2-Wheelers May Soon Be Roaring Around A Golf Course Near You
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2020-03-10
By GORD MONTGOMERY, Inside Golf
CALGARY, Alberta — With apologies to Steppenwolf and their great hit Born to Be Wild, “Get your motor running/ head out on the fairways/ looking for birdies/ or whatever comes our way ...”
Well, you get it. That hit song, framing the iconic movie Easy Rider, is maybe now more of a fit to the golf world than even before as mini-motorcycles begin to roar in popularity around golf courses. Yes, the two-wheel rides are proving such a novelty, and a possible revenue stream for golf courses, that they were one of the most popular attractions at the 2019 Buying Show put on by the PGA of Alberta in Calgary.
Speaking to what these rides have to offer those golfers who are perhaps looking for a bit more excitement in the game, apart from the game itself, a company spokesman noted, “There have been a few of these out there in the marketplace, and we launched these this past summer.”
This brand is a portion of the Sun Mountain company, and is called Finn Scooters. And if you’re wondering how you cart your clubs, they fit easily into a golf bag at the front of the ride, meaning they are safely out of the way as you zoom up and down the fairways.
“What it brings, is it adds fun to the game of golf. I think we’re going to bring people back to the game of golf. These save time. They say we’re losing people because people don’t want to spend four or five hours that it takes to play a round of golf. If you get out early in the morning, with one of the first tee times on one of these, you can play 18 holes in under two hours.”
The Finn Scooters Proved To Be A Big Draw, In Fact One Of The Biggest Draws, At the 2019 PGA Of Alberta Buying Show In Calgary, As A Number of Golf Course Pros Took A Quick Spin Up And Down The Aisleways At The BMO Centre.
The top speed of these two-wheel wonders is “about 15 miles per hour,” which is the same speed as a (4-wheeled) golf cart. There are a lot of great built-in safety features with these rides. It’s only about 80 pounds with the bag mounted on the cart. It’s easily to balance. The whole centre of gravity is perfect,” given where the golf bag is located at the centre of the cycle.
One other safety measure taken is that the front wheel on the cycle is larger than the back one. That is by design, meaning the front wheel smoothes our the ride as it goes up and over any sort of hazards you may run into, be it a large tree branch, dips in the fairways, or even a roadside curb should your ball really get away from you.
While a number of pros from clubs across Alberta flocked to the display at the Buying Show, it’s not certain how many will take advantage of this transportation method given some wariness of the safety issue. Of course, the same sort of feel greeted the introduction of golf boards, and they have become quite popular as more and more clubs find out they aren’t all that dangerous if proper caution is taken by the riders.
As to the course’s liability of sending out these mini-motorcycles, “I’m going to say there’s no more and no less liability to this than a riding cart,” the spokesman said. “We’ve had over 5,000 rounds (using the Finn motorcycles) in the last few months in the States and there hasn’t been one confirmed accident. We encourage first-time users to watch a video that we provide and that will make people more aware,” of the proper usage.
Whether you’ll see these Finn Cycles at your course anytime in the near future is a good question, but the spokesman noted, “We had a lot of interest today. More than just tire kicking,” so they may soon appear at a golf course near you and will let you “ .... Get your motor running...” Sorry about that!
For more on these rides, check out their website at www.finnscooters.com.