Surfing to a course near you

Coming in our near future

  Bubba Watson has his hovercraft, but surfing legend Laird Hamilton thinks the GolfBoard is the next big mode of transpor-tation on the golf course.
 Voted Best New Product at the 2014 PGA Merchandise Show, the GolfBoard takes the idea of a skateboard or a snowboard and applies it to the golf course. Details on the product can be found at GolfBoard.com.
 For superintendents who wonder what the aftermath of a foursome “surfing” down a steep, wet fairway would look like, former superintendent Jim Black assures them that they have nothing to worry about. The boards have 4-wheel-drive posi-traction, 9-inch turf tires and apply a quarter of the pressure of a normal golf cart.
 “The GolfBoard was on the drawing board for two years, and they always kept the superintendent involved,” says Black, media director for GolfBoard and a former contributing editor for Golfdom. “It’s built with turf tires. Any superintendent who sees it is just going to say, ‘Wow.’”
Production of the GolfBoard began last month with an initial run of 500 boards retailing at $3,995. That run was sold out before they even came off the line.
 Black believes that the GolfBoard could be a product that would draw a new crowd to the golf course.
“It has a ‘wow’ factor. And the pro shop can charge $10 to $15 more per rental,” he says.
The GolfBoard can travel 15 miles on one charge, or 36 holes with a 180-pound passenger on a normal golf course. Black believes that one day, superintendents might even look into getting their own GolfBoard.
 “I could see, as a superintendent, going on my morning run, searching for disease, check-ing irrigation,” Black says.
 Go to you tube and type in-- GolfBoard Owner video--and check it out or got to GolfBoard.com