Bubba Watson has a Hovercraft Golf Cart. Really.
You know what would make golf so much better? Hovercrafts.
Hovercrafts. Yeah, I said it. Hear me out.
I love golf. You love golf. Sure, it’s not the most exhilarating sport, nor is it the easiest in which to become even marginally skilled, never mind the nigh-impossibility of mastering it.
But there’s an intangible quality. Something calming about the air over the course, something emboldening about the camaraderie shared with your party or with your favorite player on television.
Unfortunately, golf is also a sport that has been marred by a lot of backwards thinking.
Why, it was just ten years ago when Augusta National chairman William “Hootie” Johnson idiotically proclaimed with all the finesse of one of the Little Rascals that the home of the Masters tournament would not even admit a woman over his dead body. Fortunately, Johnson didn’t die and Augusta finally admitted two women—Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore—last August, shedding to some degree its distinction as a real-life He-Man Women Haters Club.
Then you’ve got Fuzzy Zoeller’s off-color remarks about then-up-and-coming Tiger Woods after he won the 1997 Masters and became the first African American to win a major professional golf tourney. In the sixteen years since, Woods has only gone on to enjoy one of the most prolific and successful careers in all of sports (though not without his own share of scandal), and though Fuzzy Zoeller quietly faded into obscurity, some of those who play today against Woods seem incapable of learning from history.
But fear not! Not all that’s newsworthy in golf has to do with soul-deflatingly antediluvian mentalities. There’s a whole new generation of fresh faces rising within the PGA with fun-loving, crowd-pleasing personalities to match their impressive skill sets.
One of the PGA’s baby-faced rising stars is 2012 Masters champion Bubba Watson, a guy who genuinely gives golf fans the sense that he’s just playing to have fun. He seems capable of connecting with fans on a level only previously accomplished in 1996’s Happy Gilmore, able to reel in younger demographics through a charming everyman demeanor and the ability to go viral without any of the cold and distant superciliousness that has increasingly become Tiger’s hallmark over the years.
While Bubba’s aim may not be to change the public perception of what golf is and to whom it can appeal, he’s certainly attempting to change the way that professional and amateur golfers move around the greens.
Recently, Watson partnered with his tour sponsor, Oakley, to create…get this…a hovercraft golf cart.
Seriously. This is a thing.
Bubba’s Hovercraft Golf Cart
The hovercraft golf cart is absolutely a real thing. If you’re not sure, by all means, make your way to Springfield, Ohio and visit the Windy Knoll Golf Club. They just bought two of them for their course.
Created by Indiana’s Neoteric Hovercraft, who manufactures hovercrafts for use by police, emergency, and military personnel, the hovecraft golf carts will shuttle golfers around Windy Knoll’s greens with futuristic ease.
Driving over water hazards and bunkers? Pshaw. The hovercraft golf cart makes it a breeze.
If you’d like to try one of the hovercraft golf carts out, don’t expect it to come cheap. Daily Mail says Neoteric’s price tag for the hovercarts was about $58,000 a piece, so Windy Knoll Golf Club will charge players $230 to rent the hovercraft for a round. Additionally, Windy Knoll will host a Hover Bash on July 27 to introduce the BW1s.
Just imagine: for the price of a luxury sedan, being able to own a vehicle that will carry you over water and across the land without ever touching the ground. Maybe we’re closer to Fifth Element-esque flying cars than we may think.
Well done, Bubba. In a sport that desperately needs to start thinking about image and considering the future, Bubba, Oakley, and Neoteric Hovercraft have something that could potentially cement golf as a sport fit for the 21st century.
It’s almost enough to forgive the guy for his part in the Golf Boys. Almost.
Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.