Golf Is a Walking Game:
Leave the Carts Behind

By Lynn Zmistowski
Rockiesgolf.com Staff Writer

July 16, 1999

There are three basic games played within the game we all call golf. There is golf, there is cart-golf, and there is professional golf. Here is my explanation of the three games.

Golf is a game where an individual goes to a golf course, pays a green fee (unless he is a member of the course he goes to), he hits a few practice balls, and he joins three others on the first tee. The four of them walk down the fairways and play golf. The golfers are either carrying their clubs or pulling them on a pull cart. They play the round of golf in 4 hours. They play by the USGA rules of golf for the entire round. They walk between each of their shots, and from hole to hole. They generally walk a total of 4 to 5 miles carrying or pulling their clubs.

At the end of a round of golf, the golfer will feel somewhat tired from the long walk and will have burned around 500 calories (equivalent to jogging 4 miles). Upon completion of the round, the golfers will walk into the clubhouse and turn in their score in the computer provided for the calculation of handicaps. End of round of golf.

Cart-golf is a similar game to golf except you don’t have to be in good physical condition. You actually do many of the same things the golfer does, but instead of only paying green fees, you also pay for a cart to carry you to your ball. You drive right up to where you have hit your ball, get out of the cart, hit the ball, and get back in the cart. Generally you can do this whole process without taking more than 10 steps.

Cart-golf takes no endurance nor do you burn any calories. At cart golf you do have a score to turn in because you have also actually used a club to hit a golf ball from a teeing ground to a hole. However, you, the cart-golfer, can’t play golf. You can’t walk and play 18 holes of golf in 4 hours. You can’t make it up and down the hills, fairways, between holes, etc. You have to ride a cart.

Riding a cart to play golf makes as much sense as a jogger accepting a ride in a car. Cart golf is perfectly fine for the handicapped golfer and is a good invention that was intended for that purpose. Golfers with bad backs who could no longer carry their clubs or pull them in a cart, older golfers that have developed many aches and pains, golfers with bad hearts, etc.

But what happened is the perfectly healthy golfer started jumping on the golf-cart and he liked it. Thus, we have an enormous use of the cart now (and we have just about everyone overweight).

Professional golf is golf with a caddie. The professional golfer is at the course for 8 hours or more to be at the level he is at. He arrives early and has a diligent warm-up process, he then plays 18 holes walking with a caddie. This is followed by another one to three hours on the practice range (it takes this kind of practice to play at the level of the professional golfer). In other words, the professional-golfer is also in very good condition.

The Cart. Where Did it Come From and Why?

The riding golf cart was a good idea (at first). That is because when a person could not walk and play golf anymore due to heart condition, bad backs, physical handicaps (such as Martin), etc., the golf cart was an avenue to still play the game of golf (not the sport of golf).

At the same time golf started growing, so did the use of the golf cart. It has got so the cart is THE WAY TO PLAY GOLF FOR THE ELITE now. Up-scale clubs are requiring you to pay for a cart if you wish to play on their course. Carts are required by tournaments (we are told for "speed of play") NEVER, in the history of man, has a tournament field of 96 players or more played on a cart in a tournament in less than 4 hours.

The game of golf requires 4 hours to be played, whether you are walking or riding. Simple fact. Cart has absolutely nothing to do with speed of play. Golf has indeed grown because of the riding cart. Many of the golfers that started in the last 10 years have never walked 18 holes. To them, riding a cart to play golf is how golf is played.

The Cart will be the Downfall of Golf

Once the PGA and LPGA start allowing carts, golf will be thought of like bowling or chess. Our young, potential golfers will turn to a other sports instead of the new game called cart-golf. Cart golf is a sissy game. Obviously if you have a heart condition, bad back or physical handicap, the cart has been very good. But for the rest of you lazy bums, it is the downfall of golf.

There is not one sport in existence that American’s do now as they grow older. Yes, we have the exceptions of those who are 80 and walk and carry to play golf, or those who are 80 that jog 20 miles/week, or those who are 80 that play softball, etc.

But the general public, the guy who loves to watch professional sports on TV, the guy who does no exercise and is 50 pounds overweight, and is totally out of shape, that is the guy that thinks he is playing a sport by playing cart-golf. He is not...he is doing nothing more than the jogger that takes a ride.

THE CURE for this is simple: play golf (not cart-golf). Golf is a fantastic game, you get good exercise that will result in you sleeping good at night and you will be in good physical condition and probably be a few pounds lighter. Golf is still a pretty easy game to play, even when you walk. You can do it, you should do it, do it!!!

THE PROBLEM is the profit that the clubs want from the added revenue of the cart. You see, some smart guy thought of the idea of carts for everyone, carts can be profitable to the club pro, carts can be profitable to the cart manufacturer, the cart can suck a few more bucks out of people. And guess what the biggest problem is, if you took the cart away tomorrow, the courses would be empty. 50 percent of the women wouldn’t play for sure, and 50 percent of the men wouldn’t play for sure. Boy, that is a scary thought.

THE SOLUTION is obvious...let the walkers walk. Don’t get so carried away; you have nothing to worry about. You guys running high-end golf factories don’t have to require carts to keep speed of play up. It takes 4 hours to walk and carry the course, it is as simple as that. (You could make a rule, if walkers fail to play the front in 2 hours, they will be required to take a cart on the back nine and skip holes that have become open between them and the group ahead).

Let the golfers golf. If you just let those of us who love to play golf the way it is supposed to be played, we can all live happily ever after. And you don’t have to charge walkers for carts they don’t use. If they don’t use the cart, they aren’t the reason for the cart paths, the cart barns, the cart employees, the electricity, the gas, the repairs, the maintenance, so don’t charge them for the cart they don’t use. How many will walk anyway, now...not that many. But for those who wish to "play the game," let them play the game.