HILUXURY – Hawaii Luxury Magazine

Ride in style with the latest innovations in golf cart technology

Mark Twain once said that the definition of golf was “a good walk spoiled.” Of course, he wrote this in the early 1900s, long before anyone had heard of an automobile, much less a motorized or electric golf cart.

The game was meant to be played by walking. Those that could afford caddies back then hired other people to carry their clubs. The first golf carts were electric models that came along in the 1950s. Gas carts followed shortly after. Slowly but surely, at all but the older, more traditional clubs, the golf cart has become the primary method for transporting both golfers and their clubs. The reasons for that are economic, added comfort and, arguably, speed of play.

Certainly clubs have come to enjoy the increased revenues that golf cart fleets bring to their bottom line. For golfers, the enjoyment is in the comfort of not having to lug their clubs around 18 holes.

The argument that a golf cart speeds up play, however, is debatable. It should be noted that in the 1930s, the accepted time standard to play 18 holes at Waialae Country Club was three hours. Today, with golf carts, that standard of play is now three hours and 40 minutes.

With the current movement towards a “green” culture and gasoline prices going through the roof, electric golf carts have become a convenient alternative mode of transportation off the golf course as well, particularly for local community travel. In recent years, whole communities, such as Peachtree City, Ga., have been built around golf cart transportation. In Hawaii, residential resort communities such as Ko Olina and Hualalai have many of their residents driving personal golf carts around the resorts, to the beach or to shopping spots in the vicinity.

One of the early originators of the golf cart was E-Z-GO, now the No. 1 golf cart company in the world. E-Z-GO is headquartered in Augusta, Ga., home to Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament.

Today, there is a huge market for custom-built golf carts, and the sky’s the limit for both design and cost, limited perhaps only by a person’s imagination.

Many personal golf carts are almost works of art, and it’s not unusual for a golf cart to cost up to $100,000. Decked out with leather upholstery, hi-fi stereo, flat screen TVs, wet bar and the latest in GPS “never lost” technologies, these golf carts are truly luxury rides and certainly spoil the lucky golfers who get to ride around the course in them.

Speaking of GPS, ProLink, the leader in GPS technology, is now introducing its new Touch system. With a touch of his or her finger, a player can now put in scores and order cheeseburgers at the turn. He or she also can find out the distance from the ball to any point up the fairway. This feature will be great in figuring out the correct lay up yardage to bunkers or water hazards. A rolling ticker across the bottom of the screen shows scores from the rest of the sports world throughout the round.

For the rest of the “unlucky” golfers who have to walk, or for those golfers who still want to get a little exercise when they play, there are now some unbelievable pull carts on the market, both in traditional and electric models that make “pulling” a cart almost effortless. The two traditional models that I would recommend are the Sun Mountain Speed Cart V1 and the Clicgear 2.0 model cart. Clicgear offers a full-sized, three-wheel golf pushcart that glides smoothly down the fairway, and yet folds up incredibly small. The Sun Mountain Speed Cart V1 also has a patented fold-down design. It is complete with adjustable ergonomic handles and even an umbrella mount for rainy days or for the sun-sensitive golfer. Both carts are very lightweight and almost make pulling them a pleasure!

The best electronic pull cart on the market is the Bag Boy Navigator, which comes with both a remote control and cruise control. At $1,699, the Bag Boy Navigator is the most expensive electric pull cart on the market – for that price, you get an on-board compass, liquid/bottle holder, an umbrella holder and a sand/seed bottle. This is certainly the Rolls Royce of electric pull carts. The Sun Mountain Speed E Cart at $699.99 is considered the best-value electric cart on the market. It’s dependable, well-built, and has 15- and 30-yard buttons that keep the cart moving in the right direction without wasting time.

Regardless of whether you walk or ride, technology is helping to make the game easier to play and more fun.