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Handicaps; Time for a change
Topic Started: Sep 22 2006, 08:45 AM (202 Views)
joehague
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Mark P / Dave D

Guys

After the first few games of the season - i am thinking that for some players who play off -14 at snooker is not enough of a handicap. If billiards can go from plus 20 odd to -48, then snooker should go to say -25 or -30. Whilst this season am playing -10 and for 12 or 13 years at -14, there are definately players in this league who are better snooker players who should be around the handicaps -20 and higher, this would definately make the league more appealing for OTHER TEAMS/INDIVIDUALS to have a chance of winning something.

You look at the main knockouts we play, Butterworth/Individual handicaps and even the same for the team knockouts, the same players seem to be in the final stages ( whilst they should be there if they are better player), if the handicapping was a little fairer it wouldnt be such an easy game/walk in the park for the better players and they would really have to play well to move on. People who are regularly knocking 90-100 breaks in in their club are either in the wrong league or wrongly handicapped.

THE MAIN REASON FOR MY ARGUMENT - with teams struggling to field 2nd teams and clubs breaking away from the league, the end of season trophy collection - numbers are dwindling and i feel the league needs a bit of a shake up. Maybe there should be only 1 division ( who knows).
Your thoughts or A POLL MR PROSSER maybe a good idea


Joe

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MarkP
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The Button Pusher
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I'll stick with thoughts for now Joe.

Butterworth - off scratch - same as a merit comp in bowls and should be left as such so we'll ignore that one for now.

The handicapping system does leave a bit to be desired - that's no criticism of David, more the way that the league has evolved in terms of snooker taking a much higher profile than billiards compared to years ago. There are probably very few clubs where you could walk in on a night when the team players are in and all tables are being used for billiards.

I'd certainly agree that -14 to +25 is not much of a handicap gap compared to the -48 - +20 in the billiards. The introduction of the newer players - Chris and Kevin at our place, Mark at Whitefield, etc. is a welcome one as far as I'm concerned but I do think with the quality of players in the league much greater than it was years ago there needs to be a handicap revision. I'd certainly say that -25 or even -30 is probably a better lower bound. So, assuming that it was accepted for next season, how to implement it? Easy really, base the deductions on the percentage of games won as normal Say you get 15 points off your handicap for winning all your games, then it would probably take a couple of seasons for the adjustment to work through but I certainly think it would make for a more competitive environment.

The other thing that could be seen as unfair is the two tier handicapping, based on which team you have played for. I'm now off -25 at billiards, a handicap that I'm confident of playing off in the Second Division, but if players leave our team or I play in comps, I'm suddenly facing first team players who've "earned" their handicaps in a tougher first division. That's no disrespect to the second division, just a statement of fact about the overall gulf in quality between the two divisions. I'd therefore suggest a ten point buffer for the second teamers who face first teamers in KOs and team KOs or if they have to step up for the night perhaps.

Obviously that would take a lot more work, but in my opinion the handicapping system does need reviewing.
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