Golf Cart Safety Guide

Golf carts are extremely useful vehicles to have when you’re moving from one hole to another on the course with all your clubs in tow. They cruise across the trails and over the green, making your game much more fun and comfortable. You can also take them for a spin around a large campus or residential area, and they can be used to help with maintenance tasks, too.

While a golf cart is much smaller and not nearly as fast as a car, it’s still a motorized vehicle. This means that crashes can still happen if drivers are careless. Golf carts come with their own risks, so you’ll need to take some steps to keep yourself and your passengers safe. Arizona Ranch & Resort Cars is proud to be your local golf cart dealer in Prescott Valley, AZ. We have crafted this golf cart safety guide to help you understand your key responsibilities. Keep reading to learn more and if you have any questions, feel free to give us a call or visit our dealership.

Drive Carefully

Just like you would with any other type of motorized vehicle, you’ll want to be careful behind the wheel of a golf cart and follow the rules and regulations. For example, speeding on a golf cart is a bad idea. They aren’t meant to go very fast in the first place, so you could overheat the engine. Take turns slowly and signal them with your hand in advance so that other drivers and pedestrians know what you’re doing and can stay out of your way. 

You need to be mindful of obstacles and people in your path, especially when driving a street-legal golf cart on campus or indoors. Stay aware of those around you, including other vehicles. Don’t drive your cart on sidewalks, because those are meant for pedestrians only. When riding on slopes, move carefully and take them straight up and down so you don’t roll your cart over or lose any cargo or passengers. Pay attention and check behind you before backing up, too.

You should always operate your golf cart sober. This means no drinking or using drugs before or during your ride. You’re much more likely to operate your cart recklessly when you’re intoxicated, which only increases the likelihood of a mishap.

It’s also important to not distract yourself in other ways. Checking your mobile, eating, drinking, or tinkering with a radio are all very distracting activities which you should avoid when operating a motorized vehicle of any kind. Be alert and do these activities once you’ve parked your vehicle.

Don't Overload Your Golf Cart

While your golf cart likely has a space in the back for your clubs and other cargo and maybe a few small compartments within it, remember that it’s not meant to hold any extra weight. If you overpack your golf cart, you run the risk of getting a flat tire or doing some damage to your vehicle. Your cargo could also fall out as you drive, so be careful about what you load.

Care for Your Passengers

If you have passengers in your cart, make sure that they know all the relevant safety concerns and also understand how they should behave when in the vehicle. Remember that you should not take on more passengers than your vehicle can handle. Only take as many passengers on your golf cart as there are available seat belts so that everyone stays safe. Make sure that your passengers keep their arms and legs inside the vehicle as you drive, and request that they are quiet around other golfers so as not to disturb their game.

We hope that this guide to golf cart safety has been helpful! If you want to explore our incredible selection of golf carts for sale, visit Arizona Ranch & Resort Cars. We also provide golf cart rentals, repair, and parts, so no matter what you need, we are here to help you. We are located in Prescott Valley, Arizona, and we proudly serve all those in Flagstaff and Surprise.