Mini-Victory

This particular post is difficult for me to write because I am going to boast, and maybe even gloat, both unpleasant characteristics, I know. Even so, here goes: I am awesome at miniature golf. I don’t know why I am, but I am. I play mini-golf once a year when I visit my family at the ancestral home, and that is quite enough for me, so perhaps I shouldn’t quit my day job just yet and go on the professional mini-golf circuit.

This bizarre discussion of mini-golf is not entirely off topic for this blog. At the mini-golf course where my family and I recently played, the best scores for men and women are listed separately. I think this is strange because mini-golf isn’t like real golf, in which strength is relevant. Even so, during my recent visits to this particular course, the men’s score was typically better than the women’s score. That is, until I played an incredible round, got numerous holes-in-one, and came in well below par for the course. I was just happy to have beaten my brother, but when my name was written on the board as the woman with the best score, and my score was significantly lower (i.e. better) than the men’s, my daughter was ecstatic. She danced around, singing “You’re better than all the men!”. Mini-golf is very quantitative and unambiguous, so this statement could not be disputed within its context. So much, however, for the simple thrill of having gotten a little purple ball past a windmill, a fake stalactite, and some boulders: perhaps I also inspired female mini-golfers on that course for at least a day or two. Female Science Professor Sans Frontieres..