Swingers: The Art of Mini Golf, above Flinders Street Station

Have you ever thought about playing mini golf with a tail? No, I am not off with the pixies.

Swingers: The Art of Mini Golf, a nine-hole course above Flinders Street Station, gives you that experience. I kid you not.

And, I should quickly add, it is far from easy swinging from the hips with a bushy appendage, which serves as the putter, trying to accurately direct a “soft” ball.

That is the only “hole” when players are required to down a traditional putter.

Still, the word “ball” is a misnomer on another, when the object being struck isn’t round. Instead, it is a perfectly formed cube. After all, who dictates that mini golf must be played with a sphere?

And on the ninth, you can figuratively “ride the wave” in your endeavour to ace the hole.

Swingers is a playable art exhibition, in which the holes themselves – realised by artists living across five continents – are the artwork.

Both highly creative and heaps of fun, it is the brainchild of nine adventurous female artists who tap (yes, a deliberate pun) into mini golf’s roots.

For, in case you didn’t know, it was invented by 19th century Scottish women who were banned from real courses, but refused to sit on the sidelines.

Each Swingers’ participant is given a score card, a small pencil and a coloured ball.

Then, they are directed to a board that outlines the house rules (also printed on the back of the score card), which includes a 10-stroke limit on all holes.

Next, you select one of three different sized and different coloured – red, green and black – putters, before heading to the adjacent practice “putting green”.

Then, it is into the action proper.

The first hole, named Ananyi – Travelling, by Kaylene Whiskey, features an indigenous theme.

The second, Hole for the Simion Crone, by Natasha Tontey, played over two rooms, sees you try to navigate skulls.

The third, called Facetime, by Pat Brassington, involves you rolling the ball by hand into a moving face with an open mouth.

Four, Square peg, round hole. NO!, by Delaine Le Bas, I described earlier.

Five, Soda Jerk, has an animated backdrop – think rabbits, burrows and Teletubbies.

The sixth hole, by Saeborg, is where animal golf is played, sans shoes, and with your choice of a selection of tails.

Seven, Domestica, by Nabilah Nordin, features a potpourri of bread sticks.

Number eight, Swamp Flower, by Bktherula, is realised in black and white.

And on the ninth, Wave of Fortune, by Miranda July, you putt from anywhere on the shoreline, up and into “the wave”.

Having checked your scorecard, you can return to the clubhouse to enjoy a libation, if you so choose.

Swingers: What a grand idea. Mini golf, as you have never seen it, or played it … with more than the odd curve ball.

It is on, above Flinders Street Station, as part of RISING and will remain open after the festival concludes. In fact, it doesn’t finish until 31st August.

Allow 45 minutes to navigate the course.

For more details and tickets, go to https://2025.rising.melbourne/program/swingers