Jim Shular, head professional at Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course in Oliver, shows off one of the club’s new GolfBoards, which could revolutionize the way golfers travel around the course for years to come. (Trevor Nichols photo)
The latest innovation shaking up the game of golf has made its Western Canadian debut in Oliver.
The Nk’Mip Desert Canyon Golf Course recently began renting GolfBoards, surfboard-style carts that let golfers strap in their clubs and zip around the links.
GolfBoards, which can best be described as a more thrilling version of a Segway scooter, employ a similar mode of steering where riders grip a set of handlebars and lean to turn, but stand sideways as if on a surf or skateboard.
Jim Shular is the head professional at Canyon Desert. He’s played several rounds using the boards and says “every single round has been astounding.”
GolfBoards travel as fast as 11 kilometres an hour and can go almost anywhere on the course except tee boxes, greens and bunkers, meaning they have the potential to significantly change the pace of the game.
“The change it makes from a player’s perspective is that now when you go to play golf, rather than driving down the fairway with your power cart, you actually get to go directly to your own ball,” Shular explained.
“So that changes and enhances your experience. You’re not waiting and humming and hawing about what shot you’re going to play next while your partner’s playing. You can proceed right to your own play zone.”
The official GolfBoard website claims that the devices can significantly speed up a round of golf, saying that in time trials an average round on a board took just over two and a half hours.
But while a quicker pace of play is appealing to some, Shular thinks that for many the real fun will be riding the mounds of the fairway like waves.
“Rather than just hitting your shot and getting in your cart, now you get to weave in and out and have a little more fun. [That] puts you in a little bit better frame of mind,” he said, adding that a ride on a GolfBoard even offers relief from bad rounds.
“Now you have fun at least getting to your bad shot.”
Tyler Jang is a young golfer who recently played around at Canyon Desert using one of the course’s GolfBoards.
He agreed that switching from the quiet calm of preparing for a shot to zipping around on the GolfBoard added a new dimension to the game.
“It’s made me calmer because it’s kind of fun, and it’s taking my mind off my bad shots,” he said.
Jang said he had never heard of GolfBoards before coming to play at Canyon Desert and decided to rent one on a whim. It took him about half of a hole to get used to and before long he was having a blast zooming around the course.
The boards are novel and exciting, but Shular doesn’t believe they will ever completely replace the traditional power cart typically found on golf courses.
Some people like the social aspect of piling into the cart between shots, and GolfBoards do require more dexterity and athleticism to operate.
It can be disorienting stepping on one for the first time and getting the hang of the throttle and method of steering does take some practice, he said.
The Golfboards at Nk’Mip already bear a few scuffs on their fenders, but Shular says that their low centre of gravity and heavy batteries keep them from tipping over.
“You really almost have to be standing completely still leaning right over on a bit of a hill to make it start to tip, and as it tips, you just step off.”
Canyon Desert currently has four GolfBoards for rent.
Shular says that if they continue to be as popular with patrons as course management has seen, they will look into purchasing several more for next year’s golf season.
TREVOR NICHOLS
Regional Reporter
