How to Calculate Bowling Scores With Handicap

Bowling can be a fun sport to enjoy with both friends and family. However, as with any sport, there will always be some who are better than others. For this reason, scores can be handicapped. A handicap gives those bowlers who aren't as talented a chance to compete with the better bowlers. Here is how to calculate bowling scores with handicap.

Instructions

    • 1

      Begin by calculating your personal bowling handicap. How you do this will most likely be determined by the league you bowl in each week. A bowling handicap is found by taking a the average score of a bowler and subtracting that number from a percentage of 200. For this example, we'll use 100 percent of 200, or simply the number 200.

    • 2

      Take your average score and subtract it from 200. Let's assume that you average a 144 every time you bowl. This means that your handicap would be 200-144, or 56. 56 will be the handicap you use for every week during this particular league, regardless of what score you bowl.

    • 3

      Add your handicap score to your bowling score after you've finished a game. For example, if you bowl a 152 during game one of your league, your final score with handicap will be 208. This is how you calculate a personal score with your own handicap.

    • 4

      Add up the average of your team in order to find your team's handicap. Let's say that your team has a total of four bowlers. Bowler A averages 141 a game, Bowler B averages 150 a game, Bowler C averages 128 a game and Bowler D averages 138 a game. These four numbers combined add up to 557.

    • 5

      Multiply the number 200, or 100 percent of 200, times the amount of people in your league. For this example, you could multiply 200 four times since there are four bowlers on the team. That, of course, gives you the number 800.

    • 6

      Subtract the number of your total team average from the number you get at the end of step 5. Once again, for this particular example the number is 800. This team's handicap would be 800-557, or 253. This is the number that would be added to the total amount of pins acquired by your team at the end of one particular game.