[Mike_Trenham]

How many courses are there in the US that do not have either carts or caddies?

[Mike_Young]

I would say at least 2000 ....

[Tom_Doak]

Mike:  Seriously?  I thought carts had more complete penetration of the market than that.  I can't remember the last time I saw a little course that didn't have carts.

The number of courses which have no carts but have a caddie program is very low ... can't be more than 100 in the US.  In fact if you really mean NO carts there are hardly any, nearly every course has to have a couple to accommodate members who need them or ADA restrictions.

[Mike_Trenham]

I guess I said this the wrong way.  What I ment is what courses both have no carts available and no caddies available.

[Dan Herrmann]

The munis I grew up playing had neither, but, alas, they've introduced carts.  Amazing because they were incredibly easy to walk.  But I guess if it increases revenue for the town, it's OK...

[Mike_Young]

Mike:  Seriously?  I thought carts had more complete penetration of the market than that.  I can't remember the last time I saw a little course that didn't have carts.

The number of courses which have no carts but have a caddie program is very low ... can't be more than 100 in the US.  In fact if you really mean NO carts there are hardly any, nearly every course has to have a couple to accommodate members who need them or ADA restrictions.

Tom,
When you come back to Ga sometime I will show you a few if you wish.  NOW this is not to say that some members wil not pull up in the parking lot with a cart and trailer behind their car...I see that all the time.....but out of 17000 courses there are many par 3 and 9 holes without them.....I even know of one course within 20 miles of ANGC that up until 3 years ago mowed its greens with a 20 inch Jake rotary with rollers instead of tires.....
Mike

[Mike_Young]

Also, and I am serious....I have seen courses in Louisiana where the foursome would have 4 4wheelers with bags on each much like a rifle rack.....and it was common on this course...not just one group.....

[Brent Hutto]

Mike,

What part of the country and what types of courses. Like Tom says I can't recall coming across a course without golf carts.

There was a (recently NLE) Par 33 nine-holer near my house that had six Par 4's under 380 yards and three Par 3's. It was built on about 30 acres total including the driving range yet I'd say about a third of the rounds played there were in carts. It seemed quite odd to see a perfectly healthy, athletic 16-year-old kid carting around a course on which I can play nine hole walking in less than an hour.

I think nine holes there used to cost something like ten dollars to walk plus another nine dollars for the cart. So it's easy to see why they had the carts, it doubled their revenue and I doubt it doubled their costs.

Oops, our posts crossed.

[Geoffrey Childs]

For all the years I was a regular at Bethpage Black there were no carts and no caddies.

Its only recently after the Rees Jones "restoration", the great conditioning and the notoriety of the course that some freelance caddies show up to carry for all the "foreigners" that come and want to play the US Open course.

[Tom_Doak]

My standing offer to knock $50,000 off our design fee for any course that eschews golf carts still stands.  (Our client in Bend has taken us up on it, and I might have made another sale just yesterday.)

It's not just because I love to walk and play ... not having to deal with cart paths in the design is worth every penny so we can concentrate on the golf.  Maybe I should propose an ASGCA initiative along the same lines!

[Jeff_Mingay]

Maybe I should propose an ASGCA initiative along the same lines!

I don't think they'll listen to you, Tom  

[Adam_Messix]

I believe the Methodist University Course in Fayetteville, NC has no carts and no caddies.

[M. Shea Sweeney]

Adam-

WOW. I am absolutley shocked. Even more shocked that you said 'Methodist University' and not 'Methodist College'.

We acctually just acquired about 6 golf cars this year. For special purposes. Students may not use the carts unless with staff.

Have you played the golf course?

-Mike

[Adam_Messix]

Mike--

I have not played the course at Methodist, although I know many people who have being that many of their PGM guys have worked next door at Wade Hampton.  Methodist is one of the few places that I've heard of that has a two day PAT event, because the course has(d) no carts. Don't know much about the actual course from an architectural standpoint.  I owe a visit there just to see how their PGM program works.  

All of the correspondence that I receive from Methodist refers to it as a University, hence my usage.  I usually receive promos for their Pinehurst weekend MBAs that they are offering to people in the business.

[Doug Siebert]

2000 courses may be optimistic, but the number is at least equal to the number of courses that collect their fees in an honor box.  I know of a couple, there's probably a couple hundred of these around the country.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()