The History

The first golf trolly as we know today was first invented and developed by Bruce Williamson in Portland, Oregon in 1946. Later that year Bruce Williamson along with his partner E. Roy Jarmen began producing these trollies. The original trollies were made with aluminium tubing in a sand casting, to help the cart to be robust. Along with this the cart was bolted together helping to be repaired and dismantled easily. The wheels were made out of two old lawn mower wheels on flat tyres attached to a folding chassis. However, there is evidence to show that golf trollies where available in 1939 in the US state if California when there was a shortage of caddies. With some one of the models even being contractable as it could fold and open like the modern-day trollies.

The next big breakthrough came in 1953 when a yardage metre was designed to go on the golf trollies, still know at the time as “bag boys” or “karts”. This yardage metre would be able to track accurately how far your drive had gone.

A design improvement began to occur in the mid 1950s and early 1960s with the wheels. The wheels went from a thin rubber tube around the solid hub of the wheel. Whereas the newer version had more open wheels with spokes. This was to lower the weight of the golf trolly making it easier to move.

It wasn’t until the early 2000s when the first push trolley was invented. It was again invented by Bag Boy and was released in 2004. It was the first trolley to have 3 wheels meaning it could be pushed around instead of pulled. This saved players energy and had a wide range of improvements. As they could park better on slopes and the trolley came with a brake button. Not only this but it could fold down to a smaller size to fit into car boots.

Since the introduction of the electric trolly by Joe Catford in 1983 there has been a shift in the golf trolley industry. With many more people buying push or electric trolleys. This is partially because of the wider range of technology and gadgets and electric trolley can hold. With the latest models having a touchscreen, GPS tracking device, an automatic braking system and remote control to control where the trolley goes.

Major Brands

Motocaddy

Motocaddy was founded in 2004 and has seen a huge increase in growth and sales in the Golf Trolly market. It has been wrapped in competition ever since the release of the company. Motocaddy success can be seen by the 500,000 trollies it has sold by 2020. They are constantly improving their technology and design features, as they became the first company to make a golf trolley with a touch screen with the M5 Series. This has helped them to become one of the leading companies in this market. As Motocaddy and PowaKaddy share 90% of the market sales.

This has allowed Motocaddy to build up a wide range of electric and push trollies. They have also gone into the ranger finder market with the Pro 3000 Laser RangerFinder. Along with this they have a range of accessories and batteries. Motocaddy have a wide range of trollies that include:

• M1
• M3
• M5
• M7
• Z1
• P1
• Cube

 

PowaKaddy

The original PowaKaddy Classic, was invented in 1983 by Joe Catford, along with John Martin. This product was launched small factory in Sittingbourne Kent, Great Britain where the headquarters are still there to this day. PowaKaddy's main business is electric golf trolleys but it also produces a range of manual push or pull trolleys along with golf bags and other accessories.

However, over the years PowaKaddy have had some issues with the business as Joe Catford sold the company to the now dissolved company, Sunleigh plc in 1989. It was then bought out again by John DeGraft-Johnson, David Wells and Mike Snapes along with Close Brothers Private Equity during 1999. It was then bought out again in 2004 by Fergus O'Rafferty and Rossa McDermot, backed by Graphite Capital. After this a decline began as Powakaddy went into administration in November 2006. Fortunately, it was bought out of administration by David Catford in August 2012. Since then, it has good success and enjoys being the number one brand in the electric golf trolley market.

To this day PowaKaddy is still one of the leading brands for electric and push trollies. They have wide range of electric trollies with the best technology for its batteries.

There range of trollies include:

• FX3
• FX5
• FX7
• FX7 GPS
• CT6
• CT6 GPS
• CT8 GPS
• Twinline 5 Push Cart
• Micra Push Cart
• DLX-Lite FF Push Cart

 

BIG MAX

BIG MAX was founded in the USA in 1994. It quickly established itself in the European markets and began competing with other European brands. The first BIG MAX brads were introduced in Germany and Austria as the Basic and Mid Max. The range of products was then increased to the BIG MAX 500 in 1997. Then BIG MAX introduced the TI 1000 and the TI 2000. These trolleys where the first ever three-wheel trolleys in Europe. Since then, they have become the leading push trolley company in Europe. Along with this they have expanded their range of products to include a wider range of golf trollies, cart bags, stand bags, travel covers and accessories.

There range of golf trollies include:

• Blade IP
• Auto fold
• TI One
• TI lite
• IQ 360
• IQ+
• Lite 3
• Basic
• E-lite-4
• E-lite-3
• EQ

Electric Vs Push Trollies VS Pull Trollies

Trolly Type	Advantages	Disadvantages
Pull Trollies 2 Wheels and are pulled along behind the player.	Used on a flatter golf course Cost effective Easier to fold down Smaller Don’t need a brake Easier to manoeuvre	Can be tiring Suited to smaller golf bags A lot more effort and energy to use Hard to park on slopes Not good for hilly courses
Push Trollies Usually, 3 wheels but can be 4. They are pushed along manually.	They have three wheels to aid with pushing Easier to manoeuvre Work on lots of different types of terrain Kinder on the body Foot brakes Easy to park on slopes Cost effective	Can be tiring Suited to smaller golf bags Not great for hilly golf courses
Electric trollies 3 or 4 wheels with an electric battery causing the wheels to turn with no input.	Good for hillier golf courses Less strain on the body Less tiring Take them in more places on the course Can fit much bigger golf bags They can have GPS and other added features Still get exercise without pushing the trolley	Expensive Use a battery which has to be charged Battery only has a certain range (usually about 27 to 36 holes which is about 6 to 8 hours battery life) Hard to park on slopes

Most Popular Golf Trollies

The most popular electric golf trollies are as follows:

• PowaKaddy FX5 18 Hole Lithium Electric Trolley
• Motocaddy M-Tech Electric Golf Trolley
• PowaKaddy 2021 CT6 Electric Golf Trolley
• Motocaddy M5 GPS Extended Range Golf Trolley
• Motocaddy M1 DHC Standard Range Lithium Electric Trolley
• Stoge Electric Folding Golf Cart
• Motocaddy 2021 M5 GPS DHC Golf Trolley

The most popular push golf trollies are as follows:

LONGRIDGE EZE GLIDE SMART FOLD PUSH TROLLEY

MOTOCADDY CUBE PUSH TROLLEY

POWAKADDY MICRA PUSH CART

GOLFSTREAM EXPRESS PUSH TROLLEY

KADDEY SWITCH TROLLEY

POWAKADDY DLX LITE FF PUSH CART

BIG MAX TI LITE PUSH TROLLEY

MOTOCADDY P1 PUSH TROLLEY

BIG MAX BLADE QUATTRO PUSH TROLLEY

CLICGEAR 4.0 PUSH TROLLEY