Golf has become the game of choice for athletes who seek other means of diversion. Bowlers and individuals involved in the bowling game, especially PBA and LPBT players, have been bitten by the golf bug.
Inevitably, the comparison between golfers and bowlers surfaces regarding the earnings, the media coverage, the living styles, their acceptance in sports, and their impact on corporate America’s advertising dollars ... principally television.
Television is the prime exposure for most team sports. It also is the showcase for individual competitive sports like bowling, golf, tennis, billiards, fishing, and racing.
Nonetheless, television ratings are no longer the prime barometer for moguls of major companies and advertising firms. The magic word is demographics—a word described by Webster’s Dictionary as a study of populations. Demographics, in television jargon, is the study of age brackets. The 18-to-35 age group has become the focal target for money appropriated for advertising dollars.
Do individuals from 18 to 35 years of age really have more money to spend than those in the over-40 range? And does golf really have a greater appeal to this age bracket than those over 40?
Oddly, bowling and golf parallel in many ways. They are primarily performed individually. Both sports rely on hand-eye coordination, smooth, relaxed fluid swings, and delicate touch. They feature unforced muscular movement, and both rely on perfect timing for generating power through a certain zone in the swing.
Golfing duffers far outnumber scratch players. In bowling, 200-average players are far outnumbered by those with averages below 180.
However, this is the extent of similarity.
How many die-hard golfers ever go bowling? On the other hand, golf has become the greatest obsession among PBA and LPBT members, as well as many proprietors and ABC officials.
Golf is depicted as the sport of a more sophisticated society. It is primarily associated with country clubs and is undoubtedly a source of contacts for business executives.
Bowling has been perceived as a lower-middle-class game played by beer guzzlers with towels dangling from their back pockets. Although this comparative picture is undiluted bunk, it is nevertheless a perception that has existed for years and shows no indication of reversing itself.
Bowling, other than the quality of professional lane conditions, has transformed into a recreation by simplifying and eliminating challenge.
Golf is an expensive game. Yet, it is not reserved exclusively for the more affluent or upper middle-class citizens. An amazing segment of America’s lower earners have been "hooked" by the golf game.
Bowlers complain of $12 ABC dues, $7-$8 league fees, and the cost of balls that have surpassed $200. Contrast this with green fees of $25 to $175 and golf sets that range from $300 to $3,000. A $200 ball seems insignificant when compared with one Callaway driver that sells for over $500. And this is just one of 14 golf clubs permitted in a bag!
Golfers, be they duffers or scratch players, appear to cherish challenging courses. This is particularly noticeable in bowlers who have a great affinity for the game of golf.
On the other hand, bowlers condemn bowling conditions that are not conducive or favorable to their game. These same bowlers complain about tough conditions and threaten to quit unless lane conditions are softened. Why do proprietors comply with these demands, block the lanes, and lower the standards of the game just to attract a few egomaniacs and protect themselves from competitors who apply the same tactics for self-preservation?
Arguments are made for bowling as a sport more than a recreation. Golf is regarded a sport, even though a majority of golfers use it as a recreational vehicle.
There is one major distinction between sport and recreation in golf. Tees are lengthened, fairways narrowed, traps are placed in hazardous positions, greens are made faster, and other difficulties unattainable by lesser-talented players are understood for ratings of courses for par scores.
Conversely, bowling has become a race for higher scores. The blocking of lanes has stripped a great degree of talent that separates mediocrity from proficiency. This, in turn, has had an adverse effect on an unknowing public that views PBA shows and watches top professionals struggle on extremely difficult conditions. They then equate great players with mediocre bowlers averaging anywhere between 220 to 240 in leagues, totally unaware that lane blocking increase averages as much as 40 pins a game.
So much for comparison.
The moral of this story is challenge—an American trait. Golf is a challenge and is never made easy.
Bowling, other than the quality of professional lane conditions, has transformed into a recreation by simplifying and eliminating this most enticing aspect of sports.