Can You Bring Your Own Cart to a Golf Course? (3 Key Benefits to Save Money)
Can you bring your own cart to a golf course? The good news is that you can bring your cart to a golf course and save some cash. However, it’s important to note that rules and restrictions vary from course to course. Before packing up your cart, check local regulations to ensure you comply. In this article, we’ll explore whether you can bring your own cart to a golf course and give you some expert tips on how to do it safely and legally.
There are some critical factors to consider when determining whether or not you can or should bring your cart to the golf course, such as the local rules and your location in relation to the course you plan on playing. Each of these is important to consider and will determine whether or not using a personal cart will save money or create more problems than solutions for playing golf.
Local Rules and Regulations
Most, if not all, golf courses and clubs have their own unique set of local rules. Officials write these rules specifically for the environment in which the golf course is encompassed and, depending on those in charge of the facility, will allow or disallow private golf carts on the course or practice facility.
Due to local cart rules, it’s essential to research and ask the course you’re planning on playing before bringing a private cart. Most of the time, a private golf course will accommodate private golf carts. To find golf courses in your area, you can simply do a Google search for “golf courses near me.”
Location Is Everything
Regardless if you want to bring your own cart for playing a round, if it does not make sense to do so from a convenience standpoint, you will be wasting a lot of time and money. Logistics is one of the most important factors to consider when determining if bringing your own cart is feasible. Suppose you have to load up your cart on a trailer and pull it behind a vehicle, towing it to the course and wasting valuable time instead of practicing and playing golf.
There is little to no reason to use a private cart to play golf if you cannot drive it over to the course, and the only way to drive your cart to the course will be to live in a neighborhood that encompasses the course itself or nearby. In this situation, hopping in your cart and driving it to the pro shop to check in for your tee time and start your round makes sense. Some private courses may even let you go straight to the first tee and call into the pro shop to check-in.
Benefits of Bringing Your Own Golf Cart
Now that we’ve discussed the factors to consider when deciding to use a personal cart to play golf, let’s discuss the benefits.
1) Save Money
The possibility of saving money by using a private golf cart is an obvious benefit, but it’s important to mention anyway. Although walking the golf course is another way to save money, sometimes it does not make sense regarding time management; however, I recommend walking a round occasionally. Walking the course makes the game even more enjoyable and can help you figure out what areas of your game need improvement, simply because you’re slowing the game down and have more time to think—both a good and bad thing, depending on your mental game. Walking the course can be done conveniently by utilizing a push cart for your clubs. Walking is an excellent choice when carts must be on the cart path for the day due to wet conditions or other reasons.
2) A Trail Fee
If you use a private cart for golf, the course or golf club you play at will likely still charge you a monthly trail fee, even if you’re a member. A trail fee is just a term some courses use to label the fee (generally monthly) associated with using a private cart at their facility. However, even with the price of a trail fee, using a personal cart is usually far less than using one of the golf club’s carts if you play golf regularly—at least two or three times per week.
3) The Convenience
Not only is using a private cart convenient because it saves you time by not having to unload your clubs from your vehicle and onto a cart, but it also allows you to keep everything you need for golf in your cart and ready to go whenever you practice or play.
Things like your favorite divot repair tool, ball washer, club cleaner, ice chest, extra golf shirt or pair of socks, and any other tool or gadget that many golfers, including myself, wish they had while playing but never have the time or space in a public cart to bring.
In conclusion, using your own golf cart makes life easier on the golf course and is an excellent resource for practicing and playing more often. As with everything else in golf, I’m a fan of making your life on the course as easy and convenient as possible. As golfers, we do not want anything getting in the way of our willingness to put in the time it takes to improve and, even more importantly, our enjoyment of the game.
