Some would argue that since no one bowls candlepins for a living (altho' it's a nice little income supplement for a few of us, and you know who you are), there are no "pro" candlepin bowlers. But under the definition used in other sports (e.g., golf), that is not correct.

One can legally be a "professional" golfer without even winning a dime -- all it takes is the intention to win money. Tiger Woods turned pro by holding a press conference and saying, "Hello World!." On the mini-tours around the country, you can generally enter events as either a pro or an amateur -- if you enter as an amateur, you pay a lower entry fee, but if you enter as a pro, you pay extra, for the prize fund. According to the USGA, once you enter a tournament as a pro, you are no longer an amateur -- and no longer eligible to enter amateur tournaments. Here's the language from the Rules of Golf:

http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/AmStat/

The pertinent language looks like this:

For the purpose of applying these Rules, a professional golfer is one who:
• plays the game as his profession; or
• works as a professional golfer; or
• enters a golf competition as a professional; or
• holds or retains membership of any Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA); or
• holds or retains membership of a Professional Tour limited exclusively to professional golfers.

Nowhere in there does it say that a professional golfer EVER HAS TO WIN A DIME. As soon as you enter a tournament as a pro (i.e., with eligibility to win money), you are a professional golfer.

I think that's a good standard to apply. If you bowl in a Pro Series event -- or any event that pays cash -- you are a pro bowler. (Whether or not that applies to handicap tournaments is another matter. Someone who wins money by virtue of handicap and says, "Hey, I'm a pro bowler" is deluding himself, but so what; who does that hurt?)

Urb

Actually, I tend to say, "I'm a scratch bowler," because "pro" is kind of a loaded term. The other thing I tell people is, "I'm a pro in the sense that I spend a lot of money bowling, and occasionally win some of it back!"

Urb

The term "pro" is something that has yet to be determined in candlepin bowling as far as I am concerned. I am from Canada and in the house I bowl in there is no "pro leagues". I think that is just a glorified name for the mens league. I mean think about it, all you have to do to bowl in a league is sign up. I have yet to see a league that required a specific criteria to enter.

In my opinion, you would have to not only compete at money tournaments, but compete in them consistantly. I mean think about it, going with Urb's golf theory, just competeing in a PGA event doesn't make you a "pro", if so, there would not be players with amature status. In our sport, anybody can get picked up for the worlds once. You have a good year and a lower team picks you up because they are short a bowler two weeks before the tournament. Does that make you a pro? I don't think so. But when you take into all the people that bowl in the worlds, Mens & Mixed tournaments (In Canada), or the pro Series' that go one in the states CONSISTANTLY, to me, in my pee sized brain, that makes you a pro.

Again, just my opinion.
Great Job on the Forum. You got me hooked! lol Keep up the good work.