Author Topic: How Much? (Read 4199 times)

Elimeno Pee · « **on:** January 29, 2014, 05:53:10 AM »

Added all up, how much do you spend per calendar year on bowling? Leagues+Tourneys+Side Pots+ Drinks+Hotel+Travel+Food+Equipment, anything else.

Without getting too personal if you don't want to, how does this compare to your income?

How much would you say you make in return out of tournys/leagues/side pots etc...?

What's your average? How many leagues/tourneys?

Gizmo823 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 29, 2014, 08:14:13 AM »

Well this is gonna hurt lol . . Let's see, realistically I'm estimating about 3500-4000, which translates to appx 5% of our annual income.

In return, I'd put it at about 2000, with most of that coming from league payout. I'm completely a break even guy (just against the entry fee/bracket cost, not the entire trip) on tournaments, I've gotten a couple decently large paydays, and I've had a couple no cashes, but I've never been skunked on brackets, always finish close to even or ahead.

Average has been within a few pins either side of 225 for several years, I bowl in two leagues a year and generally just the Greater Ozarks Open and the Open Champs, but I throw a couple smaller local tournaments in there every once and a while.

vkowalski1970 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2014, 09:11:54 AM »

ok....
Payout:
Leagues, side pots ans team kitty......$2300...2 leagues
Tourneys .......................................$500......usbc open and a couple local tourneys
Travel............................................$1000.....usbc open
equipment......................................$1000-$1500 ball whore

Return money....$2000...League, team kitty, pots and tourney payouts

so about 1.5-2% depending on year...

BallReviews-Removed0385 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2014, 09:48:06 AM »

Somewhere around $4000

Jesse James · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2014, 04:17:22 PM »

Expenditures:

Leagues & side pots: $2,500
Tourneys: $300
Travel: $900
Equipment: $250

Payouts:
Leagues: $1,250
Tourneys: $150

Works out to about 3% of my salary spent on my favorite past time.

Pinbuster · « **Reply #5 on:** January 29, 2014, 04:53:35 PM »

Around $1700 in expenditures for leagues, tournaments, and equipment (I generally buy 1 ball a year). Another 700 in travel expense to go to nationals.

On average I win about $1000 back a year.

I play golf as well and expenses there far exceed bowling with little to no payback.

swingset · « **Reply #6 on:** January 29, 2014, 05:19:55 PM »

$1560 last year in leagues, dues and a couple tourneys. I don't travel, so I keep it pretty cheap.

Won back $554 in various awards and stuff.... so I spent $1006 total. Pretty cheap hobby, for me.

It's about 2% of my income.

I average 213, bowl in two leagues per week and I think did 3 tourneys.

Elimeno Pee · « **Reply #7 on:** January 29, 2014, 05:20:35 PM »

I'm mainly asking, i'm working on a plan to convince the wife of an amount we EACH should take a week for fun. save and/or spend it how ever you wish. I would like to add 4-10 tournaments next bowling season, some smaller scratch, and a couple handicaps just to see where I am. I'd like to see some different oils and formats to see what I might like better, where my arsenal holes really are, and maybe make a few bucks to add back in for the next year.

I've been working on improving my game, made some recent changes, and would like the competitive pressure to keep the improvements going. I run side pots on Mondays, so there's a chance to return weekly with a bit of money. At some point, even if it's a few years down the road, my goal is to have bowling be around break even for me, maybe not every year, but maybe a rolling 2-3 year expense vs return. I would like at some point in that to add in Nationals, and maybe a couple PBA regionals to the mix, but I can start local and in state where I have places i can stay without paying hotel expenses. I know people in the Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Midland areas, and live in the nw of lower Michigan.

itsallaboutme · « **Reply #8 on:** January 29, 2014, 06:45:28 PM »

So you can keep things realistic for your wife I went and looked at my tax return for 2003. I had a stretch of 3 years that I actually had a profit for the year and that was one of them. The records show I bowled 8 regionals, all 12 of our local scratch association events, city, state, nationals, probably 10 or so other tournaments in my travels. League once a week. League was a wash, 720 in, 750 out. I cashed in 4 Regionals, making match play twice. Cashed in 80% of the other events. Won once. My w-2 for the USBC was just under 2400. All said and done I profited about $5000 for the year.

Keep in mind I ran a pro shop at the time. Bowled league Monday night. Practiced Tuesday-Friday just about every day before I opened the shop. Bowled all those tournaments on the weekends. So bowling just about everyday. I never payed to practice and didn't pay for any equipment. So breaking even while having a real job and having to pay for practice and equipment is almost impossible unless you can pop a big win somewhere.

Elimeno Pee · « **Reply #9 on:** January 29, 2014, 06:55:59 PM »

don't actually NEED to break even, just want to have it not be a complete waste, and who knows where my ceiling is, i may stumble into some greatness i don't know i have... lol. realistically, i just want to have a good idea when i put the "acquisition request" into the "quartermaster"

itsallaboutme · « **Reply #10 on:** January 30, 2014, 06:41:15 AM »

I'm not going to get into the whole "acquisition request" thing, but I'm guessing she also controls the remote in your house.

The tougher part with the wife that I've seen a lot of guys go through is the time commitment it takes to get better. League once a week and a tournament a month isn't going to get you any better. Is she ready to have you go practice 3 times a week? If she doesn't have her "own thing", good luck with that one, especially if you have kids. I was pretty fortunate that way. No kids and my wife played Div. 1 volleyball in college so she gets the time commitment involved to be good at something and compete at a high level.

If you are going to go figuring monthly fun money, I would suggest you decide on an amount based on no return. Then any winnings you have you can reinvest back in the form of more practice, a lesson, more equipment, ect.

As for stumbling upon some greatness, either you have it or you don't. If you don't already have it you are going to have to find it the old fashion way. If you really want bowling to almost pay for itself you need to have a connection to be able to practice cheap. You'll go broke paying rack rates to practice. Do whatever you need to do to be able to practice for around $1 a game. Get certified and volunteer with the juniors, work the desk one night a week, see if they need a fill in bartender now and then, barter whatever skills you have. But to get to the level you are talking about you need to be prepared to spend some time on the lanes.

Gizmo823 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 30, 2014, 07:51:23 AM »

A LOT of good points and information here. Working at the pro shop covers my expenses by a long shot, so as far as involvement in bowling cost vs return, I come out a decent amount ahead at the end of the year, but that's mostly due to like he says below, getting discounted equipment and free practice, that makes all the difference in the world. At the same time, bowling is one of the very few things that you actually get money back from, that should be a big selling point with her. I've never made a dime golfing, maybe in betting with some buddies, but that doesn't count. Softball, baseball, flag football, etc., any other sport and hobby you'll get into will just cost you money. Bowling is expensive, but at the end of leagues every year you get several hundred dollars back. Lol I know you don't necessarily want to let her know you're getting money back at the end of the year or how much you're getting, but if nothing else it might be a good selling point to show her that it's not just all money going out.

Quote from: itsallaboutme on January 29, 2014, 06:45:28 PM

So you can keep things realistic for your wife I went and looked at my tax return for 2003. I had a stretch of 3 years that I actually had a profit for the year and that was one of them. The records show I bowled 8 regionals, all 12 of our local scratch association events, city, state, nationals, probably 10 or so other tournaments in my travels. League once a week. League was a wash, 720 in, 750 out. I cashed in 4 Regionals, making match play twice. Cashed in 80% of the other events. Won once. My w-2 for the USBC was just under 2400. All said and done I profited about $5000 for the year.

Keep in mind I ran a pro shop at the time. Bowled league Monday night. Practiced Tuesday-Friday just about every day before I opened the shop. Bowled all those tournaments on the weekends. So bowling just about everyday. I never payed to practice and didn't pay for any equipment. So breaking even while having a real job and having to pay for practice and equipment is almost impossible unless you can pop a big win somewhere.

Quote from: itsallaboutme on January 30, 2014, 06:41:15 AM

I'm not going to get into the whole "acquisition request" thing, but I'm guessing she also controls the remote in your house.

The tougher part with the wife that I've seen a lot of guys go through is the time commitment it takes to get better. League once a week and a tournament a month isn't going to get you any better. Is she ready to have you go practice 3 times a week? If she doesn't have her "own thing", good luck with that one, especially if you have kids. I was pretty fortunate that way. No kids and my wife played Div. 1 volleyball in college so she gets the time commitment involved to be good at something and compete at a high level.

If you are going to go figuring monthly fun money, I would suggest you decide on an amount based on no return. Then any winnings you have you can reinvest back in the form of more practice, a lesson, more equipment, ect.

As for stumbling upon some greatness, either you have it or you don't. If you don't already have it you are going to have to find it the old fashion way. If you really want bowling to almost pay for itself you need to have a connection to be able to practice cheap. You'll go broke paying rack rates to practice. Do whatever you need to do to be able to practice for around $1 a game. Get certified and volunteer with the juniors, work the desk one night a week, see if they need a fill in bartender now and then, barter whatever skills you have. But to get to the level you are talking about you need to be prepared to spend some time on the lanes.

swingset · « **Reply #12 on:** January 30, 2014, 08:24:23 AM »

Quote from: itsallaboutme on January 30, 2014, 06:41:15 AM

As for stumbling upon some greatness, either you have it or you don't. If you don't already have it you are going to have to find it the old fashion way. If you really want bowling to almost pay for itself you need to have a connection to be able to practice cheap. You'll go broke paying rack rates to practice.

Regarding practice, if you're not able to find cheap practice it's probably financially viable to build a practice approach/stub lane in the basement/garage and work on consistency there, which is 90% of the battle. Spares & full racks can be practiced on just a few games per week. Much cheaper.

My Craigslist always has people selling old maple lanes, and there's some creative and cheaper methods for building an approach out there.

If you're serious, and on a budget, it's the way to go.

Author Topic: How Much? (Read 4199 times)

Elimeno Pee

How Much?

Gizmo823

Re: How Much?

vkowalski1970

Re: How Much?

BallReviews-Removed0385

Re: How Much?

Jesse James

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Pinbuster

Re: How Much?

swingset

Re: How Much?

Elimeno Pee

Re: How Much?

itsallaboutme

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Elimeno Pee

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itsallaboutme

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Gizmo823

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swingset

Re: How Much?