I have no experience with a lathe and I am very interested in getting into
bowl turning.
I have a Grizzly G5979 Lathe and I am thinking about buying a Talon
66B05.53
1" X 8 tpi scroll chuck which also comes with a screw from Lee Valley for
$199. I would like your opinion on this chuck. Also, I want to buy a bowl
gouge and was wondering what you all thought I should get, should I get a
3/8ths or a 1/2 inch gouge?

I have the same lathe, and use a Nova chuck. The Talon is a good chuck,
you won't need to worry about that. The one problem that I ran into is that
the spindle on the lathe is so long that it will thread all the way through
the Nova and hit the jaws without ever seating properly. I solved that by
purchasing a large washer, which gives it just enough space, and produces no
runout that I can discern. : )

steve