“Now, Lily,” the mayor said as they walked towards the green. “Normally in golf, players go in order of who is farthest from the hole. So this time, you should go first. I wanted to give you a good example last time, but now we’ll play a bit more normally.”

  Now that he was aware of just how good at golf Lily was!

  He had never imagined she’d be keeping up with him.

  Not even if she had played a lot of golf before!

  Sure, this was just a little country club course out in the sticks, but still…

  Golf wasn’t such an easy game that a completely new player could just play it instantly!

  Unless, that is…

  One was loved by the gods!

  Lily looked at her ball.

  It was in the rougher grass on the edge of the super short grass on the ‘green.’

  The green wasn’t perfectly flat, either. It was slightly tilted, and there were a few little bumps.

  It looked really tricky!

  She considered her options.

  She could try to ‘chip’ like the mayor had, using her pitching wedge.

  That would pop the ball into the air, and drop it down on the green.

  But the ball might bounce, and the ball might roll!

  It would be a gamble.

  Or, Lily could use her putter.

  It would be harder to judge how hard to hit the ball, and she might overshoot her goal.

  Normally, that would be what she would do.

  Lily was a hard working girl!

  She would work as hard as she could and make sure she accomplished her goal!

  But golf wasn’t such an easy game!

  The goal was to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of strokes!

  She couldn’t just hit the ball as hard as she could, like the last two strokes!

  Lily put one of the clubs away, and lined up her shot…

  Using the putter.

  The ghosts held their breath.

  They hadn’t been breathing before now anyway, but they made sure they wouldn’t disturb Lily.

  She carefully pulled the club back. Not nearly as far as her other strokes.

  She just needed to tippy-tap the ball.

  Tap.

  The ball made it out of the rough grass, and then…

  It was going too fast!

  The super short grass wasn’t slowing the ball down at all!

  Her ball raced along, moving side to side as the terrain shifted, and…!

  Just barely missed the cup!

  She overshot the mark, ending up about ten feet away from the hole.

  Lily narrowed her little eyes, and nodded firmly.

  Golf was a complex game!

  The mayor…

  Was shocked!

  He had been shocked by Lily’s divine skill, and now…

  Her ability to contain her emotions was tremendous!

  Even experienced golfers could lose their cool when they flubbed a putt!

  He himself…

  No, he was getting better!

  That was why he practiced!

  But this little girl…

  She was clearly thinking about the next putt!

  “Your turn, Mr. Rich Man!

  “Oh, please, Miss Lily, call me George.”

  “Okay, but then you can just call me Lily! You don’t have to say Miss.”

  “My pleasure.”

  By long practice, George was able to quiet all the thoughts whirling in his mind and focus on lining up his putt.

  Lily’s business acumen, her divine golf skill, her ability to control her emotions and focus on the next stroke…

  He was hugely impressed!

  But, he focused on his putt. He pulled his club back, and…

  Tap.

  The ball rolled, but it hit a little bump in the green and curved away from the hole.

  Still, he was within two feet.

  He’d sink it on the next stroke.

  He put his marker down, and picked up his ball.

  “Ah, George! I thought we weren’t supposed to pick up the ball!”

  Lily was shocked!

  “Hm? Oh, my ball was in the way of your putt. See the little marker I put down? I’ll put my ball back there when it’s my turn again.”

  Lily squatted down and looked at it.

  “Ooohh,” she said, and the gave a relieved smile and went over to her ball.

  As she did, she realized something.

  She was playing a game…

  And she was doing pretty good…

  But…

  She didn’t know all the rules.

  That was really bad, if she wanted to win.

  Especially because, if the Mayor wanted to, he could make up rules, and Lily wouldn’t know if he was telling the truth or not.

  In this case, it was probably fine.

  And anyway, her goal here wasn’t really to learn how to play golf.

  Up in heaven, the God of Golf shed a tear!

  No, her goal was to get the Mayor to invest in her restaurant.

  She still had to pay attention to the game, and do her best.

  She always wanted to do her best!

  But Lily had a bigger goal than just beating the Mayor at golf.

  In fact, it might even be better to let him win!

  The Gods of Golf and Business up in heaven nodded.

  Lily understood!

  She got it!

  Business golf and regular golf had different goals!

  Networking!

  Negotiation!

  Building relationships!

  It really was work no matter what the secretaries said!

  So, Lily lined up her putt.

  Pulled her club back.

  And…

  Tap.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The ball rolled.

  It rolled almost exactly the same path it had just traveled, on her last stroke.

  Lily had already memorized this part of the green!

  She had only seen the ball roll on it once, and she had it figured out!

  At least this one part.

  But this time…

  She also hit the ball with the right amount of force!

  And as the ball slowed down, it was affected more by the terrain!

  Last time, the ball had been going fast, and just barely missed the hole.

  This time, the ball slowed down, and at the very end, it curved!

  The ball curved!

  Plock!

  And it went in the hole!

  Clap clap clap clap.

  “Well done, Lily! Nice putt!” the Mayor said.

  “Thanks, George!”

  Lily walked over, reached into the shallow little hole, and pulled out her ball.

  The Mayor then put his ball back, lined up his putt, and sank it easily.

  “Nice putt, George!” Lily praised him, and he grinned.

  “Thanks! We both got a bogey, which means we both went one over par. Two over par is a double bogey, and beyond that… well, you can just say how many over par you are. One under par is a birdie, and two under par is an eagle. And then if you get it in the hole on your first shot, that’s a hole in one.”

  “Wow! Let’s try to get birdies next time, George!”

  Lily thought birdies were cute!

  And so, they continued their game of business golf.

  Between strokes, they discussed various aspects of Lily’s business, as well as her future growth plans and projected sales for this new restaurant.

  They got really deep into the details!

  And although they both got bogeys again on the next hole, and mostly pars on the other holes, they did each get a couple birdies, too!

  George almost got an eagle! But, his putt came up just barely too short!

  “Wow, that was soooo close, George! Good putt!”

  And, instead of getting mad like normal…

  “Thanks, Lily! I need to practice my putting some more.”

  George smiled!

  Lily was so honestly impressed with his putt that had come close!

  Even though they were both close in score, there was no competitive pressure!

  This…

  Was the ideal business golf!

  In the meantime, the ghosts were doing their best to explain more about investing to Lily while the Mayor took his turns.

  They talked about projected earnings, and business valuation, and so on…

  It was a lot for Lily to keep track of!

  But they made it to the last hole.

  Lily was up by one stroke, but it was a really long hole!

  Her drive…

  Only got her halfway up the fairway.

  The Mayor, on the other hand, was an adult man.

  He smacked the heck out of that little ball, and it soared!

  He made it three quarters of the way to the green.

  As they walked, Lily and the Mayor chatted about business valuation.

  It was mostly the same in Lily’s world as in the world where the ghosts were from.

  Annual earnings were multiplied by some arbitrary number, and that was how much a business was considered ‘worth.’ The number depended on the stability of the business and how much competition there was, but…

  Lilyburgers didn’t even have annual earnings.

  It had only started as a cart last week!

  And the restaurant hadn’t opened yet.

  But…

  There was no competition.

  And it was clear the product was popular.

  The multiplier for Lilyburgers was going to be super arbitrary!

  Plus, the amount of earnings was still up in the air.

  Lily and the ghosts were projecting earnings of about three thousand per month from the restaurant in the city square, based on selling about twice as much per day as the cart, since it would be open for two meals instead of just one.

  But the total pool of customers was much larger in the village, compared to by the mine.

  They might have more customers than they could satisfy, with just one restaurant.

  Or…

  Maybe people wouldn’t want to buy food at a restaurant, when they could just cook at home.

  These were all things Lily and the Mayor had talked about over seventeen holes of golf!

  Lily lined up her shot.

  She was halfway along the fairway, so she used her three wood club.

  It was like a driver, but meant for use on the fairway, when you need a lot of distance.

  But, it was tricky.

  The ball wasn’t on the tee, so she had to be more careful with her swing.

  And…

  Thwock!

  Lily hit the ball!

  It sailed through the air, straight at the green!

  But…

  It fell short, and rolled a bit, but couldn’t make it up the hill to the green itself.

  The ball rolled back down the hill!

  She was losing ground!

  “Great contact, Lily!” the Mayor praised.

  “Thanks!” She gave him a big smile.

  They were in roughly the same spot, now, but their strokes were tied.

  The pressure…

  There wasn’t any!

  This was a purely friendly game of golf, and they were both doing their best!

  They walked up, talking more, and then made it to the balls.

  Lily’s was a little farther back, so she got out her pitching wedge.

  She was going to pop up over the hill and get on the green!

  She took a few practice swings, and then…

  Pock!

  The ball popped up, into the air, and fell down in a graceful arc…

  But Lily couldn’t see it!

  She was too short to see up the hill and onto the green.

  The Mayor’s eyes went wide.

  “Wow, that was a great chip, Lily! You’re almost at the hole!”

  “Yay!”

  The Mayor lined up his chip, and…

  Pock!

  He made it onto the green!

  He was now ahead of Lily by one stroke on this hole.

  And they were tied for the whole game.

  How thrilling!

  His heart beat faster with excitement!

  They walked up to look at the green more closely.

  Lily’s ball was about five feet from the hole.

  It was a tricky distance.

  Would she go for the finish, and risk overshooting? Or would she play it safe?

  George looked at his own ball.

  He was ten feet away.

  The tactical decision was easy: get close to the hole, taking care not to over or under shoot by too much, and then sink it on the second stroke.

  It was a par 4, so he’d get par if he did that.

  But…

  If he sank it on the first stroke…

  He squatted down, looking at the terrain.

  “What do you think, Lily?” he asked.

  Lily had been pretty insightful on previous holes.

  Lily looked.

  It wasn’t a particularly tricky green.

  The problem was the distance.

  There was also the score of the game.

  If Lily got a bogey, and the Mayor got a par, they’d be tied overall.

  But if Lily sank her shot, which was possible, and the Mayor got a par, Lily would win.

  And if Lily had to take two strokes and got a bogey, and the Mayor also got a bogey because he overshot, Lily would win. On the other hand, if the Mayor sank his next putt…

  Lily knew all of this intuitively. But…

  “George, I think you got this!”

  She had seen him put a bunch of times, and…

  He was pretty good!

  He could definitely sink it from this distance.

  “You can do it! Just be careful with your swing, don’t swing too hard!”

  The Mayor grinned!

  Doki doki

  His heart beat faster!

  He was going to go for it!

  He lined up, and Lily held her breath.

  Tap.

  The ball rolled.

  It rolled, almost perfectly straight!

  And…

  The ball just barely caught the edge of the cup!

  Lily and George both inhaled sharply.

  They had seen this before!

  The cup sometimes grabbed the ball and slung it out to the side!

  But…

  Not this time!

  The ball spiraled around the edge, and then with a plock, the ball fell in the cup!

  “Woohoo!” the Mayor cried.

  “Yay! You did it, George! Nice birdie!”

  The Mayor did a little fist pump, and then picked up his ball.

  Lily walked up to her ball.

  This stroke would be for par, which would tie her with the Mayor.

  “Lily,” the Mayor said, seriously.

  She looked up at him.

  “Do your best.”

  She nodded back at him, seriously.

  As if she would do anything else!

  Messing up on purpose, throwing the game so the Mayor would win?

  The thought had never crossed Lily’s mind!

  She was going for par!

  She pulled her club back, and…

  Tap!

  The ball rolled, and…

  It was rolling fast!

  It almost skipped over the hole entirely!

  But!

  It caught the back edge, and bounced back in!

  “Phew…” Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Hmm, you hit it a bit hard for that distance, Lily. But nice putt! Good game!”

  They both finished only two strokes over par!

  It was a magnificent showing for Lily’s first round of golf!

  “Now, let’s really talk business.”

  They walked back to the club house, set their clubs down outside, and went in. There was a table, and Jim from earlier brought them both lemonade. He took their scorecard, to add it to their club records, and his eyes nearly bugged out when he saw Lily’s score!

  “Wow! Good game, Miss Lily!”

  “Thanks! Praise to the God of Golf,” she praised, and they all said a quick prayer of gratitude.

  Jim walked away, and then it was just Lily, the restaurateur, and George, the Mayor.

  The ghosts stood behind Lily, invisible and unable to speak to anyone but her.

  “So, George. Would you be interested in investing in Lilyburgers?”