Official Handicaps Established for Tournament Play in effect as of February 2013

The USBA has established official handicaps for various player levels that will be used in handicap tournaments scheduled after February 19, 2013.

In handicap tournaments, the following levels and points will apply:

"A" players go to 30 points (100%)
"B+" players go to 25 points (83.3%)
"B" players go to 21 points (70%)
"C+" players go to 17 points (56.6%)
"C" players go to 15 points (50%)

The handicaps have been established based on the five official USBA player levels established on February 5, 2013 as follows:

A = .900 +
B+ = .700-.899
B= .550-.699
C+ = .400-.549
C = below .400

Handicap tournaments provide the opportunity for players at all levels compete on an equal playing field. Handicapping puts pressure on the higher ranked players to play their best while at the same time it affords the lower ranked players a fair opportiuity for victory.

Handicap tournaments will NOT replace TOUR Events (such as Open and B TOUR Events) A USBA TOUR EVENT may NOT be a handicap tournament. The handicap events will mainly be used locally if a room wishes to hold an official USBA Handicap Tournament. If a room wishes to hold a handicap event, then only the official USBA handicaps and scores may be used and may not be altered in any way. Averages must be kept and recorded throughout the entire tournament.

All participants in a USBA Handicap Tournament MUST have an official USBA Player Level as established by the USBA Rankings Committee. If a player does NOT have an official level, then the player must go to 30 points until that player has participated in a minimum of 2 USBA Tournaments with averages accurately kept and has been given an official Player Level by the USBA Rankings Committee.

Handicap tournaments can be found on the Tournament Calendar. To find a Handicap event, use the search feature and search for the word "Handicap" which will always appear in the title describing the event. Details of the event format, entry fees and prize fund will be found on the tournament listing page.