http://iowacomicbookclub.com/2015/06/10 Trolleys, Portstewart Golf Club, Northern Ireland, April, 2012.

Lunéville At home, my friends and I have almost always walked and carried our bags. In Scotland four years ago, though, we became semi-converted to pull carts–which are called trolleys in the U.K. and Ireland (and are called buggies in Australia). At first, we weren’t very good at handling them and were constantly tipping them over and crashing them into one other, as you can see in the photo below, from Cruden Bay in 2008. (Those are the steps that connect the first tee and the clubhouse. A trolley ramp is built into them, but we still managed to screw everything up.)

Trolley accident, Cruden Bay Golf Club, Scotland, 2008.

Unfortunately, the standard rental trolley is ill-designed for the only job it has to do. An easy way to make up for its major defect is to travel with your own bungee cord, as I do, and use it to secure your bag to the frame, as in this photo, from Enniscrone, where we played yesterday:

Golf bag secured to rental trolley with bungee cord, Enniscrone Golf Club, Ireland, April, 2012.

I still overturn my trolley fairly often, but when I do my bag doesn’t usually fall completely off. The only time I got into serious trouble yesterday was as I was leaving the fourteenth green. I took a path that was meant not for trolleys but for mountain goats, and eventually had to pick up the trolley itself (with the bag securely attached) and carry it.