What Handicap Am i ?

[GQ Man]

Well i took up the game again after about 15 years out of the game (without ever holding a cue in that time) about 2-3 months ago, now back in the day i used to play off of (depending on the club i was in) scratch to +14, now that was then and this is now, so i introduced myself back into game with various practice setups as i have always found this to be the most OPTIMUM use of my time and the quickest way to make big headway in this game. So now what i generally do is setup all of the colours on their spots then just randomly spread the reds around the table and play, on average within every hour of play i will accomplish 2-3: 60+ breaks, 4: 40+ breaks and about 10: 30+ breaks (highest break at the moment is 91 having had many 60's - 80's) bearing in mind that i always played better (on reflection) actually in a game with someone. So what handicap do you think i might be now ?

[jrc750]

In my club you would be off scratch, thats good going mate

[nrage]

You'd be scratch or lower at my weekly comp. But, you cannot compare handicaps between clubs etc because they are only a "relative" measurement of ability, or in other words the important thing is the difference between them, not the actual value.

[jim evans]

hi gq you can only arrange handicaps if you know the standard of players your playing against,if your playing in a league you will get handicapped acordingly either after the first 4 games as in some leagues you go up and down after every 4 games depending on your results,other leagues alter handicaps after 1st half of season

[finabb]

In our league you'd be off minus 26 or 30

[hotpot]

Partially sighted

[hotpot]

Sorry muck , only kidding , boredom got the better of me . Sounds like you are getting your game back together quite nicely .

[GQ Man]

Believe me when i started back i LITERALLY couldn't pot double red colours the cue felt like i was holding a Javelin the table felt 30ft long and the balls felt extremely heavy and looked like the size of a cricket ball, i was moving all over the place, snatching every other shot and was basically a mess, but slowly and surely i began to break the game down in my mind, concentration technique etc and the results followed, TOP TIP for people wishing to get better eliminate all shots with side as since i have started back i have made all of my breaks with 'Vertical Ball Striking' and by that i mean i draw Vertical line through the centre of the cue ball and only strike anywhere along that line, But never at the extremes of the cue ball and with that i can get perfect position on 90% of all of my shots and maintain a much higher consistent game.

[pottingpinks]

It would depend on the standard of the league you played in obviously but sounds like you would be off one of the higher ratings in our league, probably -35

[gazza147]

Hi Gq,
I did a Similar thing left off for around 8-10yrs when my 3 little ones came along as Priorities come 1st which was my Missis and Kids.
I was playing at quite a High Standard before my Lay off but as you said when you 1st come back the table is like a Football Pitch!...lol... It is hard enough if you have a few Months off without Practise takes alittle while getting back into it.

All I can say is Keep at it m8 not saying you are going to be as good as you Used to be as I know im Not as Age/Eye Sight etc isn't on our side!


Gaz.

[DawRef]

In our league, you would be off of scratch, unless someone knew how good (or bad) you were and offer an alternative handicap (our league goes from -40 to +40). However, that would only be a provisional handicap. Once you had played 6 frames, you would then be re-assessed and your handiap adjusted accordingly.
So, if you regularly knocked in 60+ breaks, I would think your handicap would be dropped to at least -20, if not more. We do have one team in our league who bring in 'ringers' arguing that they should be off of +10 or even +20 and then they knock in a 40 odd break!!

[GQ Man]

Interesting to see how different handicap systems work in different clubs, the clubs i used to frequent many years ago worked on the premise that scratch to -42 in blocks of 7 were considered very good amateur quality/professional standard then +7 then +14 and + 21 etc all of the way to 98 depending on ability.

[pottingpinks]

Wow 98 is a decent start to be giving!! In theory you could not pot a ball and still win by a fair margin!!
Scratch can mean alot of different things really depending on how its used, in some leagues its the top rating but in our league its the next to bottom rating currently as we go from -35 down to +7.

[DandyA]

Interesting to see how different handicap systems work in different clubs, the clubs i used to frequent many years ago worked on the premise that scratch to -42 in blocks of 7 were considered very good amateur quality/professional standard then +7 then +14 and + 21 etc all of the way to 98 depending on ability.

Wow 98 is a decent start to be giving!! In theory you could not pot a ball and still win by a fair margin!!
Scratch can mean alot of different things really depending on how its used, in some leagues its the top rating but in our league its the next to bottom rating currently as we go from -35 down to +7.

it's worse than that isn't it? a -42 player playing a +98 player would be giving a 140 start wouldn't they? I don't play in a league (handicap or otherwise) so I might be misunderstanding but if that's the case, the weaker player just needs to pot one red and the better player needs a snooker LOL ...

[DawRef]

Just to show how ludicrouse some leagues are, one year my mate and I won the Summer League Doubles. So they cut our handicap for the Winter League, in which I never entered any competitions anyway. The daft thing being, was that the division for the Winter League we played in wasn't even handicapped!!!