King putt

Arne Lundmark, the founder of Adventure Golf Services, has probably done more than anybody else in the past 20 years to advance the world of miniature golf. He creates courses with Vegas-casino–like themes, courses that tell a story, courses that resemble mountains and even courses that glow in the dark.

His innovative use of sound effects, unusual topography and extensive landscaping have landed his company contracts with everyone from the Mall of America to Royal Caribbean cruise lines.

So when Scotch whiskey distillery The Glenlivet wanted to build a portable reproduction of the links at Scotland's St. Andrews (widely regarded as the birthplace of modern golf) for a national marketing campaign, the first thing it did was contact Lundmark.

"We looked at his work and thought, This is our guy," says Lisa McCann, the PR and marketing manager of The Glenlivet.

The plan called for nine holes that could be packed up and moved to different cities (five in all: New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco), and assembled in a variety of indoor locations.

The course now resides on the sixth floor of Chicago Place (700 N Michigan Ave), where it welcomes duffers jonesing for a little time on the greens (even if they are made out of carpet) through December 15.

Since the tour organizers weren't sure what kind of space they would have in each city, the course had to be modular, so that it could be rearranged to wrap around support posts, snake down hallways or fill in weird angles.

"We usually don't know until a month out where the space is going to be," McCann says. "It wasn't an easy task. But Arne's pulled it off."

Creating a truly portable course was a challenge, even for Lundmark.

"Most of the courses we work on are permanent," Lundmark says. "This had to be modular and mobile. That's what made it so unique. A normal miniature golf course is built out of concrete, so you can form the earth. This has to be done on a flat floor, and you have to be able to walk and play on the panels."

Each hole is made from thick polystyrene foam that has been cut with wires to create the sloping topography. The foam is covered with small square panels made from flexible recycled plastic, and topped with custom-made carpet of various colors and thicknesses (to distinguish fairways from the rough).

The course is dotted with obstacles, including real sand traps and water hazards. To complete the St. Andrews feel, synthetic "heather" separates the holes, and a replica of the famous stone Swilken Bridge takes golfers over a small creek.

It's designed to be fun for both serious golfers ("One guy brought his own clubs" to the New York location, McCann says) and rank beginners, but it's not a place for kids. That's not just because of the lack of miniature windmills and clown faces with motorized mouths, either. Since the whole shebang is a place for The Glenlivet to hawk its pricey Scotch, nobody under 21 is allowed on the course or in the loungelike clubhouse with which it shares space.

The concept is ambitious for a marketing campaign, but The Glenlivet hopes the combination of golf and a tony portable bar will attract an upscale, single-malt–drinking crowd.

"A single-malt Scotch isn't something you can go out and do a bar promotion with," McCann says. "So we decided it's time to do something ballsy. It's all about creating an experience."

And the course is certainly an experience. No offense to the Bunny Hutch and its ilk, but it could very well change the way you think about putt-putt forever.

"When people have come and seen it, it's not what they expected," McCann says. "It's as close to the Scottish Highlands as you're going to get in a building in a city."

The Glenlivet City Links welcomes Michelle Wie wanna-bes Tuesday to Saturday from 11:30am to 6pm through December 15.