Walking Vs Riding

[will1994]

Is it just me...

Before I start, I apologize if this topic has been beaten into the ground before



I am a caddie and work in the pro shop at a private club in an affluent summer resort.

As a caddie waiting for loops there are several things you notice....

1. 80%+ of all total golfers take carts

2. 99.9% of women take carts

3.Real golfers walk and take caddies.


I don't know if its just me but carts make me sick and should be removed from the game of golf.



Does anyone else really dislike carts in general?-

[hawaiicy]

I play a lot of courses in Northern California that are simply not walkable. Too many hills, too many long treks between green and tee. What then? Otherwise, I do wish more people would walk. Just got back from a trip to St. Andrews and golf is just so much more enjoyable when you can stroll straight from the tee to your ball rather than taking some circuitous cart path.

[m5power]

i have no problems with carts but i always prefer to walk. I would ideally love to walk AND take a caddy but the courses I play don't have caddies. Also, nothing personal but I wouldn't want the extra expense of having one either. Unless I'm on vacation playing a high end course.

[1969EType]

Currently Will, I dislike carts. Depending upon my health, when I turn 60 or 70 I might change my view. I always make it a point if I am playing a course I've never played before to call and confirm that walking is permitted. And if the course/club offers caddies, I ALWAYS hire a caddy. Something about the game and the day is lost when driving or riding a cart...

[mstrymxer]

here in the south it is way to hilly to walk 18 consistently

[dougr188]

Carts are not all bad. If used properly I don't think that they effect play too much. I'm partial to carts because I have physical disabilities and it makes the game accessible to me. Just my opinion but categorizing players into "real" and I'll assume "not real" golfers is rather harsh.

[will1994]

[quote name='dougr188' timestamp='1311022091' post='3402078']
Carts are not all bad. If used properly I don't think that they effect play too much. I'm partial to carts because I have physical disabilities and it makes the game accessible to me. Just my opinion but categorizing players into "real" and I'll assume "not real" golfers is rather harsh.
[/quote]

I can sympathize for someone in your situation but most of the individuals who take carts are perfectly healthy and should walk.

I apologize for a rant but sometimes I can't help but shake my head

[NWnewguy]

I wouldn't want to deny someone the joy of playing by not allowing carts at all. But I agree, that walking is better for you and usually better for your game. Out here Chambers Bay doesn't allow carts, unless you have a reason, ie handicapped etc.. The other thing is that I have very rarely not had the club I wanted to use with me on or around the green when walking. I am a big fan of the push carts though (Clicgear, Sun Mountain). I generally prefer to walk, although when it rains, I wouldn't mind having the roof over my head.

[jswaykos]

I think walking is the only way to get a true feel for a course's layout. Sure, you can ride and have a perfectly enjoyable round of golf, but walking gives you a better appreciation for subtleties in elevation change, fairway conditions, etc. If at all possible, I prefer walking to riding. When I ride I tend to not focus as much and almost always play worse.

[Kento]

I have my own golf cart and I am as real of a golfer as anyone else. I work 6-7 days a week and I am usually home by about 6pm. With a cart I am able to cruise out of my garage and get a lot more golf in than if i was walking. I like to exercise but I prefer to do it at the gym. When I play on busy days and the course is slow I choose to walk. In tournaments I walk. It's a personal choice and I don't think the use of a cart defines whether or not a person is a real golfer or a fake one. Just my opinion.

[smartpnoi]

I prefer to walk. Unless the course is just a horrendous design (there is a public muni that I sometimes play where it's about 300 or so yards between a green and the next tee), I feel people should walk, just because it does give you exercise. I don't hate carts though, especially if they speed up play, but what I do hate is the abuse of carts on a course (i.e. carts on fringe or on tee boxes).

[tElihu]

Carts are not evil. It's the denial of walking that's evil.

[sgniwder99]

I was back home visiting my family last week, and played the course that used to be my high school team's home course one day. I went into the pro shop and told the guy I wanted to walk 18, and he looked at me like I was crazy. "Have you ever been here before?" he asked skeptically. I told him I used to play there every day about 15 years ago, and he said, "a cart's only $6 more. You sure you don't want one? No one really walks here." I told him I'd be fine, and played my 18. At one point during the round I let a single on a cart play through, and as he drove by he gave me the "are you nuts?" look as well, and asked me why in the world I was walking.

This is a somewhat hilly course, but it's not a death march. And I seem to remember a lot of people walking it when I was a teenager. I was pretty surprised to get all of that. I don't have anything against anyone using a cart, but it did make me wonder whether people are using them more than they used to.

[raynorfan1]

My ideal world is walking with a caddy. Next, I'm happy to carry my own bag. But I do take carts in a few circumstances:

1) On a 'resort' course that's brutally slow. It gives me somewhere to sit while I wait on the tee. If I'm going to suffer through a six hour round, I'd prefer to sit in the shade of a cart than stand on a hot scrap of cart path.

2) On a 'resort' course that's empty. A few times on vacation I've been the only guy on the course, and with a cart, I can squeeze out 18 holes in less than 2 hours as a single - and my wife doesn't even notice I've gone.

3) If there is a strong possibility of t-storms; if I'm going to need to beat feet back to the clubhouse, I'd just as soon not have to walk two miles to get there.

[J-Rod11]

I always play with a cart. I'm sure there will be rounds when I walk, and I've got nothing to gripe about, I'm certainly in the shape to do it. But for me, golf is about fun and relaxation, not exercise. I get my exercise from running, swimming, and lifting weights several times a week.

I also know a couple of scratch golfers who always play with a cart (with the exception of tournaments) . . . is being a scratch golfer "real enough"?

[mac94]

Uhh, why do you even care what other people do?

[Greenie]

When I played golf today it was in the mid 90's and humid. The course I played is difficult to walk. There is no way I would have played it and walked now at 51 under those conditions.
I would never walk it period.
I still remember the one time I walked it over twenty years ago. My friends and I came in after 18 whipped. The check in guy was laughing at us. He said no one walks this course. He said adding in the walking distance between holes it was 10 1/4 miles if you hit the ball straight. I said then I must have walked 10 3/4 miles because I didn't hit the ball straight. Some things you never forget.
I love to walk a golf course. It just doesn't happen that much for me anymore. All my playing partners have some kind of leg, foot, or knee problems. I walk alot by myself when they wind things down in the late fall and I still play.
I would never judge anyone if they choose to ride or walk.

[Sean2]

I'm 56 and walked all the time...until I had a heart attack. I just received the okay to play golf, but for now I have to take a cart. Without the cart I couldn't play at all. I for one am glad there are carts (but I look forward to walking again).

[rufus mangler]

I don't mind carts. It's the PATHS that drive me nuts. I don't think pavement that's in play should be part of the game.

[ABT]

[quote name='Kento' timestamp='1311022962' post='3402119']
I have my own golf cart and I am as real of a golfer as anyone else. I work 6-7 days a week and I am usually home by about 6pm. With a cart I am able to cruise out of my garage and get a lot more golf in than if i was walking. I like to exercise but I prefer to do it at the gym. When I play on busy days and the course is slow I choose to walk. In tournaments I walk. It's a personal choice and I don't think the use of a cart defines whether or not a person is a real golfer or a fake one. Just my opinion.


[/quote]

+1

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

I'll bet the guys who sell golf carts don't much like caddies, either. I much prefer hoofing it on my own to either one.

[bubbagump12]

as a person who works grounds at my local golf course i have noticed the best players and true golfers don't take carts and they start they're days at he same time i do which is at 5Am. But i dont mind walking or riding as long as its not the middle of the day when its 90+

[kiteman]

none of the places i play have caddies, for starters. secondly, it's 105 here in dallas for about 3 months out of the year. i would not play golf if i had to walk in that heat.

i don't get the big deal...honestly i don't have quite the patience for golf as a lot of golfers, so the only way i enjoy it typically is driving a cart, drinking a beer, and chatting with others while i play. it would be weird to me if "my kind" were not allowed to play the sport anymore.

[BP5168]

I'm in Kiteman's country. It's 105 here. I am taking a cart if available if it's that hot.

However, I started walking when it's a little nicer weather. I agree, you do not get a full golfing experience unless you walk it. My most memorable round of golf, and my best scoring round of golf came one brisk morning when it was 60 degrees when I took to the course. The wind, grass, everything smelled "better" that day when walking. You actually notice things besides the beer gal, etc. It was awesome. As soon as it cools down my big butt is walking again.

[knickerbocker]

I do both...on courses where I can walk, I will walk if one of the following is true:

1) I am playing by myself
2) Someone else in my group is walking too
3) The course is walkable
4) I am just playing 18

I will take a cart if:

1) Course included cart or course is not walkable
2) Everyone else is riding
3) Its too damn hot (above 90)
4) I am playing 36 that day

[ChipDriver]

[quote name='will1994' timestamp='1311020905' post='3402008']
Before I start, I apologize if this topic has been beaten into the ground before



I am a caddie and work in the pro shop at a private club in an affluent summer resort.

As a caddie waiting for loops there are several things you notice....

1. 80%+ of all total golfers take carts

2. 99.9% of women take carts

3.Real golfers walk and take caddies.


I don't know if its just me but carts make me sick and should be removed from the game of golf.



Does anyone else really dislike carts in general?-
[/quote]

If carts and caddies were the same price or even comparable, you'd get more loops. At our courses we offer caddies:

Walk with your own bag - no caddie: "Free"
Cart fee: About $30

Forecaddie: $30 + tip (recommended minimum $30) =$60
2 Bag caddie: $60 + tip (recommended $45) = $105
Sing bag caddie: $90 + tip (recommended $50) = $140

You can go higher on the tips - but you get my drift.

Free/$30 in the best case VS $140+ in the worst case....and that's not even for "good" golfers. For $30 a round (cart) I can shoot at 95 4 times


The caddie game is elite - at least here on the east coast.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

[quote name='ChipDriver' timestamp='1311250580' post='3410326']The caddie game is elite - at least here on the east coast.
[/quote]

Paying someone to provide individual, personal service to yourself for 4+ hours is expensive any way you look at it. Either you pay a fee for it, you tip for it, it's bundled into your green fee or you're subsidizing it through your club or otherwise. There's no way around 4+ hours of someone's time being worth a fair bit of money, especially if it's someone skilled enough to be worth paying for in the first place.

By definition it depends on the golfer being someone for whom X dollars is a trivial added expense and the caddie being someone for whom X dollars is worth working their butt off in the hot sun for half a day. Such a golfer is the very definition of "elite" in the socio-economic sense.

[mozgolf]

[quote name='ChipDriver' timestamp='1311250580' post='3410326']
[quote name='will1994' timestamp='1311020905' post='3402008']
Before I start, I apologize if this topic has been beaten into the ground before



I am a caddie and work in the pro shop at a private club in an affluent summer resort.

As a caddie waiting for loops there are several things you notice....

1. 80%+ of all total golfers take carts

2. 99.9% of women take carts

3.Real golfers walk and take caddies.


I don't know if its just me but carts make me sick and should be removed from the game of golf.



Does anyone else really dislike carts in general?-
[/quote]

If carts and caddies were the same price or even comparable, you'd get more loops. At our courses we offer caddies:

Walk with your own bag - no caddie: "Free"
Cart fee: About $30

Forecaddie: $30 + tip (recommended minimum $30) =$60
2 Bag caddie: $60 + tip (recommended $45) = $105
Sing bag caddie: $90 + tip (recommended $50) = $140

You can go higher on the tips - but you get my drift.

Free/$30 in the best case VS $140+ in the worst case....and that's not even for "good" golfers. For $30 a round (cart) I can shoot at 95 4 times


The caddie game is elite - at least here on the east coast.
[/quote]

Good post- I certainly think there is no better way of playing than with a caddy. But as stated some resort courses its not really practical due to the huge distances from one green to the next tee.

I am lucky living in Africa using caddies is pretty commonplace and very affordable- About $6-7 a nine, $12-$15 for 18.

I guess cost is the real issue in any developed country where the cost of living and everything is at least based off highish mimimum wages- $60-140 is a lot of coin if you are playing a couple or three times a week.

Much as I like using a caddy and am not that fond of carts, I could see the $30 vs $60+ a round would win out every time. Or would go back to my old push cart

[doubleBZee]

I walk 90% of the time. But it is 98 outside and humidity is up there. You have to be plain stupid to walk out here in this stiff.

[J13]

Ideally I like to walk unless I'm in a time crunch or it's extremely hot like 95+ with crazy humidity Best way to go about it is with a caddy but that can add on to an already expensive day hitting a white golf ball. Even though i'm 30 years old I'm getting closer and closer to get a push cart. My knee's bother me after I walk sometimes and it's getting to be not worth holding up the ego trip that is being a human muel for my golf bag. In Europe everyone and their mom has a push cart wish it wouldn't be so taboo here.