MANDATORY USE OF BUGGIES ON PUBLIC GOLF
COURSES IS SPREADING IN UNITED STATES

FROM CBSSports.com WIRE REPORTS

A Long Island, New York woman is boycotting her favourite course. A man in Florida has published a book and filed lawsuits to defend his rights. A former golf executive thinks the game, under these circumstances, shouldn't even be called golf.
"It ought to be called 'cart ball.' It isn't golf," said Sandy Tatum, a bona fide golf purist who once served as president of the U.S. Golf Association and won an NCAA golf championship at Stanford.
A growing number of course-owning American cities and counties are mandating the use of electric or gas-powered carts, believing they are needed to speed play and therefore allow more golfers on the courses.
Officials in Nassau County, on Long Island, came under fire last month when they announced that carts would be required for anyone wishing to play its premier municipal 18-hole course -- Eisenhower Red, a Robert Trent Jones-designed loop that annually hosts a PGA Champions Tour event for golf professionals older than 50.
It is not known how many other courses around America have similar policies. Anecdotal evidence suggests it has become more of an issue in densely populated areas where large numbers of people are competing for a relatively small number of tee times.
Nassau County officials argued that Eisenhower Red is so popular that carts are necessary to keep up the pace of play. They contend that anyone who wants to walk can still use the county's two adjacent 18-hole courses at the park named in honour of one of the country's best-known presidential duffers.
Of course, the added income from golfers paying up to $29 each to rent a cart won't hurt the bottom line in a county that only several years ago teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.
"We're not doing it for the money," Deputy County Executive Peter Gerbasi said after the policy went into effect. "We're trying to make the course more available to more people."
Adrienne Danzig of Westbury isn't buying it. She is among the golfers who contend that carts are anathema to the sport.
"I love to walk," she said on a recent summer morning as she prepared to grab her pull cart from the boot of her car. "I think golf is made for walking unless you're at a resort where you have to walk a mile to the next hole. I've played here for many years, love to walk, love the Red Course, and they have completely destroyed this option."
Rich Martorana of Massapequa said it was wrong to insist on carts, especially on a public course. He also questions whether carts have actually made for quicker rounds.
"I use carts with my friend all the time," he said. "However, you shouldn't force people on a public golf course to now take up a cart. And it doesn't speed up play. It hasn't improved anything. ... I think the county is simply making money on the deal."
Editor's comment: Don't snigger at the back. What happens in the States today, usually happens over here tomorrow. And if our powers-that-be cotton on to the idea that here's another great money-making idea, just like car-parking tickets and speed cameras, it will happen. Remember where you heard it first.