edited by Kenny Wolf

www.kennywolf.com/curtday.htm

Issue #2, June  2005
Horseshoe Pitching Handicaps:  What Are They, How Are They Figured
and How Do They Work?  

What Are They?
    At the Curt Day Horseshoe Courts, we play games of 30 shoes with two men on a team.  The highest possible score is 90 points per man if a perfect game is thrown with 30 straight ringers worth 3 points each.  So one pitcher can score anywhere from 0 points to 90 points.  If a pitcher who averages 15 points per game pitches against a pitcher who averages 45 points per game, it is not much of a contest without adding handicaps to their scores when they compete against each other.  There is a scoring average in every handicap system known as “scratch”.  Scratch is the score that gets no handicap.  Many times a scratch score is arrived at by taking the average of the best pitcher in the league.  When 50 shoes were thrown, the Clinton County Horseshoe Club used 120 points.  The 30 shoes scratch score equivalent to 120 points for 50 shoes is 72 points.  Therefore, scratch for our league is 72 points.  Anyone with a 72 or higher average has a 0 handicap.

    When a pitcher with a 15 average pitches against a pitcher with a 45 average, the 15 pitcher uses a handicap of 51 (see chart on the back) added to his final score for the game.  If he pitches his average game, he will have 66 points total (15 + 51).  The 45 pitcher uses a handicap of 24 added to his final score.  If he pitches his average game, he will have 69 points.  On an average night, the more skilled pitcher will win against a less skilled or beginner pitcher by only  a few points, if they both pitch their average.  If the higher average pitcher pitches a few points below his average on a given night and the lower average pitcher pitches a few points above his average, then the pitcher who pitched above his average wins.

    The handicap system was designed to force pitchers to pitch their averages or better, in order to win games consistently.  It allows real competition between horseshoe pitchers of different skill levels in the game.  It allows mixed doubles and team play which does favor the two pitchers with the combined higher average, but only if they pitch their averages or better and only if the other pitchers do not pitch games quite a bit over their averages.

How Are They Figured?
    Why does a pitcher’s total points with his average of 45 and his handicap of 24 add up to 69 points and a pitcher’s total points with his average of 15 and his handicap of 51 only add up to 66 points; or 3 points less than the higher average pitcher?  It is the percent of difference factor used to arrive at handicaps.  A handicap is figured by taking the “scratch” points total (in our league it is 72 points), subtract the pitcher’s average from this number (in this case it would be 72 – 45 = 27).  However, most handicapping systems do not give the total difference to the participant as their handicap.  Our league gives 90% of the difference.  In other words. 90% of 27 is 24 (fractions are dropped); or a handicap of 24 for an average of 51 points.  The chart on the back of this newsletter shows the handicaps for averages of 12 through 71, with 72 receiving no handicap.

How Do They Work?
    Does it really mean anything when a less skilled pitcher beats a higher skilled pitcher using the handicap system?  It sure does, because that is how the system works.  It means the guy with the lower average out-pitched the higher average pitcher in the sense that he exceeded his own pitching average and had a “good game” for him and the other guy  failed to accomplish his own average and had a “bad game” for him.

    The handicap system is a brilliant scoring system of measuring and rewarding improvement at all levels of the game and it equalizes the playing field . . . “so to speak”.

    With the dynamics of two man team play and the combined averages and handicaps of each pitcher is added together with one pitcher having an off night and the other pitcher pitching well versus two pitchers with lower averages and higher handicaps, or some other mixture, yields a very interesting  contest of horseshoe pitching.  Add to that the natural instinct of horseshoe pitchers to encourage their own opponents in their efforts to do their best, even at the cost of a game or the nightly series of games, and you have some interesting and enjoyable nights of fellowship with like-minded folks.

    In effect the handicap system does not necessarily reward only those who are better, but it mostly rewards those who are getting better.  Wow, what a concept!  A system that favors those individuals who show improvement over their “average”, rather than a system that only rewards those who are the best.  But the check factor to keep the handicap system from working totally against those who happen to have achieved excellence through hours of practice and play; with skills that they developed over time through the love of the game is the “percent of the difference factor” that each league uses for its handicap computations.  As stated earlier and as the chart above and on the front page show, the Clinton County Horseshoe Pitchers Association and other leagues use a handicap system with a scratch of 72 points and 90% of the difference between a pitcher’s average and 72 points.  80% to 85% of the difference would favor the more skilled pitchers, while 100% of the difference would be so favorable to the beginners and those with lower averages, that they would have absolutely no incentive to improve their own averages over time in order to get a higher point total when adding their average onto their handicaps.  We find that the scratch 72 with 90% difference system achieves all the things we wish to achieve in creating an environment for good competitive league play, encouraging pitchers to improve their own games to raise their average plus handicaps total points and keep an atmosphere where we can continue to encourage one another in a spirit of friendship and camaraderie.
In the actual calculating of handicaps, the club statistician may round off averages or drop any fractions, before determining the current handicap; or he may do all his calculations with fractions and then round off  or drop the fractions to determine the handicap.  He figures everyone the same way.  The charts on this paper show handicaps and averages with fractions dropped off to show only the integer.

    We pitch teams of two men against two other men for three 30 shoe games with one point in the standings going to the winner of each game (scores plus handicaps).  We also award one point to the team that pitches the higher total points (scores plus handicaps) in the evening “series.”  If one team wins all three games, then their series total points will also be the higher and they would be awarded four points for the evening’s match.  It is possible for one team to win two games, but lose a third game by so much that the other team wins one point for one game and one point for the series total points.

Player's Avg. Pts. 30 Shoes * Player's Handicap 30 Shoes * Total Points
(1st column is score; 2nd column is handicap; 3rd column is total points with handicap)