ERLANGER, Ky. — People might think of putt putt as a fun family or date activity to be done every once in a while, but the game has its own professional league. The best players in the world recently showed off their skills at the Professional Putters Association National Championship in Erlanger.


What You Need To Know

  • The Putt-Putt Fun Center in Erlanger hosted the Professional Putters Association National Championship

  • About 80 of the best players in the world competed for more than $45,000 in prize money

  • One player said the game has almost as much in common with billiards as it does with golf

  • The skill level is so high, players are usually disappointed when they don’t get a hole-in-one

Football is often called a game of inches. If that’s the case, putt putt could be considered a game of fractions of an inch.

“One stupid mistake, and it really costs you,” said professional player Sid Davis. “You can’t do that against these guys and expect to win.”

After all, these are “the best players in the world, here for putt putt,” as Ken Schooler, another pro, put it.

About 80 of them were all together at the Putt-Putt Fun Center in Erlanger, a 36-hole course. The competition occurred Aug. 8–11. It was the first time Erlanger hosted the event.

“I love this place. I think it’s terrific,” Davis said.

Schooler is from Richmond, Virginia, and has been a pro for 25 years.

“It’s fun. If you love the sport, you want to play against the best,” he said.

Davis is from Kingsport, Tennessee, and was the 2019 national champion.

“I love the competition of it, and there’s various tournaments throughout the country we go to and play, and this is the biggest one,” he said.

Davis had been on a 20-year putt putt hiatus, but on a whim he went to go watch a professional tournament in 2015.

“I caught the bug,” he said. “It keeps me kind of young, because some of my best friends are about 20 years younger than I am.”

School described what he loves about the game.

“It’s a sport you can play from age 10 all the way through your 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, as long as you’re in decent health,” he said. “And then you meet great people along the way.”

The skill level is so high, players are usually disappointed when they don’t get a hole-in-one. A great putter on a golf course also doesn’t necessarily make for a great putt putt player.

“You got to practice a hook shot, a cut shot, straight, read the breaks on the surfaces, know what part of the rail you want to use for what shot,” Schooler said.

The most obvious comparison would be golf, but Davis said putt putt has a lot in common with another game.

“A lot of our shots are kind of like billiards,” he said. “You do a lot of practicing, and you kind of know how a putt breaks.”

Of course, it’s not all fun and games. More than $45,000 in prize money was at stake.