Frederick of Los Alamitos Becomes Champion at Just Putting Around

When Ron Frederick looks at a hole in a Putt-Putt tournament, he, like the rest of his competitors, sees many obstacles.

There are small walls and angles designed to keep the ball from having a clear path to the hole. But, unlike his competitors, these are the simplest obstacles Frederick faces in his Putt-Putt career.

Frederick, a 28-year-old Los Alamitos resident, has been playing miniature golf professionally for the past 10 years, exclusively on Putt-Putt courses. Putt-Putt layouts lack the frills usually associated with other miniature golf courses; no windmills, no loop-de-loops. These layouts are for the serious miniature golfer.

But the last four years, Frederick has lived in Southern California, where there are several miniature golf courses, but no Putt-Putt courses.

That can make it difficult to keep one’s game in shape, and Frederick won’t play miniature golf to keep sharp for Putt-Putt. “It’s not the same type of challenge, “ he said. “It’s something I might do once a year for fun.”

No matter. Frederick spent last weekend in Knoxville, Tenn., competing in the national championships, and on Monday he won the Professional Putters’ Assn. title. He shot a 64-under-par 224 over 144 holes.

With the $3,000 he earned Monday, Frederick figures his career winnings at about $48,000, although no official records are kept.

Putt-Putt is a game of holes with obstacles. Each hole is a par 2, and professionals average 6- to 8-under for each 18 holes. Frederick’s career best score is 20, which he did last year.

“It makes it difficult, there is no question about it,” Frederick said about living far from anywhere he can practice. “I might go to the golf course and work on the putting green, but that’s just to try and keep my stroke. I just have to get to the tournaments a few days early and work on the angles and getting my stroke back.”

Many native Californians have never seen a Putt-Putt course, nor have any idea what Frederick is talking about.

“I have some videotapes of me playing and I might show someone,” he said. “But for the most part, I don’t even attempt to explain Putt-Putt to people here.”

Frederick works at Long Beach Municipal Airport as an airline ticket agent, and can get discount tickets, which helps keep his expenses down. Frederick figures it costs close to $2,000 a year to compete.

He plays in three or four tournaments a year, using his vacation time.

Frederick, the only professional player living in California, has been one of the most successful in the last 10 years.

Don Clayton, who founded the game of Putt-Putt, said Frederick has one of the best natural strokes in the game. Frederick also plays golf and has a 10-handicap.

But, unlike the professional golf tour, the Putt-Putt tour isn’t something one came make a living at. It is a second job at best and a hobby for most.

Frederick had his biggest Putt-Putt payday in 1982, when he won $22,000 for winning the national match-play championship at Fayetteville, N.C.

It was only one of four times he has won more than $1,000. Last year, he won $8,000 in a skins game and $1,500 for winning the national match-play championship.

“I wish you could make a living at this,” Frederick said. “But no one can. There isn’t enough money in it to support the number of good players there are. But then, when I started, I never figured to make any money at it anyway.”

Frederick grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and played Putt-Putt there for the first time at 14. He first looked at it as a way to pass the time during the summer but stayed with it.

“It was the greatest baby sitter in the world,” Frederick said.

He played mostly Saturdays but added Mondays because it cost a dollar to play all day and night.

“It was a good place to go where I knew I didn’t have to worry about him,” said Anna Frederick, Ron’s mother. “Sometimes I would be going to the course at 1 or 2 a.m. to pick him up. Some of our neighbors would think it was strange, but at least I knew where he was all the time.

“I viewed it as a good outlet for him and a good place for him to make friends.”

Now, Anna Frederick follows her son to most tournaments, to visit with him more than to see him play.

Frederick turned pro in 1978, when he was 18. He also enrolled at Ohio State and helped pay for his education with his winnings.

He graduated from Ohio State with a degree in small business management in 1984.

“I hope to someday have my own course,” Ron Frederick said. “I want to play as long as I can remain competitive with everyone else, but after that I would really like to run a course.”