Page 11 - National Championship Flip

memberships surpassing a thousand members. It was a

program that offered more money for first place than most
of the major championships on the professional golf tour
during that time. Phil Aboid was also influential with

bringing in some of the most successful players in the PPA.
For his contribution to the sport, in 1975, he was awarded a
Lifetime Membership to the PPA and in 1989, inducted into

the Hall of Fame. However, Phil Aboid was most proud of his lineage contribution
– Joe Aboid.

Joe Aboid had the rare advantage of being raised within an affiliation with Putt-
Putt from many perspectives. His father was on the Board of Directors, so there is

a strong probability that he was privilege to a few high-level conversations about
the franchise and the PPA. Joe was also a player, in fact – he was a very good
player. He joined the Amateur Putters Association in 1969, which was the

inceptive year of the amateur division, and established his skills before turning
professional. In 1973, at the
Northern Regional Playoff in

Euclid, Ohio, he made it to
the final match. The match
that would place him in the
final eight of the World

Putting Championship. The
match of which the winner
would be three matches

away from possibly winning
$50,000. Joe Aboid’s
opponent in that final match was Mike Baldoza. Baldoza won that match on the

last hole and went on to claim the game’s wealthiest reward to that date.
Interestingly, Aboid had to beat Dick Florin (the 1970 World Putting Champion) in
the previous match to face Baldoza. Quite an accomplishment for a young

professional with limited experience against the best in the game. However, Joe
Aboid was never one to be without self-confidence. A few months later he
traveled to Columbus, Ohio and started school at Ohio State University. It
happened to be the same year that Don Clayton was breaking ground on the very