Are there any courses whose playing experience is enhanced by a cart?

[Carl Rogers]

Where I play 80% of the time is Riverfront, in Suffolk, VA.  It is a development course, with 10 street crossings during the round and somewhat longish/disjointed boring distances from green to tee.  The cart speeds things up.


Any course that is very hilly.  Older golfers would get to tuckered out by the middle of the back nine.  Ballyhack comes to mind. Tobacco Road, also.


Hot weather golf in the American south.

[RJ_Daley]

Carl, I believe your premise is correct in that the heat and humidity of the American south, and the extreme terrain, and aid to old farts who can't walk it anymore.  But, I prefer to think that the cart only facilitates playing golf in such conditions, I don't think it enhances the great game, just makes it possible where golf isn't exactly the natural thing to do upon a natural setting for golf.

[Tim Leahy]

All of them.

[Wayne_Kozun]

BLASPHEMY!

[BHoover]

Maybe when trying to get in as many holes as possible before dark?

This thread will no doubt be a topic of discussion on Melvyn's Facebook page in the morning! 

[jeffwarne]

just the ones that sell beer by the six pack

[Chris Pearson]

Only courses with steep hills and gas-powered carts that can be put into neutral (where the governor doesn't work)

[Sam Morrow]

Golf courses are enhanced by your company, not whether you're walking or riding.

[cary lichtenstein]

Pretty much 90% of the courses needing revenue to survive

[Paul Gray]

Yep, the ones which should never have been built. 

[Jason Topp]

Carts allow you to play on severe terrain where you would not otherwise experience on a golf course.  I doubt any of the following would be as enjoyable without carts.  Even if they were built the experience would be more akin to a hike than a game of golf:
- Kapalua Plantation
- Ballyhack
- Ventana Canyon - Mountain
- Stoneeagle
There are many more examples
 

[David Jones]

I really don't like taking a cart but PGA Gleneagles, Finca Cortesin in Spain and Monte Rei in Portugal all are helped by carts to get over the massive hikes up to elevated tees hundreds of yards away from the previous greens.  Two are Jack Nicklaus designs.  Terreblanche in the south of France is a lovely course which does not need a cart to enjoy but is mandatory.  Nuts!

[Philip Hensley]

When I first saw heard people talking about walking Tobacco Road, I thought they were nuts. I never considered it walkable, because it is hilly...if you're on the cart part. The front 9 is actually pretty walkable and once you leave the first tee and get into the valley, it's pretty easy walking until you walk up to the green on #9.


The back 9 is tougher, and hilly. And there is a pretty big walk from #14 green to #15 tee. I can definitely see how older golfers would struggle to walk.


At first I was thinking the walks up to some of the tees would be a negative for walking, but you have to walk those anyways, because the carts don't go up there.


Either way, while some golfers might find it easier to play TR with a cart, I don't find that the playing experience is enhanced by it. Quite the opposite in my opinion.

[Carl Rogers]

this thread has taken a course I anticipated ...........


I would add to the original post that high altitude mountain courses in Colorado.  Telluride, Aspen etc

[Jonathan Mallard]

Ballyhack is difficult to play without a cart. I watched Kevin Lynch try to do it. He rode to the 11th fairway and to the 17th green.


Royal New Kent and Stonehouse would be difficult without a cart.

[Bill_McBride]

Ballyhack is difficult to play without a cart. I watched Kevin Lynch try to do it. He rode to the 11th fairway and to the 17th green.


Royal New Kent and Stonehouse would be difficult without a cart.

Craig Disher and Evan Fleisher, two committed walkers, kicked the collective asses of McBride and Hendren at Ballyhack.  The issue is fitness. 

[Neil Johnston]

I don't think the issue is whether it's possible to walk a certain course. Ballyhack was already brought up, and I think Dismal White fits this mold. A fit person certainly could walk 18 at either place, but I think I enjoyed my round more at both places by riding. There are enough long/awkward walks from green to tee and then from tee to fairway that I wouldn't have been able to focus on the golf course and their merits nearly as much. Some of that time and energy would have sucked up by finding the most efficient routes and not twisting an ankle climbing where I shouldn't be. Riding at places like this also allows you to maintain a certain rhythm in your round, which to me enhances the experience.

[Philip Hensley]

To clarify my earlier statement, the question isn't whether or not a course should be walked or cartballed. It is, does riding enhance the playing experience.

In the case of Tobacco Road, I say no, especially for a GCA enthusiast. Walking through/around one of the many waste areas gives one an appreciation of their vastness and depth. You feel like you are "in" the course, rather than "on" the course when you walk the holes from tee to green. I think riding takes away from that.

[Jud_T]

Being able to get in more holes, skip around groups/holes and play fast, get back to the clubhouse when a storm comes through and play an emergency solo 9 in under an hour all enhance the playing experience (not to mention making it to the crapper after last night's Vindaloo  ).  Nothing is better than walking with a great caddie, but getting in 10 rounds in a long weekend on a hilly course and still be able to play up to your ability enhances the experience greatly for those of us who are older and/or not in top shape.  There's a reverse discrimination/snobbery of some of the walking only set that veers toward proselytizing.  Live and let live.

[Carl Rogers]

this thread is part of an ongoing view of the game .... is the game "big tent" or "little tent"?  I prefer "big tent" with a prejudice against slow play.

[BCowan]

There's a reverse discrimination/snobbery of some of the walking only set that veers toward proselytizing.  Live and let live.

That's funny.  Bandon is walking only and u hold it in high regard.  Carts do a number on ur beloved fescue fairways.

  The beautiful thing about walking is its like taking ur hat off before u enter a building.  It's in the spirit of the game.

Carl,

I don't mind taking a cart when I play the Ross memorial in michigan.  I think it would be hard to find or create holes from around the world in a tight routing.

[Philip Hensley]

Being able to get in more holes, skip around groups/holes and play fast, get back to the clubhouse when a storm comes through and play an emergency solo 9 in under an hour all enhance the playing experience (not to mention making it to the crapper after last night's Vindaloo  ).  Nothing is better than walking with a great caddie, but getting in 10 rounds in a long weekend on a hilly course and still be able to play up to your ability enhances the experience greatly for those of us who are older and/or not in top shape.  There's a reverse discrimination/snobbery of some of the walking only set that veers toward proselytizing.  Live and let live.

The OP was asking about courses whose playing experience is enhanced by a cart, not a debate about walking versus cartballing. By the reasons cited above (getting in more holes, skipping groups, etc), ALL courses would fit in this threshold, assuming carts are allowed on the course.


I took OP's question as "Course X is nice, but is better to play in a cart" and then he listed courses he felt benefit from using a cart. There are many semi-private housing community courses in my area that fit a similar profile, with green to tee gaps of hundreds of yards multiple times in a round. There are also mountain courses in the western part of the state that would likely benefit from carts.

[Jason Thurman]

Neil's post hits the nail on the head. Ballyhack is a perfect example. I took a cart in exactly five rounds last year, one of which was at Ballyhack. Walking would have been feasible, but it also would absolutely have detracted from the experience.


Ballyhack stands as one of the more architecturally significant examples, but I would also point out that there are thousands of less interesting courses best experienced when played in a cart with plenty of beer and great company. On a course where the focus is better placed on having fun with your buddies than on architecture or even playing a game, it's hard to beat the way that carts facilitate eating, boozing, and playing music on the course.


I'll hang up and listen to you guys channel Melvyn.

[Kalen Braley]

I'd love to see someone try to walk Sanctuary in Denver....that course is up and down with a few massive drives in between a few holes.

[Scott Little]

A cart provides me the opportunity to take my 6 year old girl out for an evening 9 holes (I create 25-50 yard holes for her even though she is distracted by the giant sand boxes). While it does nothing to enhance the course, a cart provides access to the game for those who are physically unable to walk for the distance required.  Without a cart, my daughter would be relegated to the practice green until she is physically capable of walking with me...a day that I anxiously wait for.