Budgets are drawn with an unwieldy dependence on cart fees. Course designers share culpability. They seldom stand up for walking tradition when negotiating a project, and par-10 distance between green and the next tee is no longer rare. Courses are being designed for carts. Yes, tighter environmental regulations are a factor, but not the main one.
Carts purportedly mean more of it.
But we have enough creative financial minds in our industry to figure out how to give golfers an option to walk and not destroy 13,000 bottom lines. The next time the National Golf Foundation calls a summit, it should make this a key agenda topic. Walking's more important for the game's future than projecting overblown numbers of new courses and golfers. The alternatives to riding are more viable than we hear. Using a good caddie is still the best way to play golf.