The Second Links Traveler

Competing with the very best all over the grid this spring!

If you’re a member of many of the same groups I am (not those groups!), you probably have A LOT of tournament invites rolling in. This is such an exciting time of year! I’m positively electrified to have the opportunity to play with and against Second Life’s best golfers and I positively cannot wait.

My first tournament was the SLympics in the Fall of 2024. It was just an incredible experience. Every good tee shot, every well-hit approach shot, and each putt that rattled into the cup felt so good. The ‘highs’, for want of a better term, are exhilarating to an almost euphoric level. That said, the ‘lows’ can really sting. It’s much harder to shrug off a putt that just doesn’t quite fall in a tournament, and shot penalties go from being annoying to infuriating.

So why do tournaments when you can just play for fun? I’ve talked to a number of golfers who aren’t really interested in tournament play. I get it – competition can be stressful. Just the same, I encourage everyone to give it a shot. If it’s not for you, you’ve put in four good practice rounds and you’ll probably get a cool participation plate for your wall (I’m starting a real collection of those!)

Maybe I’m the one who’s a little weird because I savor that competitive atmosphere, but there’s something more to it. I wrote a little bit about it in my ‘Why Golf?‘ post:

I’m playing against any number of people, but I’m competing against myself. I set what my win conditions are. And I can always improve…

This year, my ‘win conditions’ are top ten finishes until the Summer, with top five finishes by the end of the year. We’ll check back as the year goes on to see how I’m doing.

Let’s take a look at the tournaments coming up in the next few months!

The official SLPGA Spring Tour kicks off with the TrueGolf Open at the Friendship Valley golf course on February 1-9. If you’ve never played Friendship Valley, I wholeheartedly recommend playing a few rounds. It’s a unique, beautiful, and very challenging course that really doesn’t play like any other in Second Life. I’ve been playing some practice rounds there over the past few weeks and I still don’t feel anywhere near ready. (I just can’t quite get a handle on how the greens play.)

It may look like you’ve got a few weeks to recover from the tourney at Friendship, given that the Invitational at Retribution Ridge doesn’t kick off until the beginning of March, but you would be wrong. 😉

With the 2025 Relay For Life campaign about to get underway, Retribution Ridge is hosting the Winter Whack tournament starting February 16. Retribution has quickly become one of my favorite courses with some clever course design, a gorgeous clubhouse, and some really unique and challenging holes, and I’m super excited to play in their first tournament!

If you’re unfamiliar with Relay For Life, it’s a fundraising event supporting the American Cancer Society. I’ve had two close friends who lost their lives to cancer in my lifetime, and it took my grandmother from me well before I’d eaten enough of her peanut butter fudge. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of incredibly worthy causes, but RFL will always be very close to my heart.

And if that wasn’t enough mid-February competition for you, Ravenwood Shire begins their winter open on February 15! Ravenwood is one of the most charming and entertaining courses in Second Life, and they have an incredible driving range and practice facility. I haven’t played a round at Ravenwood in a few weeks, and I’m excited to get back to it.

What about you? Going to play in tournaments this year? What are your ‘win conditions’?

GIVEAWAY!!! Remember, I’m giving away a Steelhead Outfitters Golfboard on Sunday, January 26! Leave a comment on the post ‘Everybody’s Gone Golfboardin’!‘ – I’ll choose a winner at random from the comments there!