Traveling around the golf course just got much more interactive.

The GolfBoard is revolutionizing the way we travel the golf course, taking influence from both snowboarding and surfing. “You can’t deny the functionality of it, you can’t deny the fun of it, and you can’t deny the athleticism of it. It just has too many things to offer to ignore, ” said Laird Hamilton. Hamilton is a world-famous surfer and a co-founder of the company. “It’s for everybody.”

Weighing in around 300 pounds with a player and a bag, GolfBoards are designed to be “rental-fleet durable”. These earth-surfing machines are composed of a lithium ion batteries, a 14-inch wide standing platform, lawn mower-style wheels that are not prone to spinning out and destroying turf in poor weather conditions like classic carts. The accelerator, located on the handle, is thumb-operated and the board can be set to slow or fast, depending on whether or not it is a rental model. When the accelerator is released, the board will automatically brake. Steering is accomplished by either shifting one’s body weight from heels to toes, or by pulling the handle either left or right. This is where the snowboarding experience comes into play, because those with said experience will most likely take a “boarding” stance (standing sideways and changing pressure from heels to toes depending on what direction is desired). Those without snowboarding experience may just stand however is comfortable and pull the handle from side to side. It is reportedly difficult to fall off of a GolfBoard, but as to be expected there is some trickiness when maneuvering small spaces at low speeds.

Laird Hamilton, world-class surfer, rides his GolfBoard along the coast.

Thinking they would come up against the same resistance that snowboarding saw with skiiers, the company marketed the first GolfBoards as ‘renegade golf’. However, they soon found that the boards were much more widely accepted and courses were immediately interested. Once the prototype boards gave way to this current piece of technology, they ran a 5-month beta test at four different golf courses and received significantly more positive feedback than was expected. Hamilton and Don Wildman, founder of Bally’s Total Fitness, did not set out to change the setting of golf, only to make it more fun and give a different dynamic to the game. Though “surfing the earth” on a GolfBoard is not nearly as social as sharing a cart or walking the course with a buddy, “Billy Casper Golf announced…that by the end of the year more than 150 courses it manages will offer GolfBoard rounds. 18 holes of golf for four people on four GolfBoards will take a maximum of 3 hours (assuming the groups ahead are not playing slowly).

Whether or not the GolfBoard finds its way to our Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course here in Montrêux is too early to tell, but one thing is for sure: this piece of technology is changing the speed, dynamic, and youthful nature of the sport in a time when this could be imperative.

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For real estate inquiries, stop by the beautiful Montrêux Welcome Center at 16475 Bordeaux Dr. in Reno, NV or call us at 775.849.9444. The Welcome Center is open 7 days a week, from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.