Despite its reputation, the wedge might not be the most versatile and useful piece of golf equipment after all.
Sure, it can help get you out of a rough spot or two on the golf course.
But will it perform well on city roads? Can it be useful at a warehouse or be turned into a parade float? Could it make a hunting trip easier?
Didn’t think so.
But golf carts can.
With fuel prices soaring, the electrical vehicles are gaining popularity. Case in point: Forty percent of the 5,000 carts annually sold by Missouri’s biggest dealership, M&M Golf Cars, are purchased for uses that are far from sand traps and manicured greens.
“Every time gas spikes, we have a spike in sales of carts for non-golf use,” M&M president Chris Miller told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I will assume that sales will continue to climb, because I don’t see the price of gasoline coming down.”
Consider some of the non-golf uses that make those irresistible machines MVP (Most Versatile Performer) material:
• In Missouri, a Lutheran theological institute purchased a fleet of five used electric carts to scoot security officers, visitors, housekeeping and maintenance workers around Concordia Seminary’s 72-acre campus.
Only Heaven knows — well, and the facility’s bookkeepers — how much money they’ve saved on gas.
• In Washington state, a city is voting to allow carts on its streets. That wouldn’t be a first, either. Golf carts are legal on various commercial roads in 46 states, according to The Daniel Island News.
It wasn’t reported just how many states allow wedges on their roads.
• In Arizona, golf carts are being used in defensive-driving courses. Students will putter around in slow-moving carts to learn how to avoid accidents, make wise decisions and respond to real-life driving scenarios — none of which include evading badly hit golf balls, by the way.
• In Maryland, golf carts and tractors are transformed into floats for the Cart Crus at Leonardtown. You’ll have to visit the parade to find out of golf balls are thrown out to parade attendees instead of candy.
• Other spots where carts, which range in price from $5,000 to $12,000, are being put to good use include: warehouses, gardens, camping and hunting trips, medical centers, universities, car dealerships, business parks and apartment complexes.
• Final word of warning: Golf carts have also been used as a weapon. In fact, a Florida man was arrested after running over a man following a neighborhood dispute. The victim didn’t pursue his attacker, perhaps because the driver’s passenger was a pit bull.
Fortunately, a wedge wasn’t involved in the incident.