How different would golf look today in the USA if carts had never been invented?

[RoyalMustang]

Something I have been thinking about recently: the first golf boom (post-war) was pre golf cart era and many clubs were started then. Many more people picked up the sport in the 70s and 80s, and then again during the Tiger boom, and now, COVID and beyond. 

 

If carts had never been invented, how would the industry be different today? Would the clientele change or be a different size? Speaking with older golfers that I know, they got into the sport for very different reasons than many golfers today. You can see some clientele groups that probably wouldn't exist w/o the modern cart (get drunk bro golfers for one). Maybe fewer older golfers, but then again, maybe not: if walking is the norm, and you play regularly, then you will be by default in good enough shape to walk (my brother's HS coach played/walked all rounds until a stroke in his mid 80's meant too much lost coordination to swing). Course design would be different: tighter and w/o long distances between tees.

 

I don't really know enough about golf history to speculate too much, but I am wondering what all of you think? Especially those that also played before carts were prevalent. 

 

[Maroon_19]

Fewer people on the courses.  Probably little to no music.  Much less drinking.  The game would be the reason to go instead of a dude date.  Courses would not be as spread out with 1/4 mile walks between green and next tee.  Probably fewer courses but probably much better quality of courses (just my thought on it).  I think it would trickle down into equipment as well.  The game wouldn't be as popular with the masses so probably fewer equipment manufacturers and fewer "gotta have this" new model releases.

And then someone with an eye "to the future" would invent the golf cart to get more non-golf-nerds out there and we'd be back where we are now in 20 years. 🙂

[flubberlange]

A lot less dudes would be overweight.

[elwhippy]

We only have 4 buggies at our club. Most are used by visitors or those with medical exemptions. The game is more sociable. you get more exercise and you can take shorter routes. However, our summers rarely get above 80 degrees. Wouldn't fancy walking a course is hotter climes, especially if it was undulating. 

[Abh159]

Sure, there would be less bro dudes out there (which would be nice), but you would also eliminate people who have not choice but to ride (due to age, heath, disability, or etc.).

 

There would definitely be far, far fewer courses than there are now which would probably correlate to higher prices for golf access in general. More courses would have caddy programs which sounds cool until you realize that adds $50+ in tips to every round you play.

 

You'd also lose the abilityto play all year long in a lot of the SW and SE. No matter how good of shape you're in, it's tough to walk when it's 100+ degrees out...

 

FWIW I'm all for walking when playing. I usually only ride in club events where it's required or when it's unbearably hot outside. 

[caniac6]

No cart paths to scuff my ball.

[RoyalMustang]

7 minutes ago, caniac6 said:

No cart paths to scuff my ball.

 

No 400 yard (ahem, cart path enabled) drives to brag about 

[RoyalMustang]

12 minutes ago, Abh159 said:

Sure, there would be less bro dudes out there (which would be nice), but you would also eliminate people who have not choice but to ride (due to age, heath, disability, or etc.).

 

There would definitely be far, far fewer courses than there are now which would probably correlate to higher prices for golf access in general. More courses would have caddy programs which sounds cool until you realize that adds $50+ in tips to every round you play.

 

You'd also lose the abilityto play all year long in a lot of the SW and SE. No matter how good of shape you're in, it's tough to walk when it's 100+ degrees out...

 

FWIW I'm all for walking when playing. I usually only ride in club events where it's required or when it's unbearably hot outside. 

 

I wonder if the seasons for golf would change. Lots more people here play when it is 95 out than 55 out, probably as they can use a cart. 55 is great if you are walking and generating heat: it can feel really cold in a cart, which is why not many people play in the winter. I will play any time of year but I consider Nov-April to be prime time for me, whereas courses book far more rounds in the summer, even accounting for longer days. 

 

Or maybe people just wouldn't golf? 

[Naptime]

Courses would be shorter.  Top Golf and Pop Strokes would have appeared sooner.  Even cart users have to walk a bit when it’s cart path only.  Caddies would still have jobs unattached to the pro tours.  

[ezpz]

I live in a place where there's no carts except for injured/disabled/whatever players. We still have some courses with long walks between tees, pushcarts are mostly used, no alcohol on courses, no music on courses and we still have overweight people playing! So probably a bit like this.

[Springsteennut]

There would be less people playing. I’m thankful for them since I have health issues that can making walking difficult. 

[596]

In the US carts are a huge money maker and courses would not survive without them. The industry would not be what it is without them.  I'd bet you would lose 75% of all golfers in the US of you couldn't use one.  That said 

 

Walking is part of the game as far as I'm concerned.  It does make a difference after you've walked 15 holes and still have 3 to go. It's part of the game, you are supposed to get tired, it's a sport. My course is about 8 to 9 miles to walk 18.  Most people can't walk that far yet alone swing a club 80 times in between. 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by 596

[Roody]

To answer the original question, pretty much what previous posters have said. You would lose a lot of clientele because not everyone plays golf for the same reasons. Some just like the 4-5 hour escape from home life, go out and have a few brews with the boys and do some silly gambling. Others take the game more seriously. Pounding beers, smoking cigars, etc are more easily done in a riding cart. 

 

I'm someone who tries to walk most of the time, when I can. But I do it with a MotoCaddy because if I carried my bag it would destroy my back, and you'd have to airlift me off hole 8. And last year I had hernia repair surgery, and started to notice I get sore from walking too much. There were several times I had to take a cart just so I could play, even when the rest of the guys in my foursome were walking. I'm 5'7" tall, ~160 lbs, I'm not pro athlete level of fitness, but I'm not out of shape either. However, if I didn't have the cart available as an option last year I wouldn't have been able to play as much. 

[texcellence86]

Golf in the South would be impossible for 6-7 months out of the year. There is a reason why the FL and TX swings are earlier on the PGA Tour. Temp gets to 90-100 around Mid May most years here in TX. You gotta be real brave to play after 12pm June/July/August/September(ish).

 

Prime example today down in San Antonio its 70 in the morning and by 5pm it will be 93

[golfwb]

2 hours ago, texcellence86 said:

Golf in the South would be impossible for 6-7 months out of the year. There is a reason why the FL and TX swings are earlier on the PGA Tour. Temp gets to 90-100 around Mid May most years here in TX. You gotta be real brave to play after 12pm June/July/August/September(ish).

 

Prime example today down in San Antonio its 70 in the morning and by 5pm it will be 93

Agree with this. It's barely safe to play in the middle of the summer in carts. If there were no carts courses would make no money in the summer.

 

[klebs01]

1 hour ago, golfwb said:

Agree with this. It's barely safe to play in the middle of the summer in carts. If there were no carts courses would make no money in the summer.

 

That’s nuts. It’s not close to being unsafe to golf in the summer, even in the south. Especially from a cart. 

[ChipNRun]

The first electric carts used for golf appeared about 1935. At the time they were used primarily for players with disabilities.

 

After World War II, golf carts started becoming more popular for golfers in general. This accompanied the post-war golf boom which @RoyalMustang mentioned.

 

I started caddying about 1964 (summer 6th grade) and continued until early college. Circa 1964, the really upscale clubs had golf carts. And, the midline courses and public courses were starting to get golf carts.

 

The carts - electric favored over smelly gas ones - changes the demographics of golf. At first, most cart-mounted foursomes would take a cart runner or spotter along with them.  The runner would mark balls in the rough, and take the pin and rake the traps. In a cart plus two walkers, the cart riders would give the caddie a couple of extra $$ for tending the pin. This was a great deal for the younger, smaller caddies who only carried one bag. The extra cart $$ helped up caddie pay.

 

Long story short, as the 1970s advanced more and more people rode carts, and fewer took caddies. In St. Louis area, many clubs discontinued their caddie program. This meant that the story of the young caddie working at the pro shop and playing his way onto the tour became less and less frequent. Aspiring tour and club pros that lacked college golf experience became quite rare.

 

Plus, post-war many people had started caddying for money, and then took up golf due to this exposure. So, fewer people exposed to golf at a young age.

 

In the 1990s, two booms hit golfdom: The residential golf boom, followed a few years later by the Tiger boom. I'll focus on the residential boom. Real estate developers from outside of golfdom came in and built courses intermingled with a residential development. The idea was, millions of Americans wanted a home along a fairway at a golf club they could join. This coincided with courses getting longer and longer. Yes, there was overbuilding, we've covered this before. But other problems.

 

To ensure fairway frontage for homes, the courses often ended up with pods of holes. This is different from the more rectangular clustering common to pre-war courses.  This means tee box #4 can be a quarter-mile from green #3. Hoofing it between four or five hole pods per round can be tough on the walkers. Also, many courses require players to ride, arguing it lessens slow play.

 

On 3/30/2023 at 1:12 PM, RoyalMustang said:

if walking is the norm, and you play regularly, then you will be by default in good enough shape to walk....

 

RM, there's problem here. A certain level of non-golf conditioning is needed for this to be true.

 

By the 1990s, USA workers were performing a lot more sedentary jobs than in earlier decades. A majority of the people with enough $$ to play golf often sat in pods  by a computer most of the day. These seated jobs led to strong thigh muscles, but poor lower back flexibility and lower cardio-endurance. This also made carts more attractive.

 

And, how does golf stack up in your life? Fun, camaraderie, exercise? Goals vary. A few years ago I played a pickup round of golf with a local male marathon runner, about 35 years old. The walking vs. riding discussion came up, and our marathoner said he played golf for fun and liked to ride. He had a separate fitness routine to prepare for races.

 

In summary...

• Golf carts came on strong after World War II.
• Not mentioned earlier, but electric golf carts became less costly as non-golf usage increased and the number manufactured increased.
• Golf carts leading to fewer working-class caddies which meant that college golf became the dominant pathway into the tour and club pro professions.
• A more sedentary life means more people want to ride.

If you google Golf Cart History  several interesting stories will pop up, such as this one.

[wobgon]

I always wonder what it would look like if no one had ever invented the ball.

[caniac6]

39 minutes ago, wobgon said:

I always wonder what it would look like if no one had ever invented the ball.

No bad shots.

[aenemated]

Another thing to think about ... there'd probably be a lot fewer courses. So many modern courses are heavily funded by property sales - which means they wind up super spread out so as to provide as much residential property as possible.

 

There's a Nicklaus track about an hour-ish outside of Vegas; Coyote Springs. I'm sure more than a few of you have played it! The area - which is in the middle of damn nowhere - was initially supposed to be a master planned community but as I understand it; the housing crash of 2008 (which hit Vegas especially hard) as well as some legal fights over water rights basically killed development. All that was ever built was the golf course. There's seriously nothing else out there. 

 

Those who've played it surely quickly recognized ... it'd be nearly impossible to walk. Everything is crazy far apart. And if you didn't know any of the aforementioned you'd be like "Why the hell would anyone do this on purpose?"

 

A quick look at the satellite view will answer that question:

 

 

You can see exactly where the first phase of housing development was supposed to go and a bit of where the next phase would be.

 

That said - great course. Recommended. NOT easy. 

[bobfoster]

A perspective from a guy in his fifth decade of golf:

 

I started playing golf in the 60s. Made good summer money in the 60s and 70s as a caddy at a local private club (as a teenager). Also helped me learn the game (course closed on Mondays for maintenance, but caddies were allowed to play Mondays for free - very common at the time). 

 

IMO as an old guy? Golf would be very different without carts. They had a significant impact (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse) on the evolution and growth of the game. 

 

My perception of changes (+ & -):

 

Carts killed the idea of caddies. They are now almost non-existent on US courses (though this is not necessarily global). This (IMO) is kind of a negative.

 

Carts do allow for a lot of people to play that wouldn't otherwise be able to. They helped to greatly expand the game. There's probably a lot more golfers and a lot more courses because of them. There were about 11 million US golfers in 1970 - there are now around 25 million. Carts alone didn't do that, but were certainly a significant contributing factor. Consider this (sad) fact. Close to half the US is overweight. Close to 1/3 is technically obese (those are real stats, and they really disturb me). To walk the average 18 is to walk 6 - 6.5 miles. Probably half of our nation of couch potatoes right now couldn't even walk a mile on a nice temperate day - let alone walk it carrying or pushing a set of clubs. 

 

So I'm kind of torn. Carts have had a huge impact on the growth of the game - opened the sport to many that wouldn't otherwise play it. But I'm also a hard core old-school traditionalist. To me one of the core components of the game is the walking. I'm now 65, and still walk unless a course absolutely requires me to ride (which many now do - for purely revenue purposes). So, kinda weird, carts simultaneously helped the game and destroyed what the original game was. 

 

Then again, I know I'm becoming an old curmudgeon - whose viewpoint will soon be history. But golf, to me, will always be what it was for three centuries until the middle 20th century - hitting a ball, walking to where it landed, and hitting it again. 

 

Mike drop. 🤣

 

Great question OP.

 

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by bobfoster

[IndyArcher]

Golf clubs would be fewer and cheaper. 

[MtlJeff]

Fewer people would play for sure, older folks too not just the those on the portly side. 

 

I know some older dudes that still love to play but can't walk the course. I also know some on the side of generous proportions that also can't walk a course. 

 

In the US where something like 70% of the population is overweight and 40% is obese if i recall.....that's a pretty big hit to your numbers

[Hickory4ever]

The impact of the invention of the golf cart varies depending on where you live. In Europe, use is minimal and likely most of it for people with medical reasons. The other extreme is in the US, where mandatory cart usage is frequent in many places. There is definitely a cultural difference.

 

In most parts of Canada that I have played, there are relatively few courses requiring mandatory carts. Courses built on the residential model like in the US are fortunately rare. Cart usage is not as broad as in the US but lots of people use them. I prefer to walk and with few exceptions, that is possible at most of the courses I play.

 

I much prefer to walk. My cart usage is limited to very hot days mostly. 
 

If carts were not invented, the golf landscape would be different, not necessarily a bad thing. 
 

One more point, I am 69 and have a bad knee. Walking is good for it.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Hickory4ever

[betarhoalphadelta]

19 hours ago, ChipNRun said:

 

 

RM, there's problem here. A certain level of non-golf conditioning is needed for this to be true.

 

By the 1990s, USA workers were performing a lot more sedentary jobs than in earlier decades. A majority of the people with enough $$ to play golf often sat in pods  by a computer most of the day. These seated jobs led to strong thigh muscles, but poor lower back flexibility and lower cardio-endurance. This also made carts more attractive.

 

 

Yeah, I do think this is a big change in our society. You can't walk a golf course every Sunday or every other Sunday and maintain the fitness level to walk a golf course, if that's all you do. If you're the type of player who can get out to the links 4 times a week, on the other hand, you likely can maintain "golf walking" fitness with nothing else. 

 

There are a lot more people in the former category than the latter. 

 

 

[Bonneville85308]

On 3/30/2023 at 12:33 PM, Abh159 said:

 

You'd also lose the abilityto play all year long in a lot of the SW and SE. No matter how good of shape you're in, it's tough to walk when it's 100+ degrees out...

 

 

Without carts, I could see a lot of the courses around Phoenix just closing completely from around late May until fall overseed is completed, with just the muni courses (which are all pretty flat and easy to walk) remaining open all year. And many courses would never have been built in the first place as they aren't realistically walkable even in cool weather.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Bonneville85308

[caniac6]

There would be a lot more 9 hole rounds, and, possibly, more 9 hole courses.

[Pepperturbo]

A large amount of people wouldn't be playing the game.  Nice to dream.  There are reasons why America is known for obesity. 

[ChipDriver]

On 3/30/2023 at 2:12 PM, RoyalMustang said:

Something I have been thinking about recently: the first golf boom (post-war) was pre golf cart era and many clubs were started then. Many more people picked up the sport in the 70s and 80s, and then again during the Tiger boom, and now, COVID and beyond. 

 

If carts had never been invented, how would the industry be different today? Would the clientele change or be a different size? Speaking with older golfers that I know, they got into the sport for very different reasons than many golfers today. You can see some clientele groups that probably wouldn't exist w/o the modern cart (get drunk bro golfers for one). Maybe fewer older golfers, but then again, maybe not: if walking is the norm, and you play regularly, then you will be by default in good enough shape to walk (my brother's HS coach played/walked all rounds until a stroke in his mid 80's meant too much lost coordination to swing). Course design would be different: tighter and w/o long distances between tees.

 

I don't really know enough about golf history to speculate too much, but I am wondering what all of you think? Especially those that also played before carts were prevalent. 

 

 

 

Cart MEN instead of cart girls?   No thank you.

[JAM01]

More 9 hole rounds, more buy some combo of 3 holes, for example 12 and 15 hole players for the properly adjusted price. Mushy courses in better shape. Probably flatter courses.