The course on Opening Day

PVD Putt Putt - A Pop up Mini Golf Course

Role: Founder & Visionary

Design Challenge: To create an inclusive, fun experience that brings people together in new and different ways while activating an underutilized public space.

In Providence, RI, there are very few places where everyone feels welcome. These are the places that when I stumble upon them, I get super excited, because so much potential exists there. On the West Side, the neighborhood I live in, there is a huge park called Armory Park, and this is what I consider to be one of those places. People from all over the city congregate here on a regular basis, yet there is rarely anything that intentionally brings different people together. I saw this as my opportunity.

Enter mini golf. PVD Putt Putt was conceived in 2014 as Providence, Rhode Island's one and only "pop up" mini golf course. Nine uniquely designed holes popped up on the Hollywood Rd side of Armory Park on the West Side. Each hole was designed by a different artist or group of artists, all local to Rhode Island. The course was free to play, with donations going towards a different local non-profit each week. The course was a temporary installation that was funded by the PopUp Providence grant as well as our Kickstarter campaign. It was active during the summer of 2014. 

Beyond the summer, the course served as an “activator”, temporarily making its way to vacant lots and underutilized spaces around Providence, raising awareness to places of potential, and sparking imagination of what could happen within them.