Expert: Warren Friedl, Pro Shop Owner/Operator, - 5/1/2009

Question
It's been so many years since I bowled, I can't remember exactly how to figure the handicapping.  Can you give me the formula?
Thanks

Answer
Jan,
Handicapping a bowling league or tournament starts with choosing a basis. If the very best bowler participating is 200, 220, 230, use a basis score higher than that player.

Let's suppose your best player is 200 average. Use a 210 basis (because the best player may improve, if they do they have an advantage over lower average bowlers), and figure handicap as a percentage of that number.

Some traditionalist use old 66% or 75 or 80% as the key to their handicap formula, but the American Bowling Congress determined years ago that most league situations benefit the top average bowlers.

They suggested that 114% would actually make the handicapping system fair for lower average and higher average bowlers. Presently, many organizations encourage 100% handicap, or your best bowler with a 200 average would get 100% of the difference from average to handicap basis (210) or 10 pins of handicap.

So in this case, basis is 210, percentage is 100%. Thanks for the question.