I’m not worried about handicapping, could you shoot me over the basic format? I'll owe you a beer and an hour of table time!
Well, some might consider this confusing, but I didn't care - I was determined to do it and it was fun. Here's the gist:
I had only 2 teams of 7 each (odd number is important, you'll see why later)
Each team has a captain that makes decisions and calls as well as coaching, etc.
Each week, when teams play, each player plays 1 singles match, 1 doubles match, and 1 all team play match. The most fun part of the league was the all team play match. It forces players who don't know each other to become friends, learn new techniques, etc.
I created a sheet that has one team's names going horizontally and one team's going vertically, and when player A from team 1 plays player C from team 2, I put an "X" to show they've drawn each other (my league went long, so everyone played everyone twice).
I also created a sheet that detailed the players who played WITH each other in doubles, so that they played with each other only twice as well.
My format for handicapping was simple (in my opinion). This was for EIGHT BALL.
You handicap players based on relative skill. My ranking system went from 1-10. Although it was possible to be ranked higher than 10, those high echelon players wouldn't come near a bar league.
Every ball pocketed legally was worth one point. The 8 ball was worth three points. Instead of spotting balls or games, players spotted POINTS. It was a single game, not a race.
For every level you are BELOW someone, they spot you one point. So, if I'm a 3 playing a 7, I get an automatic 4 points. If I make all my balls legally and make the 8 legally, I win 14 points. He also gets points for however many balls he's made. This is an easy system and worked well.
Hope this helps!