What do you think constitutes a fair handicap?

[TheSheibs]

Your league is a adult child league, with a 10 pin rule! Somebody was really paranoid about sandbagging there. And your figuring team handicap using 90% of the team difference.

In regard to team green they aren't sandbagging. You have a 10 pin drop and those guys averages are over their entering averages, that's not sandbagging.
The Roll another 1 team half their team is just bowling average and the other halfs averages are below the ten pin drop. that's why they lost . Not that little 15 handicap team green had.


Those league rules are something. The way the award rules read one person could conceivably win all of them and Subs can win league prizes but not have to pay into the prize fund.

Yeah, I've read the league rules and they just seem to make things way more complicated then it needs to be. Such as your average cannot drop more than 10 pins below your book average. since this is my first year on this league I will hold off on trying to change things. Seems like the rules really need to be rewritten, one of these days.

[billf]

Those are some strange rules. If absent you don't pay full amount, subs eligible for prizes..wow!
Another part I personally disagree with is a person being able to win more than one individual award. Leagues with that rule seem to have one bowler who really cleans up.
The rule about your average not being able to drop more than 10 pins below your book average; that's designed to keep people from sandbagging the first part of a season and then just laying it on everybody the rest of the way. I'm not too sure how well it works.

[MICHAEL]

The only good handicap is NO HANDICAP!! Bowl with people of the same ability, or close to it! There is no way to make it fair with the millions of sandbagger’s that are out there! People,,, ONE ON one! Life is that way! No one has ever said it was fair! Do the Pros’s have handicap,,,,, NO! I even dislike handicap parking that sooooooooo many people take advantage of! I was given a permit by my doctor to have one, but I ‘ll be damn if I ever will use it! I have too much pride to ask for special parking privileges. People LIFE IS NOT a LEVEL Playing Field,,, why,,, expect it from bowling, or any sport!
I know no once cares what I think,,,, but my thoughts are…… scratch!!! You win…. GREAT!! You lose, that’s life!
Maybe leagues where people are put with others, that have same bowling skills! I don’t like the present system… amen!! lol

[bjeffe1234]

As long as it is not 100% the higher handicapped team still has to bowl above average to beat the lower handicapped team when they bowl average. I'm in the high 170's and in the leagues that I bowl in I have a lot of bowlers with higher averages and a lot with lower averages. Would I bowl in a scratch league where most of the bowlers have a higher average than me. Yes, I would but most bowlers won't. Especially beginners. Unless it's a league with no prize fund. They would be just throwing money away. I feel that having a fair (one that is not set at 100%) handicap system in place helps to grow the sport.

[MICHAEL]

And example, We all know who the fast man in the world is in the 100 meter dash! He will, and does win 95 percent of the time. So that others that go up against him, will run, lets give them a 5 yd, 7.5 yard, ect lead out of the box…. Does this seem fair. NO. Hay I am almost 64, and I don’t want any handicap at all!! If a better man/woman beats me…. ((I live with it LOL)). This society we live in that in so many things is always trying to level the playing field, is not something I agree with personally.
Why does it have to be level in bowling?? Is it in any other sport,,, boxing,,, ( should one boxer have much thicker gloves, then the other that can hit harder, in race car driving should one car with the best driver have his engine modified so that it doesn’t go as fast, as maybe a lesser driver. I could go on and ON,,, and ON!
Why in bowling does it exist? ( I am just and average bowler, but I would not feel good about getting HELP, Hell, I either beat the person, or they beat me!
I remember my wife and me getting beat by a team that got 42 pins,,,, not a lot, but enough to beat us
3 out of 4. I remember him coming up to us and saying? ( Well … I guess we were the better bowlers today!) My reply was. ( No not today, or any other day are you a better bowlers! Take away the give me pins and you’re both loser’s!)
It was the cocky way he bragged about beating us.
Bowling should not be about so much a level playing field, but personal goals, and achievement! You only WIN,,,, when you WIN!!
NO handicap is the only good handicap! In My humble opinion, from a guy that doesn’t need level playing fields.
I think people should have access to all bowlers that want to bowl on leagues, and averages of like bowlers should be paired up.
I am bowling on a league right now where all the bowlers are about 210 plus!! It doesn’t keep me from bowling with them,,, I know that on some good days I will win,,,,, but most of the time they will kick my butt,,, but ,,,,, that’s LIFE, and I get over it! LOL……. (

[bowl1820]

in race car driving should one car with the best driver have his engine modified so that it doesn’t go as fast, as maybe a lesser driver.

Let's see Restrictor plates, Rev limiters, limits on the displacement and air intake mouth dimension to make all the cars equal = "Handicap"

Handicapping is used in scoring many games and competitive sports, including go, chess, croquet, golf, bowling, polo, basketball, and track and field events.

[backahead]

The only good handicap is NO HANDICAP!! Bowl with people of the same ability, or close to it! There is no way to make it fair with the millions of sandbagger’s that are out there! People,,, ONE ON one! Life is that way! No one has ever said it was fair! Do the Pros’s have handicap,,,,, NO! I even dislike handicap parking that sooooooooo many people take advantage of! I was given a permit by my doctor to have one, but I ‘ll be damn if I ever will use it! I have too much pride to ask for special parking privileges. People LIFE IS NOT a LEVEL Playing Field,,, why,,, expect it from bowling, or any sport!
I know no once cares what I think,,,, but my thoughts are…… scratch!!! You win…. GREAT!! You lose, that’s life!
Maybe leagues where people are put with others, that have same bowling skills! I don’t like the present system… amen!! lol

I'll second that amen. I'm not a good bowler yet but I don't want or like the handicap I get. I don't mind losing at all, that is what drives me to get better.

[J Anderson]

Let's see Restrictor plates, Rev limiters, limits on the displacement and air intake mouth dimension to make all the cars equal = "Handicap"

Handicapping is used in scoring many games and competitive sports, including go, chess, croquet, golf, bowling, polo, basketball, and track and field events.

You forgot horse racing where the better horse carries more weight.

[TheSheibs]

ummm...How is handicap used in scoring basketball??? or Chess for that matter? I only ask the chess part because I don't know how chess is scored.

[bowl1820]

ummm...How is handicap used in scoring basketball??? or Chess for that matter? I only ask the chess part because I don't know how chess is scored.

A handicap (or "odds") in chess is a way to enable a weaker player to have a chance of winning against a stronger one. There are many kinds of such handicaps, such as material odds, extra moves (i.e. the weaker player can play the first x number of moves at the beginning of the game), extra time on the chess clock, and special conditions (such as requiring the odds-giver to deliver checkmate with a specified chess piece or pawn). Various permutations of these, such as "Pawn and two moves", are also possible.

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_handicap