Hence if an 8 played a 5 off a base of four then the five would have a single bisque and the 8 would have four bisques. This prevents a clean sweep since the number of bisques equivalent to the handicap should be enough for a player to play both balls to the peg. Psychologically few people enjoy being told that they are getting worse. It is a noticeable and big step to rise from a 5 to a 6 handicap. People resist such bad news and will protect their handicaps by avoiding games or forgetting to update their record cards.
Some tournaments last a week.
You could be playing much better or much worse than your handicap and be clocking up win after win or consistently losing. In a week tournament you can play 15 or more games and hence be 150 point better or worst off on your index. Most handicap trigger values are at intervals of 50 points hence at the end of the week you would be playing games in which your handicap is three steps wrong. The above system assumes that people have a nearly correct handicap and play many games which count to changing their handicap. If someone only plays within their club, or practices extensively then their handicap will not reflect their ability.