If you head out to an Epson Tour event this year, you may see something you wouldn’t find on any other major professional tour.
Beginning this week with the season’s first event at the Central Florida Championship, Epson Tour players will now be able to use electric, remote-controlled carts, or electric caddies, in competition.
The rules change was born out of a partnership between the Epson Tour and MGI, an Australian maker of electric caddies and power trolleys that entered the U.S. market eight years ago.
Epson Tour Chief Business and Operations Officer Jody Brothers said the partnership was born after the tour, the only direct feeder to the LPGA Tour, reached out to MGI, looking to level the playing field for all of their members.
“When I made a connection with somebody at MGI, that got me thinking about this whole idea of if we allowed you know the motorized caddies, would that level the playing field for somebody that maybe couldn’t afford to take a caddie week in and week out on the Epson Tour?” Brothers told GOLF.com this week. “And that’s that’s really how the whole thing got started.”
Brothers said about one-third of players on the Epson Tour use a professional caddie who travels with their player week-to-week and usually has prior experience on the LPGA Tour or another global professional tour. Then there’s a third of players who either use local caddies or a family member who doesn’t do much more than carry the bag and only gives advice a few times a round, if at all.
The final third are players who carry their own bag or use a push cart.
Brothers says he expects many of the players who fall into the latter two categories to take advantage of the Tour’s new partnership with MGI, which allows players to purchase their own MGI electric caddie at exclusive pricing.
Those who already use a professional caddie will likely continue using one, but the rule change and access to the discounted electric caddies could be a boon to those who couldn’t afford a pro caddie.
“What I felt like I saw just as an observer of the game was that those that could afford a caddie really probably had an advantage over those who potentially couldn’t afford a caddie,” Brothers said. “Our athletes come from a lot of different countries, a lot of different social backgrounds and I really just wanted to have the most level playing field possible.”
While caddie rates vary on the Epson Tour, Brothers estimated that on average, a player purchasing an MGI electric caddie on the discount would be roughly equivalent to the average caddie rate for a week. Obviously, the MGI cart can last for multiple weeks and likely years.
As a bonus, MGI was a logical partner for the Epson Tour over other manufacturers as it’s headed by two female CEOs, sisters Carrie Edwards-Britt and Miranda Turner, who joined their father’s business in 2005.
“We are more than excited to partner with the Epson Tour as it continues to redefine the future of women’s golf in the U.S. The Epson Tour is truly leading the charge, demonstrating innovation, talent, and the vital role it plays in developing the next generation of LPGA stars,” said Turner, in a press release. “At MGI, we are incredibly proud to support this exciting shift in the game, standing behind these driven athletes as they compete — state by state, course by course — on their journey to the top.”
Using an electric caddie in competition probably defies a lot of conventional norms to many people, and this isn’t something Brothers sees being entertained by the LPGA Tour with their larger purses and TV coverage.
But it makes logical sense for the Epson Tour given it is a developmental tour.
“I understand that it’s gonna look a little different,” he said. “In a perfect world every one of our athletes would take a professional caddie and they would make enough money that they could afford it. They would be able to learn to use a caddie the right way and have somebody helping them read greens and carry their clubs and keep them clean and do all the things that a great caddie does for our athletes — that would be the perfect scenario — in reality, we just haven’t grown purses enough to really be able to support that.
“There will be some that will not like this at all, and there will be many who applaud us for maybe bucking the tradition of a golf a little bit and being innovative and trying to balance the playing field for those that can’t afford a caddy.”
For those who might be surprised to see professionals using electric carts, Brothers hopes it might inspire them to try one for themselves.
“It encourages people to walk and if there are fans that come out to watch an Epson Tour and they see that,” he said. “The only difference between them riding a golf cart with four wheels versus walking alongside a motorized caddie is the fact that they thought it was weird.”
