There is good news and not so good news about Holly Kai Golf, folks. The good news is that golf will be free beginning immediately and last until January 8, 2011. So get out your clubs, clean up your shoes and get those plaid pants and or knickerbockers out and play the hell out of the Ocean Nine (the Shore Nine disappeared a few months ago).
The BAD news is that after the sun goes down on January 8, Holly Kai Golf will go the way of the Dodo Bird, that extinct flightless bird with a name equal to its weird looks.
Inside the Clubhouse
So why not change your SL habits for a week or so and hang out at the clubhouse. Reminisce about old times at Holly Kai. Come share your “remember when?” stories. Come hear the “remember when” stories of your golf buddies.
And when it comes to all those folks who played here there are a few that gave Holly Kai some bragging rights. For example. At one time our club pro was a real life professional who was playing for his green card to qualify for the PGA tour.
Another time our staff pro was a retired gentleman that had been the director at one of the great old Scottish Links clubs from the birthplace of the game in Scotland.
One interesting golfer we had for a time was actually and editor at GOLF DIGEST magazine. Sorry, I was sworn to secrecy. We were trying to work out some cross promotional opportunities where in Holly Kai would be sponsored by Golf Digest Magazine and would get occasional coverage from the golf architecture angle. Unfortunately that did come about.
And then there was the time that we were contacted about building a golf course for the in world sims of Orange, the major telecommunication company in Europe (Sort of the ATT of Europe).
One of the most interesting events in the history of Holly Kai Golf Club was on Opening Day (July 1, 2006) when Philip Linden (Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab) played in the first foursome with myself, Nber, and floG! creator Kanker Greenacre. What was particularly interesting about that opening round was that Philip was headed east on an Interstate in the Southwest during the round. His wife drove while Philip used a satellite connection to play the game. He had no lag to speak of. Amazing!
Of course both Nber and I are very sad to have to turn off the lights. We keep it going for a long time beyond what any reasonable person would have.
First Tee Area
I was not willing to let the course designs die. I really loved studying golf architecture and design. I bought what books I could find on golf architecture and devoured them. I search the existing literature and internet for details on the great holes of golf around the world. Most of you will have recognized some of those holes. If not, be sure to get over to the Ocean Course and read the notecards given out at each tee. It’s worth the trip over to Holly Kai, even if you don’t take the time to play free golf.
We held on a long time after it was clear that golf was always going to be a money drain. Nber held on for a long long time crunching the tournament results and the monthy points leader results. I think what keep her plugging along was that she really cared about the players.
shore #7
What I enjoyed was making a truly fun experience for the golfers. My view is that playing golf at Holly Kai had to be fun. However, I did not say it had to be easy. Sometimes fun can be defined as facing the 7th hole of the Shore Course (based on Pebble Beach #7), a steep drop to a par three green with the ocean as the backdrop. The wind is howling so hard you need to allow a crosswind drift that is nearly the entire width of the green. Your fingers shake thru the three click swing, the ball rockets out in a high arch that would drop you in the right side sandtrap were it calm. The ball begins to draw back towards the green then time slows to a crawl as you watch your ball descend from the sky, past the horizon line, past a sailboat in near the shoreline and plop just short of the cup, the ball takes one bounce and drops into the hole with a clunk and the crowd cheers! Now THAT’s fun.
So come on over for one last round, one last stop at the 19th Hole, one final visit to the old clubhouse.
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