Carts v Walking

[Duncan Cheslett]

I chanced upon this interesting little site yesterday;

http://www.thewalkinggolfer.com

It campaigns to get golfers walking again rather than riding round in golf carts - or 'buggies' as we Europeans know them.

As I browsed I becamee more and more incredulous. Is it really true that many courses in the USA prohibit walking and that use of a cart is mandatory?

I can understand that if you are an octagenarian or have just had a hip replacement a golf cart might be rather handy, but what self-respecting reasonably able-bodied golfer would ride in a cart in preference to walking the course?

And what of the effect on the courses? They must be built with blacktop roadways criss-crossing here and there! My club has 4 carts for hire which are rarely used and the damage is bad enough; multiply that by 10 and the consequenses are mind blowing!

Are new courses all built with the assumption that hundreds of carts will be using them every day? What about the old courses?

Surely a bit of excercise is one of the main reasons for playing golf. If this about mandatory cart use is true then it does nothing to diminish the popularly held stereotype this side of the pond of Americans being fat and lazy!

Personally, I think real men carry their clubs too. Even trolleys are for wimps...

 

[Alex Miller]

Duncan,

Welcome to the site. I hope you've met Melvyn, and if not you should.

Also that website is run by a fellow GCAer (I believe) so rest assured your sentiments are not alone.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Duncan - I am going to get on with you. Just let people use carts if they want and walk if they want.

[Alex Miller]

What about more of these instead of carts? No paths necessary and I can tell you they're fun as hell (no, I haven't tried them on a golf course).

[Adrian_Stiff]

Alex they are no good where do you keep your beer?

[Jim Nugent]

What about more of these instead of carts? No paths necessary and I can tell you they're fun as hell (no, I haven't tried them on a golf course).

Will they work on hilly and mountainous courses?  I'm wondering it they are safe/stable enough for that type of terrain. 

[Alex Miller]

Alex they are no good where do you keep your beer?

Geez do I have to spell it out?





Jim,

Yes they work on slopes like that, though not through sandy soil. They're incredibly safe and for most people it's difficult to fall when on them even if you try.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Welcome to the site Duncan.

I take it you are not a fan of Dale Carnegie?   

“Golf combines two favourite American pastimes: taking long walks and hitting things with a stick.”
PJ O’Rouke

[Melvyn Morrow]

Duncan   

"If God had intended man to ride he would have given him wheels instead of legs"

   Melvyn

PS Link to The Walking Golfer  http://www.thewalkinggolfer.com/why_i_walk.html

[Jim Nugent]

"If God had intended man to ride he would have given him wheels instead of legs"

   Melvyn

The same logic suggests God would have given us clubs instead of arms. 

He wouldn't have given us a brain, either.  We use that to build tools that make things easier for us. 

[John Kavanaugh]

If God had wanted man to pay a cart fee he would not have invented the Scots.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

“God invented the Scots - and in turn the Scots invented Golf for their recreational pleasure, Whisky for their drinking pleasure and the Bagpipes for their listening pleasure!!!”

Not to explode the Myth - but to prove there is an exception for every rule.



This is the Cart Park at Gleaneagles where it’s been rumoured the “Stretched-Carts” come with fancy girls and magnums of champagne in buckets of ice.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Jim

You are now just being silly. But as for brains he clearly was not that generous as so many have to use distance aids when play golf. Poor sods just do not have the ability to judge distances – but worst still have no faith in their own judgement – what does that say about an individual

Only the mentally corrupt can take a honest and decent game like golf to its current state.

The real virtues of the game lie in the Walking and Thinking and the ability of Man to rise to the challenges. Who in their right mind tries to destroy the very essence of the game they say they love.

Get off your backsides and throw away your toys, play the Royal and Ancient Game of Golf by Walking and Thinking .


Melvyn

PS Gleneagles offers golf to the internationl set.

[Sean_A]

Heavy sigh.  Live and let live.  Que sera sera.  Be nonchalant.  Trust Poliakoff.

Ciao  

[Dan Boerger]

Duncan -

Supply and demand my friend.

[PCCraig]

Duncan:

Rob Rigg, GCAer, owns and runs the Walking Golfer website. It's a great site with a ton of information, I suggest surfing through the information on the various tabs.

I'm a member of the Walking Golfer Society, however I don't have a narrow mind against others if they decide to take a cart unlike many others on GCA. To each their own.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Sean

I thought that cheating on a golf course was one of the Deadly Sins.

You ride, you are cheating as you are resting while others walk  - noting that Golf is a Walking Game

Aids – using outside aids can also be defined as cheating as your skill levels and abilities do not truly matching your score – it being achieved by outside aids.

LIVE AND LET LIVE  -  are you suggesting a new charter for cheats - Its either Right or Wrong, tradition and the many years of the modern game shows carts and distance aids are new introductions into the game. The real question is where are you willing to draw the lline?

Melvyn

[Sean_A]

Melvyn

I am less concerned about the rules of golf than I am about the enjoyment of golf.  If that makes me a cheater or a cheater lover I am okay with that.  While I don't like to see people ride when its not necessary, I don't like to see carts parked alongside a clubhouse (same for cars) and I don't like to see cart courses built, I can live with the idea that this is part of enjoying the game (or even making it possible to play) for some.  I can always choose not to play at cart courses if I like.  Afterall, choice is one of the great things about living where we do. 

Ciao

[Melvyn Morrow]

Sean

I can't fault that.

Great for those who need carts to get around, but otherwise we have the start of rot that penetrates every part until no substance is left and a slight on shore wind may finish it off.  I feel a stand does indeed need to be taken, as with the roll back of the ball and to a point reform of our Governing Bodies instead of changes to our great golf courses. Change are required now but apathy rules and many will get what they deserve, perhaps by seeing the clubs becoming more private and harder to access.

It’s the Game that matters, not me, but I sense you have underlying concerns that you do not tend to voice.

Melvyn

[Terry Lavin]

Of all the innocent mistakes that a newbie can make, setting up Melvyn with a softball like this surely takes the biscuit.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Lets not contribute anymore to this thread, its a stupid continous argument unwinnable by anyone.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Alex,

Here is my host (and in-laws' neighbor) at his club in Idaho.  He had a ramp in the back of his SUV to roll it in and out:

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Scott and Alex,

Beware of the Segway!!!!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/27/segway-inc-owner-rides-over-cliff-to-his-death/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+weblogsinc/engadget+(Engadget)

"UK businessman Jimi Heselden, the man who believed in the Segway so much that he went ahead and bought the company, has died after reportedly driving a ruggedized version of the scooter off a cliff and into a river. He was found early on Sunday morning in the River Wharfe, having earlier been touring his estate in the personal transporter. The cause of the accident is not yet known. Mr. Heselden was 62 years old"

[Richard Choi]

Seriously Duncan, I would suggest strongly that you do some searching before posting a new topic. As other have said Walking Golfer is a pretty well known entity around here and this topic has been hashed to death many times before (all within last several months).

I know you are new here, but really...

[Eric Smith]

This thread's been viewed 400 times Richard. More than a few are paying attention.