Everyone loves using golf carts, right? They’re fun to drive, you don’t have to carry your golf clubs round the course, they’re fast and you can maybe play some music. Why wouldn’t you want to use a cart?
Well, a lot of people don't (and there might not be enough buggies in the fleet in any case). Golf is good exercise if you walk the course and it's also great for your mental health. This causes issues, however, as the half-in, half-out scenario leads to people playing at different paces all over the course.
At the moment, slow play seems to be as big a talking point as ever. One of the most important points raised in The R&A's Pace of Play manual is good etiquette. This should always be expected on the course, but not everyone adheres to it. There are no concrete rules for slow play, which opens the door to interpretation and frustration.
So do carts help speed up play? Here are the arguments for and against...
No
To put it simply, carts are a quicker way to play golf than walking. But that’s not always a good thing. Say, for example, four groups go out in quick succession. The first two groups decide to walk and the latter two decide to use buggies.
The latter two groups are obviously going to be playing a lot quicker, regardless of ability. Now a problem is starting to occur. If they are not let through by the two walking groups ahead, this will evidently cause a lot of frustration and rapidly reduce their pace in play.
Furthermore, say the course is completely rammed with four-balls. There are no gaps in play and everyone's keeping up. If a four-ball were to use a cart and be let through, what’s their advantage? They’re just going to get stuck behind the next group in front and and they will slow down the group that has just let them through, which in turn will affect the pace of play behind them as well.
In instances like this, it would almost be a bit selfish to use a buggy. If you need to use one for medical reasons or any other specific reason, then that is of course absolutely fine, but if you have no reason to use one and the consensus of the playing field is walking, then just don’t bother.
What if clubs were to adopt a ‘cart only’ approach? It wouldn’t impact or slow down the pace of play – the course would just incur the same problems as it would if everyone was walking. Just because carts are a quicker means of transportation, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will correlate into a quicker pace of play.
Yes
Contrary to the points above, carts are quick enough that if you were to let a group through, you would be losing very little time compared with letting a walking group through. You’d probably lose out on around five minutes, if that, which in golf is no time at all.
And if we’re sticking to the good etiquette model, you’ll be doing those with a buggy a favor. There is nothing more frustrating than being stuck behind a group you know you’re quicker than.
You also wouldn’t want the constant awkwardness of looking behind you and seeing hands on hips, or frustrated faces. Golf is supposed to be enjoyable and if that were to happen, the fun would rapidly diminish for both groups.
If everyone is on the same page and walkers are prepared to let cart users through, it would certainly speed up play for the latter and could help the former by thinning out the course.
Golf courses could also look at the possibility of introducing walking and cart slots to help regulate the pace of play.
In some circumstances, yes, buggies could cause a slow play issue, but only if the correct etiquette isn't adhered to. So, if you’ve got a cart on your tail on the course, just let them through – you'll be doing both groups a favour.
