4 bag golf cars- a solution?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

With all the discussion here about walking, 3 wheel push carts, shuttles, electric trolleys,etc., I thought that a possible compromise might be the 4 bag car:



http://www.shopezgo.com/products/4%2540dBag-Attachment%2540dRXV.html?product_id=2266

I've used them at a local private club- Sandy Run- and I've wondered why they aren't used more at both private and public courses. At least one gets to walk 9 holes or possibly more depending on the group. When I was last at Sandy Run the cost was very modest- $11 person. I don't know what it is now.

What say you?

[Bill_McBride]

Used one years ago at Robert Trent Jones International.  Since there you had to have a caddy who drove and handed out putters and pointed the way, the ONLY advantage in my opinion was that you didn't have to schlep your bag.  It got quite confusing with four putters and everybody pretty much in the wrong place all the time.  The caddies were good at it, but I didn't think it added that much for the players.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Steve,
The way these gizmos are attached makes it easy for them to be dislodged when traveling over bumpy terrain, and you have to remember how long the cart is when backing up.

You don't want to be the driver, by the 3rd hole you feel like a valet.

[Mark Pritchett]

I have used the "4 bagger" often and it works well.  Usually three people walk and we take turns advancing the cart through the round as needed, with no real schedule for people to drive. 

This gets some people walking who normally would not, which is a plus to me. 

[Jim_Kennedy]

From a playing perspective they can 'work' as long as your aware. The problems start when the first 4 bagger cuts loose, or the idiot driving the cart backs into something/someone, and 'you' are liable for the damage to your member, customer, their person or their property. I think it's the main reason why these units have lost their popularity over the years although the revenue loss of renting the other cart has something to do with it.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Simple solution.

a)   Saves the wear and tear on the course
b)   Saves maintenance costs
c)   Keeps Green Fees Down due to cost savings and initial investments
d)   Keeps the golfer fit
e)   Keeps a constant contact with the ground you are playing helping to understand the GCA at close quarters
f)   Forces courses to be built in appropriate areas & regions – i.e. Land Fit for Purpose.

The Solution, it’s so simple you ‘Walk’; I expect the notion may well be alien to many but that’s how you play a game called golf and follow in the footsteps of centuries of golfers.

Only reason for a cart is for those who need one for medical reasons. Any other reason blame the developers/designers for putting money first before the game IMHO.

Waling is more cost effective, environmentally friendly and good for your own wellbeing. Its Simple Walk.

Melvyn

[Bill_McBride]

Melvyn, kept an eye out for you last week in Kent but no MHM sighting.  

Walked 8 rounds in six days, you'd have been proud.  The fact that it was around 68^o for the high every day made this most pleasant.

[Dale Jackson]

I was at a tournament in Japan this Spring and, of course, use of carts by the membership was mandatory.  They sat 5, which included the female caddy but these had a difference.  There was a cart path system running through the whole course with a system of sensors embedded throughout that allowed the cart to be operated by remote control.  The four players and caddy could walk the course, if they chose, while the cart dutifully followed along by itself.  The first time I saw this system in operation I thought the cart was out of control!

Along the same line, they used similar technology when golfers arrived at the front of the clubhouse.  Cars would pull up in front, attendants would unload the clubs and place them on an automated cart that would then take them around to the other side of the clubhouse to be put on one of these remote golf carts.  I do not have a picture of the golf cart but here is the club carrier.

Then there are the 5 or 6 moving sidewalks to take golfers green to tees when the tee is higher than the green.  Why those are in place when everyone uses carts, I have no idea.

Having written about this example of excess and luxury, I am now off to walk 36 holes on a beautiful fall day!

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Melvyn,

Perhaps I should have titled my thread, "4bag golf cars- a solution for the USA"

How do you, a person who has not been personally exposed to the wide range of courses that have been built here in recent years, propose to turn back the clock of more than 50 years of golf car usage in this country? The USGA won't tell courses what to to do. There is no golfing Czar. Golf cars are accepted here. I'm suggesting a possible solution for those clubs  and public courses to offer another choice to encourage some golfers to walk. I think the 3 wheel push cart is gaining momentum here. The 4 bag golf car is another possibility.

[mike_beene]

Have used them a few times but now that we have pushcarts our 4baggers are rarely used.If it is a group that plays consistently on a known course (so you can guess the club to grab after teeing off,I guess it works OK.Get a wild hitter in group and you feel like you are driving on the triborough bridge. Doesn't mix well with ADD.

[Kalen Braley]

I did a spin-off of this as I played a tough to walk course today.

My cart partner acted as caddie for me so I put the bag on the cart, walked the course, and let him bring the cart by which he was happy to do.  It was a great compromise to carrying which would have been a tough task based on some of the elevation differentials and green to tee walks.

[mike_beene]

If you have driven in Rome you already understand what a 4 bagger round feels like.

[Wayne_Kozun]

We use them quite a bit at my club but they do tend to slow things down since there will be some waiting to get a club.  I agree with Melvyn - why is it so hard to walk.  Especially with the three wheeled push carts so common today.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Steve

Alone, I can do very little, but if bring the matter to every ones attention and question not just the cart but worse still the cart tracks, perhaps a few at a time will start to re think their game, perhaps not.

I fear as more die from being out of condition and overweight from lack of exercise or due medical conditions (as I am only to painfully aware), the message may hit home. I have always been interested in preventive action to save lives. Riding is NOT GOOD FOR YOU, after all, you drive to the course, so the body needs exercise to keep itself in tune. That exercise also helps to
de-stress and detox the body helping the individual to hopefully live longer.

You and your fellow golfers are the only ones who can decide. I hope by saying that you are getting back to playing real golf, may persuade some that their life is perhaps rather important to other members of their family.  So keep living, Walk when playing golf, it certainly worked well for Old Tom.

Melvyn