Putting For Dollars

It didn’t take long to determine that being a busboy was not my desired long term career. After leaving Leong’s I started working as course manager at the local Putt-Putt Golf. In my spare time I spent a lot of hours playing this game that I loved. Thus, I became pretty good and  joined the Professional Putters Association. The local course held weekly tournaments and there were seven or eight of us who competed regularly. It was great fun but more about bragging rights. However, when we received a flyer from the course in Columbia about a state championship we started taking things a little more seriously.

October 1976
Putt-Putt Golf, Columbia, MO
PPA Missouri State Championship

Realizing there would be some stiff competition I knew I would need some serious practice if I was going to win. Two of us went to Columbia a day early and spent the entire day learning the course. Our efforts paid off. I dominated the competition with a 72 hole total of 118, 26 strokes under par. My traveling companion took second place six strokes back. My reward: a new Mazda Mizer, a car I would drive all the way through college.

June 1977
Putt-Putt Golf, Springfield MO
Pepsi 500 PPA National championship qualifying tournament

With an ace on the 72nd second hole I was leader in the clubhouse with a 32 under par score of 112. This included a personal best 18 hole total of 21 (15 aces). One competitor with a chance to catch me remained. He was two strokes back with three holes to play. I watched nervously as his putt on 16 dropped into the cup. With a hole-in-one on the next two holes he would overtake me and my dream of qualifying for the national championship would be shattered. His shot on 17 narrowly missed guaranteeing me at least a playoff. When his attempt on the final hole lipped out I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. I qualified for the national championship and a first place prize of $100.

July 1977
Putt-Putt Golf, Columbus, OH
PPA National Championship

Similar to the NCAA March madness tournament, the PPA National Championship is a match play single elimination format. I was matched against Robert Smith, the 1972 and 1974 champion. After 36 holes we were tied leading to a sudden death playoff. I lost the sudden death playoff but left with my head held high knowing I had come within one stroke of knocking off a two-time champion. I would receive a check for $600.

Career statistics:
Years on the PPA tour: 1
Tournament Victories: 2
Lowest 72 Hole Total: 112
Lowest 18 Hole Total: 21
Career Winnings: $700 plus one car

“Magical Mystery Tour” is a song by the Beatles, the opening track and theme song for the album, double EP and TV film of the same name. Unlike the theme songs for their other film projects, it was not released as a single.

Magical Mystery Tour is a record by the English rock group the Beatles that was released as a double EP in the United Kingdom and an LP in the United States. Produced by George Martin, both versions include the six-song soundtrack to the 1967 film of the same name. The EP was issued in the UK on 8 December 1967 on the Parlophone label, while the US release took place on 27 November, after Capitol Records had compiled an eleven-track LP through the addition of songs from the band’s 1967 singles. The EP was also released in Germany, France, Spain, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Australia and Japan.^[1] The first official release as an eleven-track LP in the UK did not occur until 1976.