EASY RIDERS Words Robin Bar wick
MORE THAN A CENTURY AFTER JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER FIRST CYCLED BETWEEN GOLF SHOTS, ROBIN BARWICK WRITES THAT THE INDUSTRY IS BEGINNING TO THINK THE AMERICAN INDUSTRIALIST MAY HAVE BEEN ONTO SOMETHING.
J
ohn D. Rockefeller was not a man tied down by the constraints of convention. This oil magnate – thought to have been the richest man in America – was an innovator, a problem solver. When he caught the golf bug in his early sixties (Rockefeller was 60 years old at the turn of the 20th century), he found a novel way of squeezing as many holes into a limited timeframe as he could, by cycling on the golf course from shot to shot. But did he have two bikes, one for him and one for his caddie, or did his poor caddie have to carry Rockefeller’s bag while running to keep up? We don’t know – apologies – although we do know that Rockefeller’s bag was not an easy ‘carry’. A golfer who struggled to shoot under 100 over 18 holes, it has been said that Rockefeller fined his caddies when he lost a ball, although ultimately he would tip generously before peddling off for lunch.
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Rockefeller would have roundly approved of the 21st century’s purpose-built, Americanmade Golf Bike. Much of the Golf Bike appeal derives from its relative simplicity: it is a six-gear peddle bike with standard rim brakes operated by handlebar levers. The real ingenuity of the Golf Bike is its three-bag system installed on the back. Instead of carrying a standard golf bag – which could cause havoc with balance while riding – the Golf Bike comes with a pair of narrow side-mounted bags that sit either side of the
rear wheel. A set of clubs is split between the two bags. “The concept of the Golf Bike is based on three elements: fun, fitness and speed of play,” explains the Golf Bike’s Shawn Cury, based in Tallahassee, Florida. “The Golf Bike has allowed the individual to play faster. Many of our customers use it early in
The Golf Bike has been through five years of prototyping and testing before launching in 2014.
the morning or later in the afternoon when the courses are less crowded. They can play 18 holes in three hours with no problem.” The Golf Bike was launched five years ago and is available in “Golf Bike Green” only – which is a bit like Kermit the Frog green. It remains in its infancy in terms of distribution, while the company is now working on an electric model to give golfers some added power on hilly golf courses. The Golf Bike is among the leading exponents of a new trend for single-rider machines in golf. This is not to suggest that the days of the traditional golf buggy are numbered, but after a year in which socially-distanced golf enjoyed a boom in the UK and across the world – and during which the sharing of buggies was widely prohibited – the concept of transit alternatives on the golf course has gained momentum. There is even a two-wheeled golfspecific Segway model – with two parallel wheels and a platform in between on which the rider stands – although our attempts to find out more were fruitless and honestly, it is difficult to imagine a Skooza’s fat-tire electric scooter K1 series starts from $3,495.
