Well, sometimes a local league just isn't that big.
Like I remember when I was in a bowling league as a kid that was just whoever signed up to be in it at that one bowling alley.
We had a guy in the league that eventually went Pro and I remember watching him score his first perfect 300 game in person way back then, but there was people like me that were just ok. I think the highest my average got up to was around 130, but i can't really remember. I know I had a 197 game once. In contrast, the future Pro's average was something like 230 (I think), a full 100 points difference.
But my team would sometimes play against the future Pro's team. I'm pretty sure his team always creamed us, even with the handicap, but the handicap at least made it so we were able to beat other teams that were significantly better than us. And if we consistently played well enough we were beating other people our handicap would change.
It made it so there was actually some tension from both sides, and a desire for both sides to play as best as they could, instead of the obviously better player to maybe let things slip a tiny bit or for us to get frustrated and just toss the ball down there without trying.
It also made it so you didn't have a teammate that got too sore if your skill levels were significantly different. Like if I was actually terrible but was paired to be on a team with someone decent, they wouldn't hate me because I would always make us lose a matchup. Instead my handicap would make it so we could still be somewhat competitive.
Granted you were ultimately always competing with yourself, trying to get a better score, but it's another layer that adds to the fun of the game. I haven't been a part of a league in at least 25 years, but sometimes I miss it.
And even in this setup there's still tiers. Like it's not like anyone ever said "yeah, let's send this average for a kid player to a professional league championship and see how well they do!", but there's different skill levels for the players in every tier as well.
Yeah, I play on a couple APA pool leagues and the handicap system for 8-ball and 9-ball makes it so pros and beginners can play against each other and mostly have a good time.
Like I remember when I was in a bowling league as a kid that was just whoever signed up to be in it at that one bowling alley.
We had a guy in the league that eventually went Pro and I remember watching him score his first perfect 300 game in person way back then, but there was people like me that were just ok. I think the highest my average got up to was around 130, but i can't really remember. I know I had a 197 game once. In contrast, the future Pro's average was something like 230 (I think), a full 100 points difference.
But my team would sometimes play against the future Pro's team. I'm pretty sure his team always creamed us, even with the handicap, but the handicap at least made it so we were able to beat other teams that were significantly better than us. And if we consistently played well enough we were beating other people our handicap would change.
It made it so there was actually some tension from both sides, and a desire for both sides to play as best as they could, instead of the obviously better player to maybe let things slip a tiny bit or for us to get frustrated and just toss the ball down there without trying.
It also made it so you didn't have a teammate that got too sore if your skill levels were significantly different. Like if I was actually terrible but was paired to be on a team with someone decent, they wouldn't hate me because I would always make us lose a matchup. Instead my handicap would make it so we could still be somewhat competitive.
Granted you were ultimately always competing with yourself, trying to get a better score, but it's another layer that adds to the fun of the game. I haven't been a part of a league in at least 25 years, but sometimes I miss it.
And even in this setup there's still tiers. Like it's not like anyone ever said "yeah, let's send this average for a kid player to a professional league championship and see how well they do!", but there's different skill levels for the players in every tier as well.