Dear Daily Princetonian

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of postcards that Daily Princetonian sports staff writers wrote about their experiences in the wide world of sports this summer. Keep reading throughout the next few weeks for more dispatches from across the country and around the world.

EMERALD ISLE, N.C. — For every golfer, holes-in-one are such stuff as dreams are made of. So after a week of family miniature golfing this summer, my record-setting five holes-in-one became my sweetest victory in a long time.

An annual tradition of our summer vacation to Emerald Isle, North Carolina is time spent on the course — the miniature golf course, that is. It's a bug-filled land of green-carpeted bunkers, Windex-colored waterfalls and sterile fluorescent lighting with no caddy to offer a suggestion or sympathy.

You may think mini-golf is a whimsical game, designed to be enjoyed by small children without regard for the score. But that's only because you've never witnessed the Horner Tour, an intensely-fought, three-round battle for bragging rights. Sure, the family bonding is nice and all, but we play to win.

This year's opening round was played at Lighthouse Golf and featured three holes-in-one, including one of my own. My father secured the winning score, though, as he blazed through the back nine with a one-under-par 17. An avid golfer his whole life, my dad has developed impeccable putting form, pressing his heels into the plush carpet to sense surface slope and texture.

My brother Richard decided to spice up the competition and place a bet for the next round at Emerald Forest, wagering five dollars he could finish within five strokes of my dad. At the 15th hole, my brother teetered six strokes behind, but a clutch hole-in-one on 16 and two bogeys by my dad were just enough to make Richard five dollars the richer. Meanwhile, my mother turned in a solid round of across-the-board twos and threes, knocking seven strokes off her first round score and landing in third place.

But I got the last laugh that night. When we returned to the clubhouse to return our putters, we learned that the day's lucky hole was 12th, the location of one of my two holes-in-one. My prize: a bright green free game card, valued at seven dollars, making me the biggest money-winner on the Horner Tour.

During our third and final round at the Golfin' Dolphin, I again seemed to have the magic touch, sinking the family's only two holes-in-one of the night and bringing my grand total to five. Despite my aces, Richard held an impressive two-stroke lead heading into the back nine before my dad squeaked out yet another victory.

As years pass, we may not remember my string of holes-in-one or Richard's bold wager, but we will certainly look fondly on those summer nights spent with the mosquitoes in friendly fought battles of miniature golf. Mark my par-two birdie, as long as there are Horner vacations to North Carolina, competitive putt-putt will be a surety.