The Second Links Traveler

On Saturday the 20th I met with B.J. D’Angelo, designer and owner of Ravenwood Shire Golf & Country. We had a fantastic conversation about the challenges of building a compact course, using education to promote and grow golf in Second Life, and just how golf has evolved over the past twelve years.

KD: Can you tell me about designing Ravenwood? What was your process? What challenges did you face? How long did it take?

BJD: I converted Ravenwood Shire from a medieval realm to a golf course 4 1/2 years ago. When I built Ravenwood, courses were only one region. That has changed considerably over the years. Working within a single region is difficult. You need everything spaced out, yet comfortable.

I have a building area. There I laid out the course, tested it, and then over the course of a week terraformed and dropped everything in place. It took a month to design…working an average of 4-5 hours per day designing, scrapping, testing…

One thing I would like to point out about Ravenwood is that I have paid very close attention to scripts on the region and textures. Both cause lag, and I hate lag. Textures kill your computers rendering and scripts load down the LL servers. That’s something I learned during my medieval days. SL is a visual place, so you need it to be visual, but you also have to keep in mind that textures are rendered by your video card. If there is too much it renders slowly. We found that out big time when LL introduced PBR; computers worked a lot harder to render. That rendering equates to lag.

KD: And lag is just the game killer. I think we all loathe it. How long have you played golf in Second Life?

BJD: I think I first got introduced to it back when I first joined. That would be 12 years ago. Then there was only the Freestyle clubs. Learning to golf back then was like sitting in front of a treadle sewing machine and looking for the power switch.

KD: You’ve seen a lot of changes in SL golf then. 12 years is longer than I’ve been an avatar! Are there any big turning points in SL golf over that time that stick out?

BJD: Well, let’s see. Courses have come and gone. There’s a greater interest in the sport. There’s the evolution of golf systems (which have been few and far between). I know of only three golf systems so far, but I hope to see more, but to a standard – just different bells and whistles.

When I moved to Elite it was a huge difference from the Freestyle, so that was a big change. With TrueGolf you got greater distances, chipping, and differences in how the ball reacts on greens.

I think the biggest change is the introduction of mesh, which has been a fun challenge.

KD: I wondered about the medieval vibe to the name ‘Ravenwood Shire’.

BJD: Yeah, well I am the Lady of Ravenwood, Knight Protector and the First Knight of the Knight’s Guild. I was an avid jouster, did bow, sword, and combined arms combat here. It takes practice, which is where I got my keen interest in teaching it. I found there is little training, so I like to do as my father used to tell me: share the knowledge or it will be lost.

KD: That’s actually a wonderful bridge to my next question. Ravenwood has the most impressive training and practice facility I’ve seen at a course. And the educational pamphlets are SO good – I grabbed them all. Was your father’s influence the reason you have that emphasis on teaching golfers?

BJD: That and, during my medieval time, I was looking for someone to help me improve, but most people just said get out there and do it. I find that isn’t always the best way. So I have asked questions, observed, and I teach whomever wants to learn. I think that is the best way to get people to keep interested in something. Most people, if they find it too hard, will abandon it. But, if they learn how things work in SL, they get to enjoy it.

KD: Speaking of which, you do lessons! I think that’s kind of awesome. If someone wants to get in touch with you about taking lessons, what’s the best way to do that?

BJD: I have a mailbox here, just leave me a notecard with how to contact you. Or you can send me an IM with a notecard and we can set something up. And it’s free!

KD: That’s incredibly generous of you. Do you do lessons for golfers of all skill levels?

BJD: Sure. Mind you, some golfers could teach me a thing or two…if I learn something new, I will share it.

KD: You have a tournament coming up at Ravenwood Shire Golf & Country in November – any other events planned over the rest of 2024?

BJD: Nothing planned, but I’m always open for suggestion. I like to plan events that don’t affect other courses’ events whenever possible. Sometimes there is an overlap, but I try to be fair to the golfing community as a whole. I want the community to grow and prosper.

I really enjoyed my conversation with B.J., and I’m excited to join her for a round and some lessons in the near future. Until then, you’ll find me more and more playing and practicing at Ravenwood Shire.

(My apologies for the tardiness of this post! This week got busier IRL than I hoped and I just didn’t have time to sit down and turn a bunch of pages of chat logs into a blog post I was happy with.)

Until next time, Fairways and Greens!

Keyli