Station North Mini Golf – Baltimore, MD

Played July 23, 2017

Reviewed by Mr. Tee

The Pink Putter’s traveling art installation and exchange vehicle, Barter Boat, was one of the anchor projects for Baltimore’s annual immersive art, food, and music festival Artscape this July 2017. I tagged along with Robin to help transport and install this massive interactive art piece with the promise of some mini golf exploration along the way. As coincidence would have it, a new temporary artist-designed mini golf course was opened in conjunction with Artscape. No-brainer! I played it.

Rating:

Birdie – Artist-designed mini golf courses that engage student learners of varying levels and a larger community hit a sweet spot with me. Sure, I worry about the sustainability of this specific course given several holes had seen significant wear and tear by the end of the first weekend. Some of the materials utilized in fabrication lack durability but this course has oodles of imagination and offers up good fun. I can picture the kids coming up with the ideas and prototypes in the classroom. Simple holes featuring cartoon animals, junk food, video game characters, basketball, fruit carts, and music just make sense together. The 8 holes on 12′ x 4′ green turfed canvases provided a wonderful escapist journey within the larger urban landscape this course inhabits.

Young and old built this course and managed the crowds that came to play

Hole 1 – Sharkbait – Up the ramp and into the cup

Hole 2 – Cartoons – Whatever the play design lacked, the visual environment made up for it.

Didactics highlighting the artists and students on the wall adjacent to each hole

Hole 3 – Hooping – The volcano holes are simple and always challenging. The basketball theme made the hole additionally difficult.

Visually, I loved this hole but the ramp didn’t provide a solid access point to play through Sonic’s rings.

Who doesn’t want to travel vicariously via a mini golf ball through a tunnel of donuts?

Hole 5 – Food Fight – So visually satisfying and fun to play.

Hole 6 – DJ Spin – Despite the broken barrier to the left, this hole looked fabulous.

Record player camera bag had to be in the frame

Hole 8 – Thank you, Arrabers – Bounce through the vegetable / fruit cart to the cup

Each hole included the logo for Open Works, the new neighborhood makerspace.

Station North Mini Golf Website – includes info on all of the artists, digital renderings, and prototypes

Baltimore Sun Feature on the Course

Baltimore TV news coverage and video of the course

Pros:

Fun playful obstacles
Diverse and wide ranging community engagement that includes middle school through college students
Variety of play given the limited space

Cons:

Functionality of several holes
Materials used to fabricate the course may not sustain heavy usage

Nerdy Notes:

8 holes, Par 25
K-12 Students – Free All others – $5 suggested donation. Cash only
Open Thursday – Sunday. Thursday – Friday 5-9pm. Saturday – Sunday 12-9pm from July through October.
A variety of rubber covered putters and colored balls available.
Students from the four schools worked with local artists Dave Eassa, Megan Lewis, Samantha Redles and Jose Roserio-Curet in moving their designs from paper to pavement. Design process was developed and overseen by FutureMakers, Baltimore-based education consultants. The artists’ drawings were translated into workable designs by local architects Gensler & Associates, with construction by OpenWorks. The site plan was the work of Mahan Rykiel, a local landscape architecture, urban design and planning firm. Students from four Balti schools worked with local artists Dave Eassa, Megan Lewis, Samantha Redles and Jose Roserio-Curet in moving their designs from paper to pavement.
Funded by a $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, plus contributions from local organizations and philanthropies