Professional putters take their game very seriously
By JIM McCONNELL
The Free Lance-Star
Date published: 5/21/2002
Into the clown's mouth! Hurray!
Stuck in the windmill! Aw, shucks!
Hole in one on No. 18! Free game!
Uh or not?
To most people, a round of miniature golf is a chance to relax and goof off in a noncompetitive, family environment.
It's like that for professional putters, too--only take away the relaxation and family, then toss in a triple helping of stomach-churning, white-knuckle competition.
"We like to have fun as much as anybody, but we came here to play Putt-Putt first," said Randy Reeves, who drove from Montgomery, Ala., to Fredericksburg for last weekend's Professional Putters Association National Invitational.
He wasn't kidding. Nor was he alone.
Reeves is part of an established subculture within the Putt-Putt community, touring professionals who have taken what was once exclusively a kid's game--remember those catchy "Putt-Putt for the fun of it" commercials?--and turned it into something resembling serious business.
Not that there's much money in it. The total purse for Fredericksburg's two-day competition was $12,000, relatively high by PPA standards but still only enough to send the winner, Mike Brown, home to Pennsylvania with a nice trophy and check for $1,500.
"If you're in this for the money, you're in the wrong sport," said Rick Rybaczek, a good-natured fellow from Greensboro, N.C. "Very few people out here are ever going to make a profit."
While you may find it easy to scoff at the notion of somebody trying to make real Benjamins playing Putt-Putt, these guys don't seem to get the joke.
The Pro Putters Association has its own Web site (www.proputters.com), on which you can find tournament information, player biographies, news updates and messages concerning the Pros Players Committee and National Players Advisory Board.
The players also look the part of professionals, from the stylish golf shirts, slacks and PPA logo Strata golf balls to the shoes--soft spikes, of course--in which they stalk carpeted fairways from Virginia to Texas.
No, it isn't the PGA Tour. It is Putt-Putt.
But these guys are good.
Sometimes, ridiculously good.
"It's just like any other sport," said pro Andy Coradini, who hails from Loganville, Ga. "It's all about repetition. You have to put in the practice time to be sure about your shots."
Date published: 5/21/2002
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