How to make a living at Miniature Golf

Mark Male is a professional miniature golf player. And yes, he does actually make a living this way.

Male is used to getting the rip taken on his unlikely career choice, and he defends his territory vehemently:  "I guarantee that when they join us for a round, they will respect the skill involved in being able to do it consistently," the 31-year-old Male said of the piss takers.

Male is the reigning champion of pro putting's Master's, a prestigious championship played every October in North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.

The miniature golf version has been designated the Master's with an apostrophe S, to avoid any confusion with another event staged somewhere in Augusta.

Male’s victory came with $4,000 cash, an embossed crystal vase and a green wind-breaker rather than a green jacket.

"It was exhilarating. I knew I had the game to do it if everything went right."

Male is one of four U.S. players selected to travel to Pristina, Kosovo, in June for a tournament against the best putters in the world. That field likely will include Olivia Prokopova, who at the age of 21 is a celebrity in her native Czech Republic because of her putting prowess. Prokopova won the Master's in 2012 and 2013.

According to Brad Lebo, a dentist from Pennsylvania: "I don't think any us at this level think of it as a hobby — we take it really seriously as a professional sport.” He’s earned  $145,000 putting professionally since 1991. "We like to think we're the best at what we're doing in the world. Unfortunately, we're just in kind of a niche."

Male is one of the few pros who uses the long "broomstick" style putter, which is still legal in this form of the game.

Miniature golf has been around in the U.S. for about 100 years, and has been played professionally since the 1950s.

For more crazy golf click here or on the image below to see what's coming to London's Trafalgar Square.