Does One Person per Golf Car Speed Up Play at Your Course?

[torbill]

I am old and I still walk, normally. But some physical issues began to slow me down about the time that the virus hit. The golf courses I play at went to one rider per golf car. Since these courses allow players to bring their own golf cars there are plenty to go around, the pro shops never run out of rentals.

In the past there was some controversy about single rider vehicles such as 1/2/3/4 wheel personal scooters and carts, in regards to how much it might speed up play if everybody had their own vehicle. Some people argued that there would be a lot of improvement in the pace of play and others argued not much. Lots of speculation.

Well, at least for the courses I play there is no longer any doubt. Because we have very few walkers there is a major improvement in the pace of play, a minimum of a half hour per round.

Many courses have a policy of no more than two golf cars per foursome, except for medicals, because they perceive more wear and tear with more cars. It’s understandable - with 2-200# riders and a 1000# golf car we are talking about 700# for every 2-wheels, not including equipment. A 2-wheel scooter weighs, say, 150#, which means that there is half the weight for every 2-wheels, and many of these personal vehicles have fat tires, just like golf cars.

Is it possible that the virus is showing us the way to a better future for everyday golf? The technology for single player mobility devices is now here. And given that this is a new space there are new things coming out all the time. There can’t be a general improvement in speed of play until everybody has their own vehicle, but if everybody is allowed to use the 2-person golf car and there is encouragement for people to move to the smaller, lighter vehicles would we have a situation in which the pace of play would be improved and at the same time there would be no more - and possibly less - wear and tear on the courses.

The real losers in such a world would be walkers, like me. I can keep up if there are two cars, max, per foursome. With everybody having their own vehicle, no way could I keep up. I believe that golf is a walking game, but slow play is no fun.

I’m sure there are a million opinions about how to speed up play, but what I’m interested in finding out is, are you folks who are now playing one rider per cart experiencing a significant improvement in playing time, like we are? If so, how much? What do you think of the idea of having one person per vehicle, permanently, as opposed to just during the virus?

[ChxDigLongBall]

We allow the members at my course to ride in their own carts. Our pace of play is very good, but the extra cart traffic is not my superintendent's favorite thing.

[Zen_Golfer]

It doesnt seem to at any of the courses that I play. It still seems like instead of everyone going to their own ball, people still drive around in packs and instead of driving to their ball and being ready to hit when their buddy is done hitting, they all waste a lot of time trying to get ready to hit.

[ChaosTheory]

Yes, if not held up, we are playing 3 hour rounds with 4 carts. It’s noticeably faster. I’m guessing it saves 2 minutes per par 4 & 5, minimum. We are playing Ready golf, and not much pre shot dawdling.

[kenstl]

Agree, single per cart has sped up my last few rounds at public courses. I haven't had a round over 4 hours and the longest one was a 5 some, the others were right at 3:45 minutes. All of the rounds were on crowded days as well, so play was during busy times. I do think they that they put a couple of additional minutes in between tee times as well.

Outside of walking, which I prefer, I do hope this changes the future of transport at courses, although it could put the golf cart industry out of business!

 

[dacatalyst41]

It’s definitely not great for courses maintenance but it seems to be speed up play a bit. Guys finding their own balls faster and playing forward seems to be more efficient.

[BIG STU]

It seems to me in the last few weeks it has---- We played a foursome at a pretty difficult course in 4 hrs flat yesterday--- But we had no one in front of us--- But I will admit this is a Golf Tourist Mecca and we have no tourist golfers here because all the motels are still closed and all reservations cancelled---- My course that I am a member at a lot of the older retiree members ( 70s etc respectfully) are not coming out as much due to health risk concerns. Right now down here the Golf Industry is really suffering.

[farmer]

My little has always had private carts. If you see a group, everyone will be in their own cart. POP is generally fast, but there is also "that guy" who shows up.

[deadsolid...shank]

At our private, our group played one person to a cart most of the time. A mix of private and rentals. With no one in front of us we were normally around 2 1/2 hours for a round. When we added a fifth player it usually bumped us up to around three. Very much ready golf

On occasion someone different would join us and ride with someone. It usually added some time to the round. Not exactly sure how much, maybe 15 minutes, give or take.

[torbill]

Yeah, we can play a round in 2-1/2 hours if the course is open, too. The improvement in playing time is amazing, more than I would have ever thought.

What do you guys think of the new single player vehicles - 2/3/4 wheel scooter-type things, golf boards (not for these old bones!), etc.? Are they the future or will the 2-person golf car still be the answer in the coming years?

[deadsolid...shank]

I would think a lot of courses will try to implement at least a few of them when they can. Maybe when refreshing the fleet or something, substitute a few of these in place of the normal ones? See how they’re received.

[cardoustie]

It’s so much faster w one cart per player

You haven’t even touched on how many players sharing a cart don’t know how to do this to be faster ... so often the second player just sits in the cart and waits on player B to hit

[deadsolid...shank]

I know we’ve touched on this frequently in the past, but that is so correct. I’ve often found when I’m riding with someone (who also knows how to use the cart) that I’ll log a very surprising amount of walking mileage. It’s drop off the first guy and go. Then as soon as the dropped off guy hits, he starts walking. The sitting and waiting for one guy to hit and then both repeating it at the second ball is one of the biggest delayers of play.

[Mych]

 

I like the Segway style most. I have a fear that anything that looks like a skateboard/motorcycle/ATV will get treated as such and end up causing enough damage to courses to get them banned pretty quickly. I also don't want to end up wearing helmets to play golf.

The Segway style golf cart seems to be the most sensible combination of mobility, terrain-handling, and rider safety, while still maintaining a good "golf" experience. I'd actually prefer something non-motorized (bicycle-style), just because I don't care to hear any more noise on the course than I currently do.

The problem is idiots like this guy who will screw up any improvement that comes along:

[torbill]

Early perception among a lot of golfers was that the single player vehicles were pretty outlandish. Nobody had any real world experience with how much one cart per player could speed up play. A lot of people thought that there would be little improvement. Now, with the virus, people are going to see just how much faster the game can be played. Do you think that attitudes will change so that there will be less resistance to scooters and the like?

[torbill]

How to get two players in a cart to speed up play would be a different thread, and if players who are two to a cart don’t have the message by now they aren’t ever going to get it. This thread is about one player per cart.

[brew4eagle]

Maybe off topic a bit, but I don't have a desire to zoom around in my own cart and play in 2 hrs. I prefer to walk and I'm happy getting a round finished in 3.5 to 4 hrs as long as there's minimal waiting on the group in front.

[Mych]

I agree, I'd rather walk, but I also understand that courses are desperate for anything that helps them get more people onto the course each day.

Courses chronically struggle to stay financially viable, so if you're able to knock 15% off the pace of play (36 min off a 4 hour average), you're theoretically able to sell 15% more tee times in a day. If you offered a course manager any improvement that allowed for a 15% boost in revenue, courses should be climbing over each other to implement it first.

I think the barrier was that the cost of implementation is high, the technology is unproven, and the premise was untested. So implementation would have required a course taking the risk of being cash poor, investing in equipment that they don't have experience maintaining/repairing, working with their insurers to cover any new liability, and there was limited data to show that the pace of play "payoff" would be able to be realized.

I anticipate that more courses will be willing to experiment with new options like walking only days and smaller "personal" carts, and equipment designers and manufacturers will follow suit by offering a new generation of vehicles with a "fleet" mindset geared toward maintainability and cost effectiveness.

[brew4eagle]

One big risk is alienating your more reliable group of players. Personally I'd pick up a new hobby if golf became a sub 3 hr endeavor zooming around on personal carts.

[Mych]

Courses are may eventually have to alienate some current players to stay in business. A lot of courses have failed because of being unwilling to piss off influential members or customers.

[Pepperturbo]

Answer - NO.

Played yesterday behind 4 guys each in a cart. We waited behind them too often. One one Par 3 tee there was two groups waiting. Everyone in my group was mid 50s except for me at 70 and we played blue tees. Guys in front probably late 20's to late 30's, and only one was a big hitter that merited playing the back tees. I know that cause I could see them on every tee. LOL One of them tended to dribble off the tee too. He was trying hard to keep up but...

[Mych]

But that group sounds like they would be slow regardless of the riding arrangment. Would that group have moved faster if paired off in carts? It doesn't sound like it.

Individual carts won't make a slow group fast, but it could make a slow group fractionally less slow by removing one of the elements of their slow play. Individual carts can't make them play the correct tees or hit better shots.

[brew4eagle]

Those groups won't be sped up significantly by individual carts either. And it only takes a few of those groups to bog the whole day down.

[Cwing]

Foursome arrives at course in a single vehicle. Each member of the foursome then each get their own cart. Obviously this doesn’t happen all the time but it is happening allot. Crazy times.

[cardoustie]

Thanks for clarifying

[bellken]

As long as it isn't Cart Path Only, it should speed up play. But, it really depends on group in front of you. One person per cart, just, gets you to your ball faster, which, is doesn't always translate into sped up play. fwiw, I have finished under 3 hours walking (no waiting).

[mitchl]

On our two courses about an hour less per round... we are seeing the shorter (6400 yard, C/R 72) course go from 4 hours to 3 hours, and the longer course go from 4:20 to 3:20 with everyone in their own carts. The longer course (7000 yard, C/R 74) has a back 9 of around 4 miles, and walking trying to keep that pace is fairly brutal. Playing alone I can walk that front and back 6.5 miles overall in 2:45 or so, but walking with 3 partners each in their own cart is tough.

Part of this speed up is not just the solo carts however, it is also that tee spacing has gone from 8 minutes to 12, so there is a 1/3 less groups on the course.

[torbill]

Well, this is one of the big questions, and I don’t know the answer. But I’m betting that there will be a significant speedup for these sorts of players because it is a simpler, more natural process. You just go to your ball, get ready, hit the shot, move on. I think that I’ll be finding out shortly. Our courses are opening up after closing for the virus. Which means that we will be starting up our men’s days again - a course full of the usual suspects. We shall see. But, we are also using styrofoam inserts In the cups and not raking bunkers, so these things will help. So if there is a serious speed-up it won’t be totally clear that it is due to individual carts.

 

[ScottJN]

played a completely packed muni in CT last weekend and somehow got done with my round in just under 4 hours. It was all walking and single riders to carts.

 

Seemed like it helped with finding wayward balls. Didn’t have 2 guys sharing a cart with potential lost balls on different sides on the hole.

[Mych]

I'd be interested to see whether there is a correlation between improved PoP and levels of alcohol consumption. My hypothesis would be that people are less likely to keep slamming beers if they are riding alone, and more likely to wait until the 19th hole to go from "golf" mode to "social" mode. If that hypothesis is true, it'll cost the course money but greatly improve the golfing experience (in my opinion).