Do You Own Your Own Golf Cart?

[NM Golf]

Originally Posted by teamroper60

Gonna disagree with those figures..   6V golf cart batteries are about $100 apiece, so I don't get the $1800 there.   Most will last 5-6 years if they are properly maintained (water kept to the proper level, not letting them run down to low before recharge and cleaned monthly).   The cost to charge is going to be dependent upon your electric rates (obviously) but we aren't spending anywhere near $100/month to charge ours.

I agree, we just changed out all the batteries on the carts at my course, they were $100 a piece and you need 8 of them, at least for a Club Car so that's $800 if my powers of addition are working correctly. Our carts can go 36 a day pretty easy, some even go 54. Our carts were almost 6 years old before we had to change the batteries out, but our DIrector of Golf is adamant about carts being maintained and so water levels and everything else is checked once a week. As far as electricity goes I have no idea but $100 a month seems a bit high.

We also have gas carts, they almost all go 36-54 holes a day because they are always the first carts rented in the morning and the last rented in the evening. They only get gassed up once a week, so the gas mileage is freakish.

As far as the OP's original question goes, I do not personally own a cart, but I do have a favorite cart that I use at my course every time I ride. It has been turned up to go as fast as possible so they don't rent it to the general public too often, they use it to pick up pins in the afternoon and run errands on the course during the day.

[Mattplusness]

Never saw the need for one TBH. A fair share of courses here a cart is included in the price of the green fee.

[Lost-Ball]

Originally Posted by Mattplusness

Never saw the need for one TBH. A fair share of courses here a cart is included in the price of the green fee.

yes for double the amount. like i said before, i could either pay $30 for their cart and green fee or i could have my own cart and just pay $12-15 for the green fee.

[BuckeyeNut]

I'd pass on the golf cart and go for a Challenger with the 392HEMI.

that's just me........thinkin' out loud....

I'm biased though.......

I'd like a 392.............but I make do with just this.  Yea...I'm slumming. Hehe

[Lost-Ball]

I'd pass on the golf cart and go for a Challenger with the 392HEMI. [URL=http://cdn.thesandtrap.com/1/15/15778b36_thumbnail.jpeg][IMG]http://cdn.thesandtrap.com/1/15/300x199px-LL-15778b36_thumbnail.jpeg[/IMG][/URL] that's just me........thinkin' out loud.... I'm biased though....... [URL=http://cdn.thesandtrap.com/a/a8/a8bf48ad_IMG_3534.jpeg][IMG]http://cdn.thesandtrap.com/a/a8/640x480px-LL-a8bf48ad_IMG_3534.jpeg[/IMG][/URL] I'd like a 392.............but I make do with just this.  Yea...I'm slumming. Hehe

[IMG]http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o267/lancerontrack/IMAG0228.jpg[/IMG] Yea I've already got that department covered

[Wadess]

You will definitely want to call the courses you play.  My brother-in-law restored an old cart with hopes of saving like you.  Unfortunately, he found out that most of the courses here in north Alabama charge "trail fees" for using your own cart that make the savings per round minimal at best.

[Loose Cannon]

Owning or renting a cart boils down to the mathmatics.  In my case, I've owned my own cart for the past 5 years.  Our course has cart storage sheds... with a waiting list.  It takes right at 50 rounds/year to break even with the cost of owning vs. renting.  I play a tad over 100 rounds/year and the cost of cart storage, electricity, and trail fee is half of what it would cost me to rent a cart for all of those rounds.  But... I play one course 99.9% of the time.  I don't own a trailer and have never hauled the cart anywhere off my home course.

In our region, about 20 courses went together and have a "reciprocal card program".  With our paid membership, each year, we get a card that allows us to play any one of the reciprocating courses for $20... with cart.  That's a heck of a deal and allows us to "sniff out" some of the other courses for minimal cost.

Few in our area own their own carts and haul them from course to course.  Most courses in the area will charge a trail fee.  By the time you load up... use more fuel hauling to another location... and pay their trail fee you're about as well off just paying cart rental.

Owning a cart and playing my home course all the time is really convenient.  Our cart is equipped with a winter cover with lift off doors.  And, we have a heater.  We can hop in any time of year and play.  We can leave clubs/balls/water bottles/shoes... all kinds of "junk" in the cart shed and it's there each time we play.

If you do decide to purchase a cart, find a dealer who services what he sells.  We have a member who sells a particular brand of cart.  If you buy from him, he'll bust his behind to take care of you if anything happens.  If you purchase from somewhere else, he cantankerous enough to tell you he won't touch it and to take it back where you bought it.  We bought our cart used and it's been virtually trouble free.  When we purchased it, we had new batteries installed.  That was a $600 expense, but we can play 36 with no problem.

Sorry... you'll find I'm a little long winded.  Didn't mean to go on and on like that.  You can tell, though, I love having my own cart.

[GaijinGolfer]

When the day comes that I can afford to belong to a country club, Id have my own cart and store it at the country club.  Especially if you play a lot, having your own cart can pay for itself in the long run.

Right now I play mostly munis here in Columbus and honestly, if I werent getting married I may consider getting my own cart because the carts they have here arent all that nice.  They all EZ-Gos and gas-powered.  When I lived in Wisconsin most of the courses had electric Yamaha carts which were A LOT nicer.

If I told my fiance that I wanted to spend $2,000-$3,000 on a golf cart she'd probably kill me or make me sell my clubs on Ebay though...LOL.

[NM Golf]

Like a lot of other people have pointed out, most places either don't allow personal carts or if they do charge a hefty trail fee. You have to realize the course makes a lot if its money from carts and range balls.

I have a cart that I don't have to charge or put gas in, they take it just about everywhere and there is no trail fee..

Plus, I have lost 35 lbs this year using it!

[MexBurtReynolds]

Friend of mine got a DUI on a golf cart in Flowood, MS.  It can happen.

[meenman]

Originally Posted by MexBurtReynolds

Friend of mine got a DUI on a golf cart in Flowood, MS.  It can happen.

We had a guy get a ticket for running a stop sign in his. That's what the gated community gets for asking the cops to come in.