Swinger’s NoMad – New York, New York

Reviewed by the Pink Putter

Played on December 10th, 2022

In December of 2022, I took a weekend trip out to NYC to visit my good friend Vanessa, get a mini golf tattoo from Maggie Stockman (aka @lilpeggyhill) and check out the Al Hirschfeld exhibit on display at the Museum of Broadway. And of course, a weekend trip wouldn’t be complete without a couple rounds of mini golf. Vanessa joined me for a round of 9 holes at the new Swingers location in NoMad (Manhattan).

Rating:

Swingers sits at one of the most expensive rounds of mini golf I’ve played to date, at $27/person for 9 holes. While the ambiance is incredible and the gameplay was clever and fun, the steep price tag is what brings it from what could have been a Hole-in-One rating down to a Birdie. Swingers had belle-epoch era/speakeasy vibes. Upon entering the front doors, you immediately descend a stairwell, where the view opens up to a beautiful bar area and a ceiling full of faux wisteria. At the bottom of the stairs, you walk right up to the check-in desk, where we informed them we had a tee time scheduled for 2 pm. Upon checking in, they informed us there would be an additional 45-minute wait to actually get on the course. So, that was annoying since I had specifically scheduled us a 2 pm time. But, that’s how they get you – keep you hanging out with nothing to do so that you spend more money on food and drinks. We took advantage of the extra time to explore the premise and I caved and grabbed a $14 slushy drink.

The location has three 9-hole courses. Two of them were open and the third was closed. The first course, the one closest to the entrance, had fun collage-style projected animations on the walls above the course, giving it an extra sense of place. The other two courses towards the back just had plain painted walls surrounding them. From what I could see, the three courses were essentially identical in hole design. The biggest difference (aside from the wall projections) was the order of the holes. Woven throughout all the courses were more hallways full of faux wisteria and a variety of well-themed bars and seating areas, plus a small food court.

I appreciated the theming on the gameplay. There was a gold/silver/bronze motif on all of the holes, where if you hit your ball on, against, or into the gold area it would give you the best chance at a hole-in-one. The silver would set you up for a nice 2, and the bronze would set you up for a potential 3. I had never seen this type of color-coded risk/reward gameplay so consistently across a course before, so definitely appreciated it from a design aspect. The obstacles were large and impressive – a giant ferris wheel, a big loop, a ticking clock, and an oversized windmill. The course we played also had a bar that extended into the course near the 7th hole. We had a caddy who would periodically check in on us during our round of mini golf to see if we wanted to order more drinks.

Overall, I found Swingers to be luxurious, classy, clever, well themed, and super expensive. It’s why it made our list of favorites we played in 2022. For a date or bar experience, it’s super cool. For a good round of mini golf, I’m glad I tried it once but definitely wouldn’t need to return.