In the New Jersey backyard of senior Peier Li’s house where he was first exposed to golf, the game was never far away. The property stretched all the way to the edge of a driving range, and when shots sailed off line, Li and his father would walk out, scoop up the stray balls and send them back where they came from. It was part playground, part practice ground and, in hindsight, the beginning of a career built on patience, repetition and the quiet belief that small moments can grow into something much bigger.

Now, after years of turning that early routine into a polished all-around game on the green, Li is headed to Wesleyan University, where he will continue his golf career at the Division III (D3) level. To understand how he got here, one has to go back to the beginning: his childhood.

“I played a lot of sports growing up [like] soccer, hockey, tennis, baseball, swim, and to be honest I don’t know why I stuck with golf,” Li said.”I think I was just good at it and it got me out of Chinese school on Sundays which was nice.” 

Once Li moved to Westford in elementary school, he started playing golf more and developed the skills which got him signed today. There is one person who has helped guide Li once he got to Westford Academy: WA Golf coach Patrick Claycomb.

“I met Peier when he was in 6th or 7th grade. He was taking golf lessons over the summer and I got to help him out a few times,” Claycomb said. “It was obvious then he was going to be a very talented golfer.”

According to Li, the decision to sign to a university was about far more than just golf. It was about finding a place where academics, athletics, and opportunity could exist in the same conversation.

“Wesleyan has an excellent academic program, especially for economics, and it’s close to Boston, New York City, and Hartford, which is important for networking,” Li said. “Being a student athlete, it also allows me to have the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond in an already elite school. I can have more depth in my life and on my resume.”

For Li, choosing a D3 college was part of that same bigger picture. He wanted a schedule that would let him take golf seriously without having to sacrifice everything else.

“I chose D3 because it gives me the best time schedule for sports and academics rather than having to force myself to do sports all the time,” Li said. “I know so many smart people who go to Ivy plus schools for golf, and they can’t find an internship or go job hunting because their coach restricts their time outside golf.”

That balance, between ambition and restraint, has shaped Li’s path for years. At WA, he pushed through a demanding academic load that includes taking six AP classes his senior year and nine total throughout his high school career. On the course, he built a résumé that made coaches pay attention, competed in multiple national and international events, and has won at the regional level several times. But even with the trophies and the attention, his recruiting process was anything but simple.

Recently, the NCAA introduced a new roster limit for Division I (D1) schools in various sports that limits the amount of players a school can have on a team at any given time. However, sport-specific scholarship caps are now lifted, which allows scholarships for all rostered athletes.

“This year it’s been chaos […] even though D1 was never of interest to me, a lot of D1 kids who wanted to go to Ivy League and Ivy Plus [got] funneled down and competed for D3, specifically NESCAC, since they are among the best D3 [schools] both academically and athletically,” Li said. “You have to bite the bullet and stay true to what you want and not give in to instant gratification. And for these academic schools, they still have really good D3 programs that rival some D1s, and they would always tell me I was their top three but not their top one.”

Since the D1 roster limits took effect, the competition for lower D2 and D3 schools have skyrocketed, especially for the New England Small College Athletic Conference, NESCAC, a program that consists of 11 highly selective D3 liberal arts colleges and universities known as “Little Ivies.” These schools are renowned for their top-tier academics and a focus on balancing intense sports competition with high education.

“I just want to be the best player on the [Wesleyan Golf] team and maybe get an individual win or a team win for Wesleyan,” Li said. “I also want to get good grades, but who doesn’t?”

Claycomb, like Li, believes in these goals.

“I believe Peier has a chance to become a leader on the Wesleyan team, he is a very smart person and [golfer],” Claycomb said. “I’ve seen him in that leadership role and I think it fits him very well. He gets along with others and cares about their success as well.”

Once the four years are up and life after college becomes a reality, Li already has some plans, or at least ambitions.

“I hopefully will still be playing golf, [it] depends on my job though. I’m also pursuing economics and finance so working at a good firm would be nice and realistic,” Li said. “I don’t really have a linear vision for what I want to do in life, but I know that with my discipline and work ethic I’ll able to do the things that I want to do well, and that’s not to say I have no aspirations, but I just have a bunch of backup plans in my peripheral.”

Golf has been with Li his entire life, even when dulled by skates on the ice or cleats on the turf.

“I was always serious about [golf] because I think anything I do I try to bring my 100%,” Li said. “But I never thought it would take me as far as it has.”

According to Li, he has never been perfect at golf and never will be, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

“I think that [despite] having played golf for so many years now, I’ll always have to fix some aspect of my game,” Li said. “Whether it’s my swing, my focus, or my overall ability on the course.”

There are many elements to golf, but one particularly challenging component for Li is perfecting the swing.

“I definitely wasn’t born talented in anything and so compared to other kids who were kind of born with an innate ability to swing, I’ve always had to fine tune my swing,” Li said. “Now, my swing is the best part of my game, but I have to have a lot of trust in myself or the years of effort will just vanish.”

The mental side of golf is also very strenuous, with critics saying it’s more of a mental game than a physical one. Being able to focus intently on the course for a couple of hours isn’t just a skill, according to Li, it’s an art.

“You have to stay present and focused, and you just have to have that confidence, and even pretending to be confident gradually builds real confidence. It’s complicated, you have to care but not care at the same time,” Li said. 

A lot of outside factors can hinder with one’s ability to perform well on the course, with one of the biggest factors being school. According to Li, the best way to maintain a balance is to not only work smart, but hard.

“Anyone who tells you just working hard beats talent is an idiot […] I don’t set arbitrary goals, instead I practice with a purpose and I hate to say it but my ego, my hate for failure, and my competitiveness fuels me not to lose,” Li said. “As a kid I had a huge temper whenever things didn’t go my way, but now I’m able to turn that into fuel to push harder beyond my limits […] If you’re going to talk the talk, you might as well walk the walk.”

Although golf has been instrumental in Li’s life, there still have been times where things became too much and he felt like quitting. One time stands out in particular: the summer of 2025.

“Academically, I know a lot of my peers have similar stats to me and are capable of going to amazing schools, It’s just that their ECs weren’t filled up with golf like me. So back when I was uncommitted, I thought that if this whole [golf] thing didn’t work out, I just wasted my time for nothing,” Li said. “Now, I know I made the right call to stick with [golf]. I also now realize that my 50% in golf levels people who spend 100% of their time playing which I think is a cool perspective.”

Fast forward to the 2025 Northern Junior Championships, undoubtedly Li’s biggest golf tournament, all of his hard work and dedication finally had a stage to shine on.

“People were flying in from Texas, Florida, California, New York, and even internationally too. Even under all of the pressure I ended up playing good enough to get the job done,” Li said.

According to Claycomb, after having years of practice, Li has transformed into an all around player on the course.

“Peier is really an all around player when it comes to the game of golf,” Claycomb said. “He has power off the tee, accuracy with his irons, and a wonderful short game around the green.”

Looking back at Li’s career, the three time regional champion and competitor in multiple national and international tournaments, acknowledges that all of this couldn’t be possible without a few special people in his life.

“I have to dedicate my career to my family. They’ve sacrificed so much for me and have been through it all with me since the start. Through all the highs and especially the lows,” Li said. “As immigrants themselves they weren’t familiar with the recruiting process at all but they did so much research and poured so much time into helping me and that’s what keeps me pushing, so I can make them happy and hopefully proud.”

Throughout Li’s time at WA, there have been some memorable moments and phrases people know him by, but most importantly his legacy at WA is what will live on the longest.

“The sentence I remember Peier by is, ‘I got you coach!’ Anytime I asked him to step it up or told him we needed him in the match, it was his line […] and he always stepped up,” Claycomb said. “I would say what you don’t see is the work ethic. He put in countless hours starting when he was young, [and] you don’t get to his level without a great work ethic.”

As Li heads off to Wesleyan and leaves WA behind him, he wants to remember his time here not just by all of the hard work and effort, but by the fun times as well.

“If I had to sum up my golf career in a sentence it would be this: stressful but ultimately rewarding,” Li said. “If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be fun.”