Kelsey Li - A Tale of Three Continents: Coming of Age in CHINA, NEW ZEALAND, and CANADA

The Hole in One A waving flag in the distance. Taunting me, pointing to a tiny hole in the ground invisible at this distance to the naked eye, daring you to get a hole in one. But it’s mostly into the woods and ruff that the golf ball flies. Although the target is clear in my line of sight, my strokes keep sending the ball careening off in the completely wrong direction.

Lodging itself in the mud, or dropping with a tiny kerplunk into the water, the golf ball sometimes seemed to have a mind of its own.

Meanwhile, the flag keeps on waving, obnoxiously, jeeringly. I attempt to hit the ball in that direction, hoping that I will strike it with that elusive combination of accuracy and velocity that I am able to watch in slow motion as it travels its parabola of perfection and lands with that unmistakable clatter into the cup.

A hole in one. The Holy Grail of golf and, metaphorically, of life.

Everyone, whether they are golfers or not, hopes to experience this moment at least once in their lives. The satisfaction of seeing your perfectly calculated and executed effort rip silently through the air is, to hear that unmistakable kerplinkety-plink-plink that declares a victory beyond anyone’s expectation; the sound that announces a miracle; to hear the gasps and exclamations from the spectators, knowing they had just witnessed something rare and wonderful indeed; to be the author of that moment in which you would be praised as a prodigy, a talent extraordinaire. Sadly, for the average golfer that moment happens only once in 12,000 tries. Even for the pros it is exceedingly difficult (1 in 29