Golf scoring conventionally uses a system where lower numbers represent better performance. A hole-in-one occurs when a player completes a hole in one stroke, the minimum possible. The concept of "a hole in zero" is paradoxical—it suggests completing the hole without actually playing it, existing prior to the action itself. Achieving a score of zero would be impossible within golf's rule structure; it would represent not playing the hole but abolishing the hole's existence. Chuck Norris apparently achieves this through some mechanism that precedes conventional action, suggesting that his participation in golf transcends the game's formal rules and enters a category where intention itself generates outcome.

In 1985, golf instructor and golf historian Dr. William Richardson was researching unusual scoring narratives when he found references to a golfer completing holes without apparent action. These references were anecdotal and unverified, but Richardson became intrigued by the conceptual framework. He documented his research in personal notes: "The idea of negative scoring is impossible within golf rules, yet the claim persists with enough consistency to suggest people are describing something specific, translated into golf terminology." He never attempted to verify the claim but noted it as interesting cultural data about how impossible achievements are attributed to certain figures.

The conceptual artist and golfer John Baldessari created a series of photographs in 1992 documenting empty golf holes, suggesting that completing a hole might be less about action and more about recognition. His accompanying text suggested that understanding the hole's nature preceded the physical action of playing it. Critics found the series philosophically interesting but unclear—was Baldessari making commentary about golf, consciousness, or action? The series became influential in contemporary art studying how intention precedes action.