Is Walking Better Than Using a Golf Cart?

[Aggie25]

Walking would definitely have a negative effect on my score - add 20 strokes, easily. Not only from being physically exhausted from walking all over the place (it's pretty hilly, slope is 138), but also because walking would give me more time to brood and think about a bad shot. In a cart - drive up to your ball, hit it quickly, and don't think about the bad shot you just made. Not to mention the bonus of being able to drive around and get a breeze in your face when it's 95 degrees and incredibly muggy.

Weather is the biggest factor for me. I love to walk but the Texas heat doesn't cooperate this time of year. The winter and spring is great to walk though.

I focus better while walking but I also do better after a bad shot when I'm able to "walk it off." I brood for the first half of the walk but then I settle in and get back to business. One important issue that hasn't been mentioned is that good shoes make a big difference. If you're going to walk, put some extra $$ into some decent shoes. Your feet won't get tired nearly as fast.

[thementhol]

I like to walk personaly.
I ride on a hilly course 2 months ago, I absolutely hate it because all the cart path rules. I need to find a place to park and take a few clubs run to the ball and run back to get the cart. It only made me feel slow ..

[redi630]

I have enjoyed walking more this year than in years past.

[Shindig]

I prefer to walk. I play munis in LA, there's always a wait, so why not get the extra exercise? If I were playing where everyone - or at least the groups ahead of me - were using the carts intelligently, I'd use a cart too. If someone plays with a cart and does so intelligently, it's hard to keep up on foot. Or at least I imagine so.

Most people are slower in carts because they're morons. They don't know where to leave the cart, they drive to each other's balls and watch each other hit, they don't take a few clubs, they put their club back in the cart before driving off (when they could use the ride to clean the club, then throw the club in when they get out their next one), etc.

And both carts park their cars near the one ball, then they drive sideways 10 yards to the next ball before the guy in the other cart even starts thinking about what club to use.

The USGA had a "walking" campaign a few years ago. I got my bag tag and everything. I think you can still get them.

That campaign is still good. I just got my renewal notice and the handbook had the info. I can post it if no one else has it handy.

[nevets88]

The majority use of carts here is a cultural thing, an extension of our car society and a product of our high standard of living. How many times have you seen someone take an elevator 1 floor or drive 10 minutes in the lot only to get 1 or 2 blocks closer?

I totally agree that carts should be made available to anyone who wants them and I was slightly leaning for Casey Martin to use a cart, but I can't stand the you must take the cart rule.

But even if you are allowed to walk anywhere, you'll be surrounded by carts and will have problems keeping up in some cases.

Given the higher cost of energy nowadays and probably to come, I wonder if cart costs has shot up recently? I'd bet, if cart prices say, doubled, that might bring more "walkers" to the game.

[Fourputt]

Forecast is for 100° today... With a 1:30 tee time, you can bet I'm riding.... either in a cart to play or in an ambulance after I collapse from sunstroke.

[golfchief]

Seems the slow players with a cart are the same people who drive their cars five miles per hour under the speed limit in the left lane. will block a lane in the parking lot for ten minutes to park two spaces closer.
I played Saturday with a guy and he was stuned it only took 2hr and 10 min. for 18 holes with a cart, would have been done sooner if we didn't have people walking the last three holes. We started on the front with no one in front of us and caught the nine holers on the back. I told him how we would play quick and after he hit I told him he could clean the clubs and put them back in the back while I was hitting and I'd do the same while he was hitting.
driving to our balls I told him to watch for the yardage markers and start getting his yardage for his next shot. He had it down after four holes and said he didn't feel rushed and even was complaing about the wait the last three holes.

[sonicblue]

I prefer to walk, too. However, many courses near me are just not built for it. 50-75 yards between tee boxes (one course has, I swear, a 1/2 mile trek between 9th and 10th). Contrast that to pro tournaments, wher players routinely walk over just a small hill off one green to the next tee. It can be pretty tiring.

In general, without question, 90% of golfers out there have no idea how to use a cart, so I can walk behind them and keep up easily. By myself or with my dad, i.e., people who know how to be efficient with them, I could torch a course using a cart, and it's nice if we have the oppportunity and are a little pressed for time.

[golfchief]

Even the pros are shuttled from greens to the next tee if its a long distance.

[dr_sean]

Hi everyone,

i am a big proponent of walking; of course, i'm a young guy, so that comes with the territory i guess. but i'm with you hansmixer. all good points you made :)

[DDBowdoin]

I definately walk whenever I can. I can't stand it when courses require you to ride. It's better business for them but I just can't enjoy myself. If I take a cart its usually with friends who aren't as dedicated to the game and it automatically become a practice session.

If I am having a bad day I really enjoy walking because it allows me to collect myself between shots. When I am in a cart and I hit a bad shot all of sudden I'm at the ball and I really haven't had the time to cool off. Thats just my two cents

[hjimzaf]

Back in 2005 I was involved in a car accident and I hurt my back and required surgery. I had to go through a lot of physical therapy and couldn't swing a golf club for over a year. I still can't walk 18 holes pain free so I usually ride.

[Tim S]

I agree that most people are slow in carts because they are morons. Put two morons in a cart and the moron quotient seems to quadruple. Cart management is something that should be demanded to get your cart license, just like green management and care should be required to set foot on a course.

On the publinx I play, there are so many people, you could be in a jet and not have a faster round...you could crawl on your belly and still have to wait on the tee.

Walking, for me, is simply more enjoyable. I like the earth, the scenery, the smells. I get enough blurry images without my glasses, so I don't need to amplify them in a cart.

If you know good cart management, can swiftly choose your clubs, then promptly make your shot, please walk. If you stop to talk while walking down the fairway, drop a head cover you need to return 500 yards to retrieve, leave your bag on the wrong side of the greens, and play a zigzag game of bumper golf from tree-to-tree, please ride in a cart. :)

TS

[Jeepthrills]

I prefer to walk, but am not an anti-cart guy. On vacation or at some of the nicer courses I like to ride. It's more relaxing.

[MGP]

I prefer to walk, but am not an anti-cart guy. On vacation or at some of the nicer courses I like to ride. It's more relaxing.

Same here. I will walk whenever I can and weather/course conditions permits. I'll ride if that makes sense too.

I've seen about an equal number of idiots on the golf course whether in carts or walking.

[lamebums]

I saw the worst of both today - three guys and bags on one cart. The guy must've picked up his buddies on the 10th tee while the starter was on the 1st tee, at the other end of the parking lot. Ugh. Slow . One guy drives and the other two lumber along... (Two bags in the back and one in the front seat). After about six holes of this the other two guys started riding on the back of the cart, as well... I told the ranger but he didn't do anything about it. Ugh. Three hours for 9 holes. I'd bet the other guys didn't pay, either.

[mybloodinvt]

it truly heartens me to see all these walkers here. sometimes, i get the impression that without golf carts there would be alot fewer people playing golf. i am a walker and i hope i will always be walker as long as i play. i have ridden exactly twice in the last 18 months. i can play 18 in 3 hours walking by myself and my home course is very, very hilly. because i walk, when i get to my ball, i know my yardage, my lie, and i know usually know which club i am going to hit. i can pretty much step up and hit. walk on.

[lamebums]

it truly heartens me to see all these walkers here. sometimes, i get the impression that without golf carts there would be alot fewer people playing golf. i am a walker and i hope i will always be walker as long as i play. i have ridden exactly twice in the last 18 months. i can play 18 in 3 hours walking by myself and my home course is very, very hilly. because i walk, when i get to my ball, i know my yardage, my lie, and i know usually know which club i am going to hit. i can pretty much step up and hit. walk on.

I'd walk if I was in better shape - not only for the exercise but also since it's golf as it was meant to be played (even though the golf cart has become part of the "duffer's culture" - if that phrase makes any sense). Unfortunately, people who care about golf enough to join a forum are much more serious about the game - the vast majority of the 25-odd million duffers out there probably couldn't imagine playing a round without a six pack of beer and a golf cart.

So, yeah, if there were no golf carts, that many fewer people would play. It's just not the people that really matter to those of us on forums. (Well, not directly at least - although it is their money that keeps most golf courses running)