The cuefactor history
In 1850, when Charles Loes painted "The Golfers," handicapping was a relatively simple proposition, with few alternatives available for equalizing the disparities in golfers' skills.
Is there an avid golfer today who doesn't have a recognised Handicap Index-or a guesstimate of one? Not likely. But how many snooker players enjoy the same situation?
Cuefactor offers snooker players that almost unique apparatus that allows players of any skill level to compete fairly against one another on the identical field of play.
The term handicapping originated in horse racing; a jockey was handed his odds for the race in a cap (hand-in-cap). But the concept far preceded the word. Early on, the act of allowing strokes in golf was called "assigning the odds," and was done by the precursor of the modern Handicap Committee Chairman, who was called "adjustor of the odds." Handicapping, among its other benefits, allows men and women to have fair matches regardless of each player's golf skills.
Golf as a game dates back to the 1300s, although it was around 600 years until an effective and standard handicap system was introduced. By comparison, snooker was invented in 1875 and it has taken a mere 130 years for the introduction of cuefactor.
In 1891, a Mr. H. H. Turner, of Greenwich, England, suggested that a portability problem existed with handicaps: One of the advantages generally suggested as likely to result from the formation of a Golfing Association, is the possibility of ticketing players with a handicap applicable to all greens. I imagine the actual figure would not be the same in all cases: 7 at Wimbledon would mean 9 at Sandwich. The advantages of such a uniformity would be numerous . . . it would be possible to handicap visitors to a green quickly and satisfactorily.
The unique cuefactor formula achieves the same outcome that a player in Sheffield can compete on an equal basis with a player in Wembley.
