Chasing Perfection

On November 2, 2006, we received an email from my dad that said, "The challenge is on. I shot a 41 and I don't think any of you can beat that!" The attachment to the email contained a link to a miniature golf game for the computer. My dad sent it to various family members and created the newest Clark family competition. You see, the Clarks are a very competitive family. However, he didn't bargain for the superior skill he would run up against in the digital arena.

Sometime later that day, Johnny had scored a 36 and emailed Grandpa informing him of it. After a disgruntled reply, my dad was silent until November 5th when he sent another group email with the subject "Try Again Losers!" The message itself read "Haa, let's see if you can beat 33!"

11/6, my nephew David scored a 32 -- much to not only my dad's disgust, but also my competitve sister.

I think it was about this time that I started trying to beat the score and sure enough, I shaved it down to a 29 and immediately crowed to the rest of the family.

That's when my sister switched into gear and started alerting us about her string of unbelievable scores...26...25...and then incredibly, a 20. Not only did she send a written message, she also emailed us a photo of the computer screen with her last ridiculously low score. That was November 9th.

After raising the bar so high, (or low as the case may be) no one was able to come close to her score for weeks. My uncle returned from Cabo and got into the game as well and started sending whiney emails to my sister and I. Although Jody held the record, my lowest score of 22 was significantly lower than his 34, so both of us were demoted to "least favorite" and "second least favorite" nieces.

Well today Scott attained what all us Clarks were chasing when he scored a perfect 18. And he is feeling good. Admittedly, he had a little help because he learned some tips from both Johnny and I about conquering certain holes, but he did what none of the rest of us could. We salute you Scott!

By the way, if you want to play the game yourself, here is the address. http://media.ebaumsworld.com/minigolf.swf
Scott told me to mention that he would love to hear about your perfect 18 if you're ever able to do it. Yup, he's feeling good.