Little did engineer J.B. Wantz (right) know what he was getting his favorite sport into when, years before golf carts came into general use, he put together an electric “golf-cycle” to let him play through a heel injury. The golf cart has contributed, purists say, to the decline of caddying and the entree to golf that it provided to different races and classes, and of the golf course itself. Carts have allowed the construction of more sprawling, hard-to-walk courses that maximize revenue from adjoining real estate. On the other hand, carts opened up the game to the disabled and the elderly. Locker room superintendent Harry Rosenberg (seated), who hadn’t picked up a club in 40 years, certainly was tempted.
Percentage of rounds in the U.S. played by golfers using carts: 66.
Number of registered golf carts among the 7,500 households in Peachtree City, Ga.: 4,000. Percentage of those that aren’t used for golf: 50.
Charles “Chick” Evans’ payment for his first caddying job, at Edgewater Golf Club in Rogers Park: 35 cents.
Earnings of professional golfer Arnold Palmer in 1958: $42,000. Estimated earnings of Steve Williams, Tiger Woods’ caddie, in Woods’ 2002 U.S. Open victory, based on the traditional 10 percent cut: $100,000.
