Good morning from Classic Swing Golf School in Myrtle Beach South Carolina, here’s another dose of golf trivia from Dan DeFreest.
In professional tournament golf, a caddie is a required and an essential part of the game. However, in most private and public courses around the country, the caddie has suffered the same fate as the wooden driver, he has been replaced by technology.
Many courses today actually require a golf cart, in fact, golf carts are used in more than two-thirds of the rounds played. The reason is simple, carts make for a faster round of golf, faster golf means more golfers can play and more golfers means more money for the course.
When using a caddie, a fee is included in the cost of greens-fees and the golfer is then expected to tip the caddie at the end of the round. A cart fee on the other hand, is simply incorporated into the golf fee and no tipping is usually required except for a buck or two given to the person at the bag drop area for loading your bag onto the cart.
Originally, golf carts were frowned upon because the first carts were gas-powered and noisy. Many courses only allowed carts to be used by individuals with a physical handicap that required a cart in order to play.
The invention of the electric cart changed all of that. The first electric carts required as many as a dozen car batteries to supply enough power to last a round. Today, golf carts use a deep-cycle battery which can be used and recharged without hurting the battery. On the average busy course, a golf cart can be used twice a day and generate as much as $1000 per month, so a fleet of say 50 carts can bring a healthy $50,000 per month to the course.
It’s important to know that even when using a golf cart, there are still rules to be adhered to on the course. The folks here at Classic Swing Golf School can share.