It’s a stroke of genius!
A new mini-golf course in Sunset Park will make you feel like Godzilla, towering over miniature models of the Brooklyn skyline as you pursue a perfect putt around the mini-greens. The Brooklyn-themed putt-putt palace in Industry City sits behind an old tug boat that has been transformed into a seasonal bar and restaurant called the Wheelhouse, and the bar owner gave the miniscule monuments her tick of approval.
“They’re pretty good renditions,” said Angela Krevey, who also owns another popular bar on a boat, Manhattan hot spot the Frying Pan. “People in the summer are looking to get outdoors and just do something fun and casual — it’s a hoot.”
The nine-hole putt-putt park, tucked at the back of an Industry City courtyard, includes a mock-up of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, an iconic Brooklyn water tower, and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. One hole, featuring the Gowanus Canal, incorporates part of an old row boat found in the noxious waterway.
Players must purchase their putters at the nearby Helm Bar, a counter that also serves lobster and shrimp rolls, beer, wine and mixed drinks. The Helm also rents ping-pong paddles, which can be used at a nearby “arena” — a colorful space housing rows of table tennis tables.
The Wheelhouse bar, near the entrance to the courtyard, operates out of a now land-locked tugboat that was retired in the late 1960s, and was most recently sitting empty on bucolic Staten Island. Krevey chose to anchor her latest boat at Industry City because of the area’s blend of grit and garden, which she likened to a popular Manhattan walkway.
“We loved the old industrial feel,” she said. “We love that kind of feeling of being in the courtyard. It felt like it was on the High Line, but not really.”
The seasonal spots are part of a “Summer Spree” event happening at Industry City, which will also include a series of “Summer Sounds” music concerts curated by Williamsburg venue Brooklyn Bowl. Free and ticketed events will take over Industry City courtyard 1/2 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays all summer, starting June 7, though the line-up has not yet been announced.
Mini-golf at Industry City Courtyard 5/6 (Enter on Second Avenue between 34th and 35th streets in Sunset Park, www.icsum
