Bowling Handicap Calculator

1. Enter your established league average.
2. Enter the basis score your league uses; ask the secretary if you are not sure.
3. Enter the handicap percentage and the number of games in a series.
4. Optionally add a scratch score to see it with your handicap added.

A bowling handicap is a number of bonus pins added to a bowler's scratch score so that players of different ability can compete fairly. It is the reason a 150-average bowler and a 200-average bowler can be on opposing teams in the same league and both have a real chance to win the night.

Most leagues use a percentage-of-basis system. The league picks a basis score, usually a little above the best average in the league, and a percentage. Each bowler receives that percentage of the gap between their average and the basis. Bowlers already averaging at or above the basis receive no handicap.

The handicap is recalculated as your average changes, typically each week once you have an established average. A rising average therefore lowers your handicap, which keeps the competition balanced across the season rather than rewarding whoever started lowest.

1. Subtract your average from the basis score to find the gap.
2. Multiply the gap by the handicap percentage.
3. Drop the fraction to get the whole-pin handicap for each game.
4. Multiply by the number of games to get the series handicap.

If the average is equal to or higher than the basis, the gap is zero or negative and the handicap is zero. Fractions are dropped rather than rounded, so a calculated 49.5 pins becomes 49. The percentage step works like any percentage calculation applied to the gap.

A bowler averages 165 in a league that uses 90 percent of 220. The gap is 220 minus 165, which is 55 pins. Ninety percent of 55 is 49.5, and dropping the fraction gives a handicap of 49 pins a game. Across a three-game series that is 147 pins.

If that bowler shoots a 170 scratch game, the handicap score is 170 plus 49, or 219. A teammate averaging 205 in the same league has a gap of 15 pins and a handicap of 13, so on an average night the two bowlers post handicap scores within a few pins of each other.

Your Average

Every pin your average rises lowers the gap and so lowers the handicap.

Basis Score

A higher basis gives everyone more handicap and widens the difference between bowlers.

Percentage

A higher percentage closes more of the gap; 100 percent fully equalises averages.

League Rules

Some leagues cap the handicap or use a different basis for men and women.

Handicap per game for different averages under common league settings.

The same average can earn very different handicaps depending on the league settings.

League Nights

Check the handicap on the recap sheet before the first game starts.

Tournaments

Handicap events publish their basis and percentage; enter them to see what you receive.

Comparing Sports

Golf handicaps work on a similar idea of levelling the field, as the golf playing handicap calculator shows, while chess uses a rating model instead, as in the chess Elo calculator.

1. Rounding Up

Handicaps drop the fraction, so 49.5 pins is 49, not 50.

2. Using the Wrong Basis

Every league sets its own basis; do not assume 220.

3. Using an Old Average

Recalculate as your average changes, usually each week.

4. Negative Handicaps

An average above the basis gives zero handicap, not a deduction, in standard leagues.

The calculation is exact for percentage-of-basis handicaps; it is only as right as the average and league settings you enter.

Subtract your average from the basis score, multiply by the percentage and drop the fraction. A 165 average at 90 percent of 220 gets 49 pins.

Common settings are 90 percent of 220, 80 percent of 200 and 100 percent of 210, but each league chooses its own.

No. The fraction is dropped, so 49.5 becomes a handicap of 49.

You receive no handicap. Standard leagues do not deduct pins from bowlers above the basis.

Usually every week once you have an established average, because the handicap follows your average.

It is added to every game; the series handicap is the per-game figure times the number of games.

A percentage below 100 still rewards the better bowler slightly, so improving your game keeps paying off.

No. Your average uses scratch scores only; handicap is added after.

No. The calculator runs in your browser and nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.

• Ten-pin bowling (Wikipedia).
• United States Bowling Congress (Wikipedia).
• Glossary of bowling (Wikipedia).