These two bowling alleys have been here for many years...for sure the 12 years we have been here.

When talking about the slow VS the busy season there are some things to keep in mind.

In 2004 when the population was 35,000 the bowling alleys were doing fine and always seemed to be busy. For ease of example let us just say the population drops by 50% in the slow season. Something less than 20,000 population base.

Fast forward to today. The latest number I heard was 110,000 and growing. Take away 50% in the slow season.....55,000 population base.....the slow season of today is almost 50% greater than the busy season of 12 years ago.

The developer has consistently added golf courses as TV grows southward.

Must be a reason why somebody other than the developer has not picked up on bowling as a great business opportunity.

I have no idea what the criteria are for adding bowling alleys.

N@pr0x=n

Based on 32 lanes, each bowling center here has probably 2,500 league bowlers in the winter season of 32 weeks. Each bowler bowling roughly 100 league games per season. In the shortened summer season, that number probably drops to 1,500 bowlers for 12 weeks, equalling 36 games per season. These guestimates would bring each centers league lineage to 300,000 per year times two centers for a total of 600,000 league games bowled per year.
Because the centers are busy, open and tournament bowling is at a minimum compared to league play. Let's give each center 100,000 lines per year of open and league play. That's almost 1,000 lines per week, which is very generous. This gives the two bowling centers a total of 800,000 lines per year bowled. Which by industry standards is very good. BUT, that number falls way way short of the 2.9 million rounds of golf played each year in The Villages. In my humble opinion, bowling is a distant second to golf.

Does it really matter what is first?

Yes:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Speaking for myself, I don't care.
What I find interesting is that a number of people have heard bowling is number one when it looks pretty obvious that it is not. It's sort of an suburban myth. It's healthy to be inquisitive. Don't you think?

I don't think the numbers should be the focus. Let's get to the core issues.

Why doesn't golf have an equivalent "to the "beer frame"? The 19th hole doesn't count as it is post game.

Why is bowling attire so awesome and unique while one can go to Publix or the golf course in the same outfit?

Why is golf so lacking in high fives compared to bowling?

When will golf get automated scorekeeping?

When will golf get black lights, music, and nerf barriers to prevent the ball from going into hazards?

Why can't we rent golf shoes?

Which is more effective in willing the ball to deviate from its current path, the bowling lean or the golf lean?

[QUOTE=Rapscallion St Croix;1181589]
Why is golf so lacking in high fives compared to bowling?
/QUOTE]
My theory, more golfers then bowlers have rotator cup issues.

Not always.

I always think.

Getting back on topic:
As someone that bowls 3 times or more per week, we would be very interested in a new bowling alley south of 466a. Maybe we could actually use the golf cart to get to it, instead of always using the car.

On a side note: bowling in the summer is great, it is air conditioned, bowling in the winter is great, it is heated. We enjoyed some of the previous comments, especially those relating to the number one activity in TV.

Also, I suspect that there may be some additional bowlers that would go to lanes located south of 466a, who do not want to go 10, 12, or miles to SS.

Maybe these newbies would like a roller rink to for amusing visitors ..

If they are capable of bowling they should be able to drive 10 miles.
If there was another location added, there could be a concern of drawing bowlers away from the existing lanes. Just wondering if there are enough additional bowlers to fill a house 7 nights a week?

I would think IF the 2 existing alleys were profitable in 2004 with a population of 35,000, then 3 alleys would be just as profitable, if not more so with a population of 115,000. Yes, the popularity of bowling has declined, but nowhere near as fast as the growth of TV.

Do bowlers loose interest because they don't have enough access?