By Sam Richards

Staff writer

 

For Moni Cook, there is a lot to like about the golf courses’ new rental carts.

“They look sleek, and the (charcoal) color is great,” Cook recently said as she waited to hit the first tee on the Creekside course. The old carts, she said, were “getting rickety.”

But the new carts’ secret weapon, she said?

“My eyes are sensitive to the cold air hitting them,” the relatively new golfer said. “Having that full windshield helps a lot.”

She and partner David Jorgensen were using one of 36 new Yamaha golf carts that around New Year’s Day replaced the same number of older carts that went into service in 2020. GRF Director of Golf Mark Heptig said the old fleet was tired and ready for retirement.

The GRF Board in December approved leasing the new carts, which arrived Dec. 30. The annual lease cost is $41,256 ($3,438 per month), which is about 5% more than the 2020 lease agreement, Heptig said. The new lease is for five years.

Thirty-six is the maximum number of carts for which there is available storage and maintenance space, Heptig said. And Rossmoor’s golf carts get a workout; each of the 36 is typically rented out twice a day, Heptig said, often once on the 18-hole Dollar course and once on the nine-hole Creekside course.

As did the vanquished generation of carts (and most others), these new ones run on rechargeable battery power. But Heptig emphasizes they do not have lithium batteries, which offer a longer life and maintain their charge longer than standard batteries.

“It would have cost us a lot more, and that just won’t work,” said Heptig, adding that the additional cost would have been enough to bump up rental fees, too.

Pat Iacullo of the Rossmoor Men’s Golf Club told the Golf Advisory Committee on Jan. 10 that he has already heard many compliments about the new carts. But he asked Heptig whether he had considered installing rear-view mirrors on the new carts.

Heptig said he hadn’t considered equipping the carts with rear-view mirrors when ordering them but that he would research the cost to retrofit them.

A few things that are found on the new carts are the aforementioned full windshields, charging ports for cellphones, plentiful “dashboard” space for drinks and other small items, and holders for placards with updates about in-progress tournaments, sales in the Golf Shop and other information.

One thing the new carts do not have is speed. Much like the ones they replaced, “they’re governed back to a very low speed, 5 mph, for safety,” Heptig said.

And as with the old rental carts – and unlike many privately owned carts in Rossmoor – the new rentals are not meant to be driven on Rossmoor’s streets.

Jorgensen, a golfing guest of Cook, likes the new carts, too – “They are new, they run well, nice and quiet, no squeaks, they look great.”

But he said the old ones were not that bad, especially given the pounding rentals often get.

“I play a lot of public courses, and many (of the carts) out there aren’t so good,” he said.