The Second Links Traveler

I was lucky enough to spend my morning having coffee and chatting with Lexy. If you do know her, you really should! Lexy’s not only one of the best golfers in Second Life, but she’s one of the most prolific course builders. We talked about the history of golf in SL, as well as her own experiences both playing and creating the virtual links we all enjoy.

Keyli Daltrey: This really is a treat for me, I’m excited to get to talk to you about golf in Second Life and Rainbow Valley. Let’s start from the beginning: how did you get started with golf in SL?

Lexy: As a passionate golfer IRL it was almost the first thing I looked for. Found the first course when I was 14 days old.

KD: What course was that?

Lexy: Aero Golf – 18 a bit strange holes on one sim. We played (with a system) called Fa set/HUD. Got three clubs: driver, wedge, and putter. What was strange for me was it had some par 2 holes. All golf nutz know that a par 2 doesn’t exist! That’s probably why I started…making my own.

KD: How many courses have you built in SL?

Lexy: Six. I was helping a friend that was kinda my mentor (in) building. We both love RL and SL golf. So I was with him and helped build two. Then he got some RL problems and asked if I want to take the lead…running the course and group.

KD: That’s a shame. I hope he’s doing alright.

Lexy: He is doing good, and we even met RL and played at my home course. 🙂 (We’re) both from Norway. He lives six hours away by car.

KD: So what about that first course you worked on? Can you tell me about it?

Lexy: The first one with him was a one sim course. Homestead sim, so we had to be careful not to run out of prims. As we both were from Norway and both hated winter and snow, we made a tropical course.

After that we got one more sim and made a new two sim course – again, tropical with a lot of sand…it was made up with a sim cut up in four islands, so eight small islands all…on two sims.

KD: When was that?

Lexy: Let me look in my mess inventory and old pics…I don’t know the correct date, but I can say it was 3+ years, as the first one Chelsea and I made (was) about 2+ years ago.

KD: Chelsea Malibu from TrueGolf?

Lexy: Yes. This is the first ‘the Dream team’ made. 🙂

Lexy: One tradition we started a year before the video was The Masters (in SL) same time as the Masters IRL. And I am still doing that.

KD: So given all of your experience building courses, what’s the hardest thing about building a golf course in Second Life?

Lexy: (Getting) the layout to fit was super hard with just one sim. All 18 in one sim is a challenge. So when I got two sims I was like, “Hmmmm…this is going to be a walk in the park.” … how wrong one can be. Still the same problem as you use so much space thinking you’ve got so much.

KD: Can you tell me a little about your process for the current Rainbow Valley course?

Lexy: So I am the course builder and Chelsea is the Master decorator. She kinda (terraformed) a little here and there and I got the…waterfall, stream, and lake…I made the holes around and integrated with that.

As we want the best stuff, you go mesh, mesh, and then some more mesh. And it do take prims fast. We keep an eye out (on the total prims) and make sure we never go so much that we don’t have 500 prims to spare. Need it as all golf HUDs rez and we need that.

This is course six, btw.

KD: When did you open Rainbow Valley as it exists now?

Lexy: This was made…damn selective memory…Let’s see – found some pictures…from September 29, 2023.

There’s one thing you’ve gotta get in: without the awesome support I get from players, Rainbow Valley would just be a memory.

KD: What’s your favorite hole at Rainbow Valley?

Lexy: I’ve got a button on hole 9 as it is an island green and the lake. 8 and 9 are special…let me go on and I (will) have all 18.

All have something different, and that’s what makes a good golf course. For me, it is, not saying all think that.

Some say they “hate” me as I make the sand traps in front of the greens and make them think about the shots; you can’t just walk up and whack the ball…that’s a HUGE importance for me and Chelsea.

KD: That feature of Rainbow Valley has made me a better golfer. Like by orders of magnitude.

Lexy: Then we’ve done something right.

KD: Do you have any special events or tournaments coming up at Rainbow Valley?

Lexy: We’re about to start a team match play. Four players on each team, and we play against all teams. There are four teams…need one player to make all of them full (16 players)

NOTE: That team is ours and we REALLY need a fourth ASAP! If you’re interested in playing for our team, please get in touch with me in world! (keyliikkin resident)

Lexy: In match play you don’t think strokes, you play for every hole. (You) can win a hole with ten shots if the other team uses 11…it is a super fun play as you (can) F up a hole and not add 15 shots on your card.

KD: Do you have any ideas you’re working on?

Lexy: When don’t I? Always thinking about stuff to put together for the members. I also started the SLPGA…to bring the courses together and make a Tour, a tournament on all courses that want to join…all to build a bigger SL golf community.

We went on for hours after and it was just an absolute treat to talk golf and tournaments and courses. I really had a fantastic time and learned a ton about one of my very favorite courses in SL. If you haven’t, I can’t encourage you enough to strap on your virtual spikes and go play a round at Rainbow Valley.