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Slow Play Suggestions

Yea, walking in Florida is pretty much impossible. We walked 9 on a course and it was like walking 18+.

One thing I want to say to the comments to the effect of, "you shouldn't be looking forward to getting your round over, you should enjoy it." I agree, it's just that I like to actually play golf when I go. I don't like to sit around a teebox. That's not golf.
 
In places like JB described, that you half a 1/2 mile from one hole to the next tee box... it's just not possible to walk it... if it's even just 6 holes that have that space... you got an extra 3 miles of walking, and at a walking pace, that will def. add up!! Karts are a must have in certain places, but other places walking or cart is fine...
 
I don’t live in Florida but I know that many of the courses there are built into communities and walking would just not be possible or practical. There is just too much ground to cover between holes so I get that.

The only comment I have about your perspective being based on the group ahead is that if the traffic is sort of light on the course there may well be a gap ahead of you that was there right from the beginning of the round. I frankly do not feel compelled when that happens to catch up to a group that may well be a whole hole or more ahead of me especially if I am walking and they are in carts. However if someone wants to jump into that gap and knows how to do it correctly (instead of just jumping over you without as much as a word and blasting off in their carts) then I don’t have a problem with that. If they say nothing and just jump you neither they nor you know what the heck is happening. Are they being pushed? Do they think you are playing slow? Nobody has any idea. In a recent thread I talked about that exact incident and jumping us without even a word caused a whole string of ramifications for me, for them, for the groups behind, for course management for everybody. Unfortunately I guess course management did not have a starter available for the first hole that day so they had no idea what was going on either and handled the whole thing badly.

As for carts themselves while I know there are places where they are necessary and people for whom carts are necessary I would blow them up for everybody else. The courses love them and would like to see everybody in a cart. However as a result I now see teenagers in carts. I see healthy strapping twenty-somethings in carts. I see people that could easily walk the course in carts. I am fifty-eight with a touchy back so carrying is a little rough for me especially on our billygoat course. The number of times I am stopped by people asking if my push cart is motorized is just ridiculous. People look at my grayness and assume that I would have to be crazy to actually be the power behind the cart. It must have a motor, right?

I am not sure what I will do when the day comes when I cannot walk the course. Golf means something different to all of us. Frankly getting out of a cart, hitting the ball and climbing back in for a ride is not golf to me.
 
jnug said:
The only comment I have about your perspective being based on the group ahead is that if the traffic is sort of light on the course there may well be a gap ahead of you that was there right from the beginning of the round. I frankly do not feel compelled when that happens to catch up to a group that may well be a whole hole or more ahead of me especially if I am walking and they are in carts.

As for carts themselves while I know there are places where they are necessary and people for whom carts are necessary I would blow them up for everybody else. The courses love them and would like to see everybody in a cart. However as a result I now see teenagers in carts. I see healthy strapping twenty-somethings in carts. I see people that could easily walk the course in carts. I am fifty-eight with a touchy back so carrying is a little rough for me especially on our billygoat course. The number of times I am stopped by people asking if my push cart is motorized is just ridiculous. People look at my grayness and assume that I would have to be crazy to actually be the power behind the cart. It must have a motor, right?
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Nor should you have to rush, but letting faster people play through properly is the right thing to do, whether they are walking or riding. I always want people to do the proper thing and pass the right way, but I would be lying if I said I have not done it before. Heck, I did it just two weeks ago. I played behind a group of golfers that were painfully slow and had two open holes in front them. Each shot we were waiting and we caught them before they left every tee box. They never said a word. I asked if we could play through after the 7th hole and he did not even respond, just walked away. Frankly, I just skipped over them. They never saw me again and were 4 holes behind when we finished.

This whole notion that golf has to be about walking is different for different areas of the country and where you were brought up. Sorry, but the fact is, you can ride a bike to work or walk to work, and it was done that way in teh beginning, but I dont do it now, nor do most. Is it the same as golf? Of course not, but it is another thing that has evolved into making the game more enjoyable for more people. Just because you like to walk, does not mean everybody has to or should.

Perfectly healthy teenagers and golfers have rights to a cart just as you do to walk at some courses. Just like perfectly healthy golfers can stay perfectly healthy, or they dont have to by their own choice.
 
Actually you did it the right way JB. You had already asked once and had been ignored. So, I don’t see how you would have been responsible for asking a second time. In my case the point is if they had even asked once or said anything at all I would have known if they thought we were playing slowly (which as it turns out they did although we were not) and I would have known if they were being pushed from behind(which I still to this day do not know).

I still think the way courses have pushed the idea of the motorized cart has lead to more people riding the course that easily could and should walk the course. Lets face it. We should not kid ourselves here. The courses love it, they prefer it and they push it. While I completely buy into the way some course design has forced the issue, courses that were designed that way (in and amongst the community) were designed that way because it made it easier for real estate developers to sell more real estate, not to make golf more accessible. They could care less. The only linkage to some sort of social consciousness or any empathy for the golfing community generally is that many of these courses so designed are built in and around retirement based economies or communities where there is something of a natural link between the age and health of a goodly number of the golfers and the use of a motorized cart. On the other hand, a good many of the folks that cart could use the exercise. We see report after report about the health of the nation in general going downhill and report after report about the rising levels of obesity in young people particularly and yet turn a blind eye to many of them carting around the golf course. What, we don’t think those two dynamics are joined at the hip?

In addition, I see nothing about the golf cart that suggests it is a byproduct of the evolution of golf as a game or a sport. If that were the case the PGA tour would have adopted carts. They have not because at that level of the game carting is an aberration that can’t be tolerated. Golf courses are generally longer now but not that much longer and if we ever get to the point where a high percentage of the total population of those considered “healthy” cannot walk 2 miles over the span of 2 hours or 4 miles over 4 hours we are in much more trouble than what a round of golf can solve. The golf cart is a convenience developed for the “hobbyist golfer” that is now virtually a necessity on some courses and for some golfers on all courses. No argument from me in either case. However we cannot continue to have our cake and eat it too. If we continue to support things that result in a less healthy, less fit nation then we will pay for that in higher insurance rates and medical costs per capita and this issue which is far greater than the game of golf will continue to be more divisive and politically provocative. While golf cannot cure what ails us this inability or unwillingness to link what we do every day with where we are in a much greater sense is what continues to eat away at us, eroding our economy, our status globally and a whole host of other things that w have taken for granted for a long time now.

The question will never be whether or not perfectly healthy teenagers, young people or anybody for that matter has the right to cart or not. Clearly they do. The question is should they and should courses continue to promote carting as they do given that the percentage of “perfectly healthy” teenagers and young people is falling at an alarming rate in this country, with one of the main causes clearly that they eat more calories than they burn. That is a formula which can only have one outcome. I can’t speak to the perfectly healthy but I don’t see many foursomes of fit young people these days. I also wonder how one can be expected to arrive at a healthy respect for the ground he walks on if his feet barely touch it. There are things you will learn about playing golf and about the course that you are on if you walk it that you will never learn from riding it.
 
jnug said:
Actually you did it the right way JB. You had already asked once and had been ignored. So, I don’t see how you would have been responsible for asking a second time. In my case the point is if they had even asked once or said anything at all I would have known if they thought we were playing slowly (which as it turns out they did although we were not) and I would have known if they were being pushed from behind(which I still to this day do not know).

I still think the way courses have pushed the idea of the motorized cart has lead to more people riding the course that easily could and should walk the course. Lets face it. We should not kid ourselves here. The courses love it, they prefer it and they push it. While I completely buy into the way some course design has forced the issue, courses that were designed that way (in and amongst the community) were designed that way because it made it easier for real estate developers to sell more real estate, not to make golf more accessible. They could care less. The only linkage to some sort of social consciousness or any empathy for the golfing community generally is that many of these courses so designed are built in and around retirement based economies or communities where there is something of a natural link between the age and health of a goodly number of the golfers and the use of a motorized cart. On the other hand, a good many of the folks that cart could use the exercise. We see report after report about the health of the nation in general going downhill and report after report about the rising levels of obesity in young people particularly and yet turn a blind eye to many of them carting around the golf course. What, we don’t think those two dynamics are joined at the hip?

In addition, I see nothing about the golf cart that suggests it is a byproduct of the evolution of golf as a game or a sport. If that were the case the PGA tour would have adopted carts. They have not because at that level of the game carting is an aberration that can’t be tolerated. Golf courses are generally longer now but not that much longer and if we ever get to the point where a high percentage of the total population of those considered “healthy” cannot walk 2 miles over the span of 2 hours or 4 miles over 4 hours we are in much more trouble than what a round of golf can solve. The golf cart is a convenience developed for the “hobbyist golfer” that is now virtually a necessity on some courses and for some golfers on all courses. No argument from me in either case. However we cannot continue to have our cake and eat it too. If we continue to support things that result in a less healthy, less fit nation then we will pay for that in higher insurance rates and medical costs per capita and this issue which is far greater than the game of golf will continue to be more divisive and politically provocative. While golf cannot cure what ails us this inability or unwillingness to link what we do every day with where we are in a much greater sense is what continues to eat away at us, eroding our economy, our status globally and a whole host of other things that w have taken for granted for a long time now.

The question will never be whether or not perfectly healthy teenagers, young people or anybody for that matter has the right to cart or not. Clearly they do. The question is should they and should courses continue to promote carting as they do given that the percentage of “perfectly healthy” teenagers and young people is falling at an alarming rate in this country, with one of the main causes clearly that they eat more calories than they burn. That is a formula which can only have one outcome. I can’t speak to the perfectly healthy but I don’t see many foursomes of fit young people these days. I also wonder how one can be expected to arrive at a healthy respect for the ground he walks on if his feet barely touch it. There are things you will learn about playing golf and about the course that you are on if you walk it that you will never learn from riding it.
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The bold that I did I will respond to to make it easier.

1. Why? Because its your opinion?

2. Im guessing you have not spent a lot of time in golf communities in AZ or FL? They are NOT built around age or retirees. It is called a self contained community or golf community. The age of the person has little to do with it in many cases.

3. People constantly say "cause the pros do it". What does that have to do with anything. Should I wear pants every round in FL as well? Should I play the same clubs, play the same course lengths they do?

I mean the fact is that you like to walk courses. Many do not. Calling it an abhoration to the rules of golf is absurd in my opinion.
 
I like to walk at times, but sometimes I like to take a cart. To say that courses are under some sort of moral obligation to discourage cart use is a bit over-the-top.
 
hawk308 said:
I like to walk at times, but sometimes I like to take a cart. To say that courses are under some sort of moral obligation to discourage cart use is a bit over-the-top.
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Agreed. I grew up playing basketball and we had a full court right across the street. The pros play on a full court and at times so did I. Yet when i wanted to go play, I do not think I should have been told I had to play on a full court. The half court was the same game for me.
 
Well.........can't speak for anyone else, but I run 20+ miles a week and walking the course is pretty far from strenuous for me.

However, I play golf because I want to hit the ball and try to get the ball into the cup with as few strokes as possible. To me, that's golf. If I wanted a walk in the park, then I'd go do that.

Trying to tie that into what the pros do doesn't make sense either. The pro's are playing a game for the entertainment of the viewers. There are folks who bought tickets to go out there and see them. You think you're gonna see much if they're zipping by you in carts? Are you going to be able to follow them like that? How would that look on TV if they pop out, hit a ball, jump in a cart?

Oh, I agree that people probably should be getting more exercise than are, but you should be yelling at them for eating that 1500 calorie burger rather than acting the cart-police. Walking a round of golf won't get anywhere near working off the damage from that burger. (And yes, I'm guessing this is quite off topic).

Either way, for many courses out here in Cali, it's not essential to have a cart. However, my friends are high handicappers and their balls tend to zig zag between the left and right trees. It helps quite a bit and lets us talk without holding up play, otherwise I'd be standing by myself, taking a nap in the fairway while I wait for them to take their 5 strokes to reach me.
 
You will have to go back a few years to find it but there was a debate within the PGA about the use of golf carts on tour and it was entirely focused on the competitive aspects of the game. I think if you read through that debate it would suggest to you that at least for them carts were considered much more an aberration than you might think. That said, my point was that there is nothing about the motorized cart that is a byproduct of the evolution of the game of golf. The length of courses is a byproduct of the evolution of the equipment and the length of players, not golf carts and if golf carts where a byproduct of the evolution of golf they would receive more consideration on tour regardless of the PR aspect of walking the course. The reason I used the PGA Tour in the post at all is because in my view there is nothing about the golf cart that is a byproduct of the evolution of the game of golf as had been suggested.

As for golf course communities I am not questioning the fact that there are golf course communities built for purposes of attracting golfers generally nor did I say that ALL golf communities are retirement communities. Are you questioning whether there are retirement communities in Florida and Arizona or are you questioning whether or not the two are mutually exclusive? I doubt you could make a strong case for either one. Clearly there are retirement communities and/or communities geared to a more elderly population in Florida and Arizona and you would knock me over with a feather if there were not some golf course communities that you would have to agree cater to an older demographic than you would find in communities generally.

Lets see in Florida there is Indian River, Amelia Island, Summer Glen, Fishhawk all touting themselves as ideal retirement communities. That said I would bet there is more golf/retirement development going on in Georgia right now than in Florida. In Arizona there are the Robson communities like Pebble Creek and clearly Robson Ranch which is very much the kind of combined retirement/golf community I am talking about.
 
Here is your exact quote!

"The only linkage to some sort of social consciousness or any empathy for the golfing community generally is that many of these courses so designed are built in and around retirement based economies or communities where there is something of a natural link between the age and health of a goodly number of the golfers and the use of a motorized cart."

Sure there are retirement areas for golf, and as you say "many". There are also hundreds of golf communities that age is not a factor. But I am sorry, your thoughts that people SHOULD ride in carts is not fair and is nothing more than an opinion that millions of golfers disagree with. You believe that people should walk. Nothing more than that.

Just like wearing pants on the PGA Tour is mandatory, and many think that is the way the game should be played because that is how it was at the beginning and still done that way on TV. Others disagree strongly! The feelings that walking makes it more of a sport or a game is ridiculous in MY OPINION. The sport of golf is swinging a golf club, hitting the ball, and getting it into the hole. Those are teh only strokes that count.

On tour they use walking for many reasons, but they also dont have to search for their ball, dont have to carry their clubs, and have galleries watching them. For amateurs, the sport of golf has evolved into the action of the game of golf and swinging a golf club and getting the ball into the hole.

Carts have opened the door for millions more to enjoy the game for different reasons and let millions more continue to enjoy the game that they love despite their aging bodies.

Nobody is asking people to not walk, yet I find it comical that walkers have a problem with people in the carts. Gee, I wonder why.

I find some opinions (not finger pointing) to be the elitest attitude that has kept people from this game for so long.
 
I give up. I guess we are going to argue now that there are not entire sections of the State of Florida where retirement living does not have significant socioeconomic impact. The next time I see a post about the driving hazards that “snowbirds” represent in the State of Florida or for that matter any data points based on the premise that there is significant socioeconomic impact in parts of the State of Florida I guess I will just point him here.

As for the PGA Tour I will repeat that I used the Tour to contend that the golf cart is not a byproduct of the evolution of the game of golf. That was it.

While this will likely turn into yet another lightning rod I should point out that one possible conclusion from your position would be that there are golfers quite capable of walking that would not golf if they could not cart. While I very well may be confronted with the opposite decision in some number of years (cannot golf if I do not cart) I would say that the opposite would be a shame if true.
 
I wouldn't have played at all this week if I would have walked. Too hot. Carts made it possible for me to play and I like to walk. Any way to get more people to play more golf is great for the game. Faster play would expand the folks interested in playing.
 
jnug said:
I give up. I guess we are going to argue now that there are not entire sections of the State of Florida where retirement living does not have significant socioeconomic impact. The next time I see a post about the driving hazards that “snowbirds” represent in the State of Florida or for that matter any data points based on the premise that there is significant socioeconomic impact in parts of the State of Florida I guess I will just point him here.

As for the PGA Tour I will repeat that I used the Tour to contend that the golf cart is not a byproduct of the evolution of the game of golf. That was it.

While this will likely turn into yet another lightning rod I should point out that one possible conclusion from your position would be that there are golfers quite capable of walking that would not golf if they could not cart. While I very well may be confronted with the opposite decision in some number of years (cannot golf if I do not cart) I would say that the opposite would be a shame if true.
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I never disagreed that there were retirement areas of FL. I disagree VERY STRONGLY that if someone is capable of walking a golf course they should. You have said on 2-3 occasions in this thread that people SHOULD walk and I ask why? Because you think it makes it more of a sport?

Im sorry, but having someone tell a new to the game golfer or high handicapper that they should not be allowed to enjoy the game because walking is simply not an option the way they play, is not fair.

And like I said, I just do not understand why golf sport is less a sport in a cart rather than walking. The way one keeps score seems to disagree. I find elitest opinions about the way some choose to play golf the reason that many have not been able to enjoy this game.
 
clam fist said:
I wouldn't have played at all this week if I would have walked. Too hot. Carts made it possible for me to play and I like to walk. Any way to get more people to play more golf is great for the game. Faster play would expand the folks interested in playing.
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Amen. The goal is to get this wonderful game to more people to enjoy.
 
To me, walking is to golf as dribbling is to basketball - it goes with the game.

Walking 18 holes has an effect on how a person plays a round because I believe that stamina is as much a part of "how" golf is played as knowing how to swing a club. Would the '64 U.S.Open have been as dramatic a win for Ken Venturi if he'd played those final 36 holes from a golf cart?

I believe that I play a better round while walking for a number of reasons and since golf was invented as a walking game, why not carry on that tradition?

I don't necessarily resent carts or the people who use them, but I DO resent having to use one on certain courses or else not be allowed to play or worse yet, having some pro-shop android tell me that the reason for "carts only" is to speed up play.

If cart rules were universal - that you can either choose to use one or not - I'd be fine with that. But there are many courses I'd like to play that simply will not allow me to play the game in the way it was intended to be played (walking) and I resent that.


-JP
 
I love to walk around my neighborhood for exercise. However I pay for it with a painful knee. I had partial knee replacement surgery on my right knee a few years back. Now the side that was not replaced is holding fluid. It get's very painful and I need surgery but holding off until after the outing. I would not be able to play as much golf as I do now without the golf cart. Now when the knee is fixed, Kelly and I will begin walking nine holds in the fall when it's cool. My knee would not hold out for 18 holes now with all the torque I already put on it so a golf cart is truly a luxery :eek:)......
 
So guess we should take away the 3 point line in basketball, because its not "traditional".

When its 95+ degrees outside with ridiculous humidity you better believe im in a cart, regardless of what anyone thinks. Im not walking the course and feel miserable the whole time because i cant see with so much sweat dripping down my face. I dont care if im not doing the "traditional" way, im there to have fun and ENJOY a round of golf not feel miserable. Some places have to issue the no walking rule because of these situations and dont want people getting heart strokes on the course, and how someone can say it does not speed up play from walking I have no clue.
 
The three-point line in basketball is just a modification to the game. A "golf" analogy to that would be: eliminating the stymie by allowing a ball on the putting green to be marked instead of left in place. And don't forget that even with the three-point line, the players still dribble the ball.

As for playing in the heat, I have no problem with people using carts nor do I have any issue with carts being used for medical reasons or even if someone simply doesn't feel like walking.

My issue is with the inequity of cart use, specifically the practice of denying persons access to a golf course because they don't want to ride in a cart. This is especially frustrating given the fact that walking is part of the game (or at least it was for 500 years).

What I'd like to see is for all courses to have the same policies that most municipal courses have; that carts are available, but not mandatory.

BTW, I played for many years at Bethpage and I've played many rounds on the Black Course in the dead of summer. The Black Course does not allow drive carts (bless their little hearts) and I don't recall too many folks complaining about that, nor do I remember the course being empty.


I guess it's all in what you're used to.


-JP
 
JPsuff said:
The three-point line in basketball is just a modification to the game. If you'd like a "golf" analogy to that one would be: eliminating the stymie by allowing a ball on the putting green to be marked instead of left in place. And don't forget that even with the three-point line, the players still dribble the ball.

-JP
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Just like even with a cart, the person still swings and keeps the same score.
 
JB said:
Just like even with a cart, the person still swings and keeps the same score.
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Of course they do and that's not the issue.

All I'm saying is that carts shouldn't be shoved down people's throats as if the notion of walking was some sort of radical or anarchistic proposition.



-JP
 
JPsuff said:
Of course they do and that's not the issue.

All I'm saying is that carts shouldn't be shoved down people's throats as if the notion of walking was some sort of radical or anarchistic proposition.



-JP
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I dont disagree. However in FL as mentioned previously, there are many courses where walking is just not an option. And someone saying "people should walk because they can" is just not a fair statement.
 
JB said:
Just like wearing pants on the PGA Tour is mandatory, and many think that is the way the game should be played because that is how it was at the beginning and still done that way on TV. Others disagree strongly! The feelings that walking makes it more of a sport or a game is ridiculous in MY OPINION. The sport of golf is swinging a golf club, hitting the ball, and getting it into the hole. Those are teh only strokes that count.
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That whole "do it like it was done forever" attitude sucks, I agree with you JB, things change... If someone wants to walk and can keep pace, fine... If someone wants to ride and keep pace, that's fine too!
By the way, I'm wearing shorts to play golf (and that includes the outing!!) It is entirely too hot to wear black pants like if I am going to a million dollar business meet. I'm out there for the game, and the good times!
 
JB said:
There is nothing to disagree or agree about. If the course is laid out like Sarasota National for instance in which on two holes you have over a half a mile to the tee box and close to 400 yards in between every other tee box, walking is not an option. It would take 7 hours to play that course walking.

I suppose those that are seniors that cannot walk anymore should just give up the game altogether despite enjoying it?
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The course I play here, falcon Lakes, is the same way on a lot of holes. Not a half mile, but they don't allow walkers on the back nine because a lot of holes are so far apart. They discourage it on the front nine, but allow it, and you pay the same whether you walk or ride.
 
This gets worse by the minute. I used the word MANY in my post about retirement based communities and golf communities. I did not use the word MOST which clearly indicates some number greater than 50%. So if you have a specific number you would like to attach to the word MANY be my guest I cannot. Use SEVERAL if you want. Hell I don’t care. Google retirement communities and then grab up a listing of them that promote their proximity to golf courses or goggle retirement communities that include golf courses or goggle golf communities that tout their features for retirees and you will likely end up with a list longer than you might have thought based on the comments in this thread.

As has been correctly stated by some in the discussion my position is that I think people SHOULD walk if they can. If it was too hot for one of the posters to walk and he could not play if he did not cart, how does that contradict the use of the word SHOULD? I may have decided not to play at all instead of riding but I really don’t know. A decision to cart in that instance is not a problem for me. I think people should walk if they can. The point I have tried to stress is I do not think it is in the best interest of the community at large for golf courses to promote carting to the extent that they do regardless of the fact that it might have an immediate but in my view short lived positive impact on both their top and bottom lines and that there are benefits to walking the course that both relate to golf and that reside outside of golf.

It is clear that for some of you on the other side of this discussion it is an issue of what is economically good for golf as a business or at least your view of it. However, you are basing your arguments on a set of market dynamics that no longer exists, whether we want them to or not. Stuffing more of us, the traditional golfer, through the course will not make it happen. Golf courses have been failing at an alarming rate since at least 2003 and there is no evidence that carting is helping assuage the damage. The idea that carting allows more players like us to golf is not making an impact that matters. Stuffing more of us through courses in less time based on carting is not an answer or even part of an answer. Many are failing because there are too many courses. 3,000 more courses built in the period from 1996 to 2003 many based on the aging baby boomer population I might add. Worse than courses failing, golf is failing as a business venture in spite of the fact that we now have higher levels of carting than ever. In spite of the leisure time element of an aging populace, great publicity and a whole host of positive incentives golf is losing about 3 million players and picking up some number less than that per year. For those wondering golf was losing ground before the economy hit the skids.

Many courses are failing because they are just not pleasant places to be. Those that fail often offer substandard amenities and have a lousy attitude toward customer service. They can adjust their rates to favor carting till hell freezes over, unless some of these courses make it a more pleasant environment I suspect more of them will fail. More importantly, for golf to prosper as a business it will have to undergo the same sort of change that Las Vegas went through as a leisure time center of activity. There are simply not enough of us golfers as we think of ourselves in the traditional sense with enough spare time to make golf work as a business.

A golf cart is a necessity on some courses, a necessity for some golfers on all courses and a convenience for the rest and most of all it is aimed at keeping more traditional golfers playing. The idea that it is bringing more new people or people with a different profile than that of the traditional golfer to the game simply is not supported by the numbers. Worse than that, the numbers are suggesting that the core golf community, which has been in the mainstay what the entire business has relied upon is not holding steady. Those numbers are also eroding. I suspect that for golf to continue on for any of us we need golf to still work for many of us while also being an attractive leisure time activity for the whole family because I don’t know where else to pick up numbers at least in this country. If in pondering that dynamic you see the family jumping off the first tee in their golf carts I think you are sadly mistaken. If golf does become more of a family activity I suspect it will be for reasons similar to those that have made for many families bicycling together. We will see families playing 9 holes instead of 18 because even though they are together they will likely not devote the hours needed to play 18 and depending on the age of the kids involved they may not be able to make 18 holes. Golf clubs like the Acculength clubs play into this dynamic making it easier for families to afford the basic equipment that allows their kids to play and I hope to see more of golf moving in that direction if only because I want it to survive. I frankly do not care if kids showing up on the golf course slows me up or not because I don’t think the golf course except under a very finely tuned set of business dynamics will survive as currently constructed.

Some of the folks on the other side of this discussion keep barking up the same tree if not more stridently as the discussion continues. You are leading us down the path of suggesting that some players that could walk the course would not play at all if they could not cart 100% of the time and I would continue to suggest that if that is true, that would be a shame for a whole host of reasons. While many of my reasons would be tied to issues greater than golf, some would relate to what I think is better for the game of golf and better for people playing it, even those people that insist on carting when they could walk the course. For one thing, the more you turn golf into a get out of the cart, hit and get back into the cart experience the closer you bring it to a video game. Golf and every outdoor activity like it is losing that battle in spades already.

I think there is likelihood that we will one day see courses where carting does not exist and courses where 100% of the players cart. The later already exists to some extent. The 100% carting courses will cater to some of those on one side of this discussion and the no carts courses will cater to the rest. Hopefully there will be enough golfers to support both. However golf based on the traditional golfer and even new golfers that have the same profile as the traditional golfer is already failing as a business activity. The only growth anybody talks about is growth internationally spurred by shifts in global economic wealth and as anybody will tell you that is not real, sustainable growth. As such something has to change. Before you jump to the conclusion that golf must succeed as a business I would suggest to you that business success or failure on the scale of a business type is not a serial event, there is an elasticity to it. The elastic stretches and stretches and one day there is simply no elasticity left in the system. The whole thing could come crumbling down in a matter of a very few years if we are not careful. Whether we like it or not, the whole enterprise at least as it relates to what I would call the hobbyist golfer has been headed in the wrong direction for a long time now, especially in this country. The hobbyist golfer is a category of Amateur golfer that excludes the serious Amateur and of course the Pro. This is by far the group that holds the largest number of golfers and I suspect in the main describes participants in this board.
 
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