The Second Links Traveler

A Little Class Called Fore Play…

This past fall, my golf sensei, Lexy Amore, passed away. And every day I think about her and how she made golf such an incredible experience for me. Hell, how she just blessed my entire Second Life by being my friend. So, when Linda Banger announced that Fawke University, the cornerstone of a community of which I’ve been a member for nearly eight years, was reopening, I badly wanted to be a part of bringing that together again.

Since I’m really only qualified to talk about shopping, cute clothes, crashing sailboats, and maybe golf, I went with the latter.

(As I write this, I’m also participating in a clothing optional yoga class taught by Linda Banger. Every Sunday morning at 9am SLT outside the Hoser Hut, which lives on the sim beneath Fawke University. Hope you’ll join us sometime!)

The class started at 7pm SLT on Wednesday, January 21. No lie, I spent over an hour deciding what to wear. I wanted golfy, but still professorial; playfully flirty, but also conservative enough to be heard and not just seen. In the end I just put on something I’d wear to play golf and hoped for the best.

I have developed a new respect for teachers of any sort. There are SO many topics on which beginning-to-intermediate golfers might be educated. I landed on the concept of carry and backspin. It was one of the most important lessons I was taught at a TrueGolf Academy.

I started with a look at the TrueGolf Distance HUD and a short discussion on distance, carry, and the relationship between the two. These classes are very informal. They’re open forums for discussion and questions, no putting-hands-in-the-air or any silliness like that. It means whoever is teaching the class has to be on their toes. I imagine it’s not unlike how comedians handle hecklers, but you have to do it in a way that’s funny, friendly, not at all hurtful, and, if possible, educational. I think I did alright.

Maybe the most exciting part of this adventure I’m on is the beginning of construction on a driving range on the Fawke University platform. I’m really looking forward to that. With any luck, we’ll have a functional driving range and putting green in place for some future classes. Huge thanks to Robin Loxely and Linda Banger for making that happen.

The whole experience was a real eye-opener for me. It was difficult to prepare my lesson and a little stressful to present it, but it was also incredibly rewarding and, in a strange way, a lot of fun. I’m not sure anyone learned anything they didn’t know, but maybe that didn’t matter. I got a small group of folks together to discuss and be excited about playing golf in Second Life – that feels like mission accomplished.

We’re doing this again in a few weeks! Wednesday, February 4th, at 7pm SLT will see my Fore Play class on location. My small class and I will be taking to the driving range at Rainbow Valley to practice distance and carry. We’re even going to have a little contest at the end – the winner of which will take home a sexy pair of new shades from Steel Head outfitters.

These classes are open to anyone! We have an art class taught by Dara Cabeza de Vaca (who is not only positively delightful, but also crazy smart and very funny) EVERY Monday at 5:30pm SLT, though that’s down on the beach at Le Carbet, the quarter sim next door. Linda has a class coming up called ‘Sex at Dawn – The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality’ on Wednesday the 28th at 7:00pm SLT, and then me again on the evening of the 4th of February.

Until next time, fairways and greens, y’all.

-Keyli