How to Figure a Bowling Handicap

If you want to compete in a bowling league, or simply compete against friends, you'll need to calculate your bowling handicap in order to make the game as fair as possible. That is, if you are significantly better or worse than the person you are competing against, it won't be fair to play them straight up. Instead, a handicap evens out the competition by providing the worse player with extra pins.

Instructions

    • 1

      Set a scratch figure or scratch mark. This is a figure that is higher than average of any bowler you are bowling against. A typical scratch figure is 200.

    • 2

      Set a percentage you want to use for handicapping. Typically, 100 percent is the standard, but 90 or 80 is also used.

    • 3

      Subtract your average from the scratch mark. For example, if you average a 150, subtract 150 from 200 for a total of 50.

    • 4

      Multiply that figure by the percentage of scratch that you chose. For example, if you chose a 100 percent handicap, you would multiply 50 by 1.0 to get 50. However, if you chose an 80 percent handicap, you would multiply 50 by .8 to get a 40 handicap.