Motorized board adds to fairway fun

Drop in at a golf course soon and glide across the fairways on a Golfboard.

The motorized skateboard is designed to speed golfers and their gear around the course, adding surfinglike fun and exercise to the game while putting some drive into its ponderous pace.

"The Golfboard lets you surf the earth," said Andrew Crawford, a representative for the company that makes it.

Propelled by two wheelchair motors with rechargeable batteries, the 56-inch-long Golfboard carries riders across grassy contours with a swooping, easy grace. If you ride a surfboard, sailboard or skateboard, you’ll take to it like fish to a water hazard, since steering is essentially the same — you lean to the right or the left. Speed is controlled by a button on its stability bar, which doubles as the brace for a golf bag.

Crawford recently demonstrated the Golfboard at the Hawaii Prince Golf Club in Ewa Beach, showing how deep knee-bends could create looping turns on the turf without tearing it up, courtesy of the 9-inch turf tires. A series of club officials tried it out, each returning the device with a smile.

"It’s so fun," said Colin Black, a skateboarder, surfer and golfer, after taking a spin on the board. "If you surf you’ll have a blast."

Using the board provides many benefits over using a cart, Crawford said. It provides good exercise, since leg and core muscles are needed to steer it. The Golfboard also speeds up the game considerably, since players can approach their balls individually, rather than having to share cart rides around the course. The four to five hours typically needed to golf 18 holes can be cut in half, Crawford said.

The vehicle is the brainchild of fitness entrepreneur Don Wildman, founder of Bally’s Total Fitness. Wildman, now in his 80s, joined with Maui big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton and electric-vehicle expert Starling Faraon to develop the vehicle, at first experimenting with commercially made electric skateboards. Those prototypes, when tested, proved to be about as suitable as using a putter to tee off.

"We would get people doing to a golf board what they would never consider doing on a golf cart," said Jeff Dowell, president of the Bend, Ore.-based company. "They’ll go jump off curbs, and they’ll jump off the edge of sand traps trying to catch some air and do donkey kicks. And while all those things, while technically not allowed, doesn’t stop people from trying them, beating the hell out of the thing and then turning it in like a rental car like nothing happened."

Over the last three years, the product has been completely re-engineered to include shock absorbers and a drivetrain designed to prevent spinout. Top speed for its Sportsboard model is 14 mph, but golf courses typically are leasing the Course model, which reaches 10 mph.

It’s not a party vehicle, like cooler-equipped golf carts. There’s only a single cup holder.

"We’re promoting an aware, conscious activity where you’re not getting drunk," Crawford said.

The boards are available at Princeville Makai Golf Course, Princeville, Kauai; the Club at Kukui’ula, Poipu, Kauai; Maui Country Club, Paia, Maui; and Mauna Kea Golf Course, Waimea, Hawaii island. Courses on Oahu are getting their first look at the devices now.

The company also sells them to individuals at $6,500, with accessories including remote control and custom fender packages available. Visit golfboard.com for more information.