The Green At Concrete Canyon Design

"I'm the only golf architect in Manhattan," says Ron Cutlip.
"That means I have to take risks." The 38-year-old designer
recently finished two Ohio courses, Briar Hill in Millersburg
and Crystal Springs in Hopewell, but longed to work closer to
home. He got his wish when David Murbach, director of the annual
Rockefeller Center Flower and Garden Show, asked him to build a
putting green amid the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. The
result, patterned on the Road Hole at St. Andrews and the 16th
at Augusta National, cost $62,000, "but it was worth it," says
Cutlip, who loved looking up from his handiwork to see office
workers craning to watch the action. "Security guards were
switching their cameras around so they could see, too. They said
it was like watching the Masters."

Gotham's green will be gone with the flora after the show ends
this week, but Cutlip hopes to bring something bigger and better
to Rock Center next summer, maybe even a full-length par-3 hole.
"You can't beat the location. My wife, Cheryl, works right over
there," he says, nodding toward Radio City Music Hall. "She's a
Rockette." --John O'Keefe

COLOR PHOTO: JOHN IACONO CENTRAL PAR Architect Cutlip put a hole in the core of the Apple. [Aerial view of Rockefeller Center's putting green]