Will we see a new generation of walkers?

[FairwayFred]

One of my favorite things about being in Scotland is never seeing buggies and seeing everyone (even older people) walking. I play in a Tuesday am group and we have 2 guys in their upper 70s that walk and still hit the ball very well. They would be insulted if you suggested a buggy to them.

[Hawkeye77]

It is just wonderful!

[Hawkeye77]

FYI, our course is open but it’s cold and windy though sunny and poured rain yesterday. Nobody will be out there, snow is gone, can’t swing a club yet but told the wife let’s go walk 9! After a minute or two this isolation intimacy isn’t all it was cracked up to be.

[deadsolid...shank]

I work a couple days a week in the proshop at our local course. In order to stay open we discontinued carts. Probably 3/4 of the people who called to see if we were open, when I told them walking only, declined to play.

Overall out there, what I see is a large percentage of the older retired guys walk with pushcarts. The younger guys, 20-40, all seem to ride. FWIW, very old school parkland style course with the tees and greens in close proximity.

[kenstl]

I wish more people walked, it is always strange when you are the only walker of the group and the rest are in carts. In my area, the majority of golf courses charge one amount whether you take a cart or not.

[bortass]

I always walk unless I can’t. My club has no walkers on weekend mornings during daylight savings time. Kinda lame but they lifted the restriction with the virus. People can still ride one per cart though. It’s like watching a small herd, lol.

 

i don’t see things changing drastically. I think some people may try walking and enjoy it enough to keep doing so. Others just won’t play with out being able to ride.

[Zlax45]

I always walk since I played in high school and just continued with it. When I do have to use a cart in a fundraising tournament it is just different to me and I don't get as much exercise. I wish more people walked as I don't see a huge difference in the time of my rounds.

[sailfishchris]

Most courses around here still have carts with the stipulation one person per cart. Probably 50/50 walking and riding right now.

[ozarkgolfer]

I live in NW Arkansas and of the 5 courses in our development, only one 18 is a true walkers course. It's damn hilly in this part of the Ozarks. However, although being 65 in July, on the days I don't play, I've been using an elliptical (bad knees from skiing in my teens)and do 40 minutes at a pretty high level for the past 35 years. So when COVID showed up, I made the transition back to walking with a cart. Others in my golfing weekend group - we have 10-16 - don't walk and have been 'single' riding. As we are relatively fast players (first groups out and we take less than 3 hours), walking and keeping up is a challenge for me, but doable. If I am short man off the tee, the other guys go to their ball and play they second shot, rather than wait for me - and I've encouraged that. We have some long walks between greens to the next tee box, so I try and get off the green as quick as possible and don't watch the other guys putt out, and I'm passed on the path more often than not. I try and tee off first, so I'm already starting to quietly walk behind the back of the the last guy on the tee. Stay safe guys!!

[wobgon]

Be careful what you wish for......Golf courses, at least in my area are struggling.......Cart rental is the main source of revenue for most courses.....If there is a spike in walkers, there probably will be a spike in closed courses.

[jah7838]

I live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, and the few courses that are open are encouraging walking to limit contact with individuals. There are also some only allowing one person per cart, even if you are related. I have seen some people try and buck the system the farther they get away from the clubhouse and jump in the cart with their buddy instead of continuing to walk, and some neighborhood courses have had home owners call local PD to tell them what they are seeing.

I have seen more pushcarts out there than I have ever seen on the course, except for junior tournaments. It's nice to see a group of friends walk together. Fortunately, I have a few buddies that enjoy walking, so we will walk together on certain courses that allow it during normal times. Even if the course includes the cart fee, I'll usually walk, unless it's the middle of summer. The PGA Superstore in Southlake sold out of all of their pushcarts in one day before the local cities began closing businesses down.

I hope people continue to walk just for the exercise involved, even if they are paying the cart fee anyway, but I don't see that happening. Unfortunately, we've become too accustomed to convenience, and people will gravitate towards that again once life begins to head back towards what we consider "normal".

[wobgon]

This has nothing to do with anything but surprising that playing 18 holes riding burns about 2/3 as many calories as 18 holes walking.

[VNutz]

Not to mention those that take carts also tend to partake more in the beverage cart and adult beverages than walkers do.

 

I'd love to see more people walking but it simply won't happen. Even in IL with the distancing rules and no carts I saw my local course driving a guy to the 10th tee instead of walking the 100 yards from the clubhouse. It's a mentality and mindset for most.

[Ferguson]

Walking relieves tension and back aches.

Walking gives you a chance to approach your shot, rather than zooming up to it.

Walking allows for conversation.

Walking provides a cadence in terms of pace, thoughts and swing tempo.

Walking is good for you.

 

Try it cart guys and you'll see, walking is good for your game.

[DFS PFD]

I love walking, would rather always play that way. Problem is at my course there's always foursomes with four carts (privately owned) that play as fast as they can. So even though I play and walk very quick (been on my share of rucks) I'm letting a group play through every other hole since EVERYONE is in carts. I hope we do see more walkers in the future, for course preservation and overall wellness.

[SnapHooker_307]

I'm kind of enjoying walking again. I forgot how much detail on a putt you notice while walking up to the green. I also forgot how much easier it is to find your ball by walking on a line towards it instead of estimating where to stop the cart to the side of where you think your ball is.

[8602081]

I see courses opening up around Cincinnati..

 

I have yet to see any Walking Only option..

 

I see more carts being available and cost rising in the future..

 

[duffer987]

Ha! The amount of tricky to find balls I find for cart golfers, compared to them finding their own... I'm not sure the ratio, but I'm doing pretty well ;-)

Being able to go on the line makes such a big difference and if the cart doesn't have a GPS system, it's really easy to lose a sense of how far off the tee you are. The worst are the ones that don't get out of the cart once they're in the general vicinity... no no it's right there you just drove over it twice, lol

Good to hear you're enjoying it :-)

[wobgon]

I walk a little more than i ride but enjoy both.....Curious what others think. What % of the golf courses in the U.S. do you think would be open in five years if everyone walked?

[Ghostwedge]

If i owned the golf course your trail fee would equal a cart rental. Just sayin.....

[Ghostwedge]

It’s been really sloppy where i play and it’s been “cart path only” the past couple of weeks.

As we walk the course i notice that guys who hit it sideways walk as much as we do. Only they’re walking 40 yds left or right to their ball and then back to the cart. That has to be frustrating. I even found two cell phones that fell out of carts. SMH

[disco111]

That's what the trail fee is for just about all the local courses. I don't have my own cart and guys that I knew that had their own sold them because it was not conducive monetarily to keep them. To me it's just a way for the course to make sure you ride so more money comes in. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future to make up lost revenue some start charging you a fee for using your own clubs. Just sayin....

[disco111]

That;s an interesting question. As I've stated in other posts in my area we have already lost several courses and they all had carts supplementing revenue. I would hazard a guess that we would loose a couple of more if it was just a walking only course.

[wobgon]

Good luck with that.

[Dunno]

You might see a little more. but it won't change much. It's rough to walk 18 when the South LA heat kicks up over here.

[Ghostwedge]

That will never fly, charging to use my own clubs. But i could see them charging me to walk the course ( since i’m costing them cart revenue. ) Perish the thought GW !

[ohioglfr]

That's one reason I don't like riding. If you have to stay on the cart path, you walk 30 yards to the ball with your club in hand, size up your shot and realize you should club up (or down), so back to the cart you go to swap clubs, then back to the fairway again . . .

[Albatross_Ace]

walking is great. It's usually faster than carts if youre in a 4 ball too. Some courses are designed so poorly you pretty much need to take a cart though... shrug

[hanginnwangin]

You just got to take a 3-4 clubs just to be safe. But yea, it’s still an inconvenience.

[cubanstogie]

my gym is closed so Ive been walking for exercise. Its great on a day like today 70 degrees, but summers over 100 no way, cant avoid sun. Plus I like bringing some IPA's and listening to music. If Im playing late afternoon we play in 3 or less hours riding. For me there definitely is a time and place for walking but not on regular basis. But if I didn't swim or workout I would walk more.