've established your handicap the first week with a handicap of 55. Thats what you'll use the second week but you also bowl lights out and bowl a 600 series. So you have to figure a new handicap for week 3, and so on and so forth. So, how do you compute these new figures?

[bowl1820]

OK, lets take a month of league bowling. You've established your handicap the first week with a handicap of 55. Thats what you'll use the second week but you also bowl lights out and bowl a 600 series. So you have to figure a new handicap for week 3, and so on and so forth. So, how do you compute these new figures?

You calculate your new average every week, Then take that average calculate your new handicap.

#GM	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Series	Total	Ave
3	89	106	125	320	320	106
6	137	134	98	369	689	114
9

You take your total pins (each weeks series totaled together) divide by the total number of games that gives you your new average. (example: Total 320 divided by 3 = 106 ave. then Total 689 divided by 6 = 114 ave etc. etc. Take that average and calculate your new handicap for the next week.

[boatman37]

Your league rules should state your handicap calculation. Our fall league is 90% of 230. So if I have a 180 average I take 230-180=50 then 50 x 90% = 45 pin handicap. And yes, it will change every week based on your average. And you may have a max handicap. In our league the max handicap anyone can have is 85.

[Ryster]

Every handicap league I have bowled on has been based on the total team average. 90% handicap based on team average. If the total averages of team A is 1000, and the total averages of team B is 750, then team B receives 225 pins per game handicap (250 difference x 90%). The handicap will constantly change each week as averages go up and down and also depending on who you bowl. Sometimes you receive handicap, sometimes you give handicap to the other team. I usually bowl scratch leagues in the fall, and only bowl handicap leagues in the summer.

Individual handicaps typically come in to play when you are bowling for head-to-head points as well as team points.

There has been a push here recently to go to 100% handicap on most leagues. That has been met with a lot of resistance, however it is considered more "fair" for the lower average teams to have any shot of winning. The USBC did one of their famous studies that showed that even at 100% handicap, the higher average team typically still wins but people just don't believe it and are really fighting it.

[boatman37]

Every handicap league I have bowled on has been based on the total team average. 90% handicap based on team average. If the total averages of team A is 1000, and the total averages of team B is 750, then team B receives 225 pins per game handicap (250 difference x 90%). The handicap will constantly change each week as averages go up and down and also depending on who you bowl. Sometimes you receive handicap, sometimes you give handicap to the other team. I usually bowl scratch leagues in the fall, and only bowl handicap leagues in the summer.

Individual handicaps typically come in to play when you are bowling for head-to-head points as well as team points.

There has been a push here recently to go to 100% handicap on most leagues. That has been met with a lot of resistance, however it is considered more "fair" for the lower average teams to have any shot of winning. The USBC did one of their famous studies that showed that even at 100% handicap, the higher average team typically still wins but people just don't believe it and are really fighting it.

Our summer league does team handicap but our fall league does individual but we don't do bowler vs bowler. But I did find out the other night that the Saturday night league does team handicap so I guess it depends on your individual league rules.

[J Anderson]

Every handicap league I have bowled on has been based on the total team average. 90% handicap based on team average. If the total averages of team A is 1000, and the total averages of team B is 750, then team B receives 225 pins per game handicap (250 difference x 90%). The handicap will constantly change each week as averages go up and down and also depending on who you bowl. Sometimes you receive handicap, sometimes you give handicap to the other team. I usually bowl scratch leagues in the fall, and only bowl handicap leagues in the summer.

Individual handicaps typically come in to play when you are bowling for head-to-head points as well as team points.

There has been a push here recently to go to 100% handicap on most leagues. That has been met with a lot of resistance, however it is considered more "fair" for the lower average teams to have any shot of winning. The USBC did one of their famous studies that showed that even at 100% handicap, the higher average team typically still wins but people just don't believe it and are really fighting it.

Back in the dark ages, in other words before automatic scoring, handicaps were figured by adding the individual averages. With computerized scoring the system usually adds individual handicaps to get the team handicap.

Also back in the day, in a league that was trophies only, no cash awards, there was a guy who would propose increasing the handicap from 85% to 90%, and every year the proposal was soundly defeated.

[classygranny]

Every handicap league I have bowled on has been based on the total team average. 90% handicap based on team average. If the total averages of team A is 1000, and the total averages of team B is 750, then team B receives 225 pins per game handicap (250 difference x 90%). The handicap will constantly change each week as averages go up and down and also depending on who you bowl. Sometimes you receive handicap, sometimes you give handicap to the other team. I usually bowl scratch leagues in the fall, and only bowl handicap leagues in the summer.

Individual handicaps typically come in to play when you are bowling for head-to-head points as well as team points.

There has been a push here recently to go to 100% handicap on most leagues. That has been met with a lot of resistance, however it is considered more "fair" for the lower average teams to have any shot of winning. The USBC did one of their famous studies that showed that even at 100% handicap, the higher average team typically still wins but people just don't believe it and are really fighting it.

Our morning league has been at 100% handicap for as long as I can remember...over 15 years? I don't really see any pattern of lower teams winning vs higher average teams, as it depends on who bowls the most over their average.

Even if a league uses team averages to calculate handicap, the individual's handicap is always figured in order to determine any awards, if individual awards given, as well as any local association awards, if any.

[J Anderson]

The players who benefit most from high percentage handicaps are newer bowlers, bowlers coming back from an injury, or bowlers who are taking the game more seriously than they used to. In other words if your game improves during the course of a season your chances of winning go up.

[Ryster]

Our morning league has been at 100% handicap for as long as I can remember...over 15 years? I don't really see any pattern of lower teams winning vs higher average teams, as it depends on who bowls the most over their average.

Even if a league uses team averages to calculate handicap, the individual's handicap is always figured in order to determine any awards, if individual awards given, as well as any local association awards, if any.

Or association provides awards based on individual average (most improved average, 150 pins over average, high average, etc.), but nothing that incorporates individual handicap of any kind.

[bltuneup]

Every handicap league I have bowled on has been based on the total team average. 90% handicap based on team average. If the total averages of team A is 1000, and the total averages of team B is 750, then team B receives 225 pins per game handicap (250 difference x 90%). The handicap will constantly change each week as averages go up and down and also depending on who you bowl. Sometimes you receive handicap, sometimes you give handicap to the other team. I usually bowl scratch leagues in the fall, and only bowl handicap leagues in the summer.

Individual handicaps typically come in to play when you are bowling for head-to-head points as well as team points.

There has been a push here recently to go to 100% handicap on most leagues. That has been met with a lot of resistance, however it is considered more "fair" for the lower average teams to have any shot of winning. The USBC did one of their famous studies that showed that even at 100% handicap, the higher average team typically still wins but people just don't believe it and are really fighting it.

I’ve spent the last decade of my life studying the issue of handicap bowling league fairness in general and the proper setting of league handicap formulas in particular. Part of my research included a visit with a USBC Senior Director at their Arlington, Texas, headquarters.

I challenged the director to explain that USBC study that found a 100% handicap still gave the better teams an advantage, and that also concluded the playing field wasn’t fully leveled until the handicap percentage reached 116%.

From a mathematical standpoint, these conclusions make no sense. The director did not even try to defend that absurd 116% claim. Nor did he argue with my contention that many (possibly most) leagues are patently unfair in that they do not give the poorest teams any realistic hope of success. This violates the very purpose of having handicap leagues.

While acknowledging that many leagues use handicap formulas that render their leagues unfair, the director made it clear that this was not a USBC problem, despite their sanctioning of those leagues. He merely said that is why the USBC recommends the use of a 100% handicap formula for all handicap leagues. But most leagues understandably want to give an advantage to higher-average bowlers and teams by setting a handicap percentage below 100%. It is unfortunate that any unfairness that may result is of no concern to the USBC.

The bottom line is that an appropriate handicap formula for a given league depends on many attributes of the league, including number of teams, length of season, use of split seasons, and, most importantly, the incoming averages of all the teams in the league. There is no single handicap percentage that works well for every league.

As a result of my research, I created software that will evaluate any league for fairness and allow easy determination of its optimal handicap formula. The program is called Bowling League Tuneup and can be found at www.bltuneup.com. It runs on Windows and is totally free. (Making money was not the goal of my research.) It can be used before the season starts to determine a fair handicap formula for a league. It can also be used during the season to record bowler scores in order to produce bowler performance sheets and league analyses that can help explain league outcomes, detect potential instances of cheating (sandbagging and dumping), and provide insights to assure future seasons of the league are set up properly.