Walker Art Center's popular mini golf course will move from the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden to the center's rooftop terraces for the 2016 season which runs May 26-September 4. The artist-designed course will include the same type of daffy art-themed holes as previous seasons, but the new location will offer spectacular views of the Minneapolis skyline as well as such oddities as a fox lurking in a henhouse waiting to snatch an errant ball.
The nine-hole course is moving because the Sculpture Garden and adjacent Walker grounds are undergoing renovation this summer.
The course is open from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.Tues., Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. and from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs. Closed Mondays. Tickets: $12 adults, $10 students, $9 Walker members and kids 7-12. Free to age 6 and under with paid adult. For course and weather updates check walkerart.org or call 612-375-7697.
Highlights of the course include "18 Holes in One," a miniature version of the Augusta National Golf Course complete with lumps, bumps, sand traps and 18 holes to trap the unwary. Designed by David Lefkowitz and Stephen Mohring.
Andy Warhol's Brillo Box sculptures inspired "Thrillo-Brillo," a boxy fortress of sudsy distractions, while the "Let's Be Frank," hole has a food theme. Both were designed by a team consisting of Yousif Del Valle, Tom Loftus, Andrew MacGuiffe, Meena Mangalvedhekar and Amy Toscani.
Designed by Brian Fewell and Cami Applequist, the henhouse rises from an egg-shaped green and includes a chicken-coop maze filled with eggs. Plus the fox. Designers Trevor Anderson and Barry Kudrowitz concocted "Putt-Pong," a hybrid game involving a plexiglass net and colorful ping-pong paddles.
Expect sound effects at the "Rock! Garden!" hole whose boulders conceal instruments (xylophone, tambourine, drum, strings) that make noise, if not necessarily music, when bonked by golf balls.Designed by Aaron Dysart.
At the "Stargazer" hole, Jess Hirsch offers players a trip (almost) to the moon, or at least a flight past the Big Dipper and other constellations en route to the North Star.
Players strike sculptural poses that may prove to be obstacles to other golfers at the "Be a Sculpture!" hole designed by Nicola, Bryan and Susanne Carpenter and Sean Donovan.
Wrap up play "Right on Cue," a site designed by Kevin Weeden, that merges mini golf with pool.
