Ron Fobes scoots around the Maple Chase Country Club golf course faster than anyone else without leaving tracks or any trace of evidence on the tees, fairways or rough.
The Maple Chase member is an authorized dealer of Phat Rides, selling scooters easily adaptable for golf course. An emerging product, Phat Rides scooters weigh less than 200 pounds, are easy to ride with 8-inch tires, and have a 2,000-watt electric engine that can travel 50 miles between charges.
Fobes said the scooters don’t have any more impact than walking does on wet fairways — a claim backed up by Maple Chase superintendent Justin Hudson.
“I’d rather have 50 of them (on the course) rather than 50 golf carts,” said Hudson.
Fobes said they don’t leave a mark on greens, either, but knows that seeing him ride on the putting surfaces would rile up fellow members.
The biggest concern mentioned by Fobes and Hudson is the kickstand, which could cause turf damage if utilized on wet ground.
Though the setting in golf mode tops out at 14 mph, the scooter’s speed can be gradually increased through a governor up to 20 mph.
Cruising down a fairway at 14 mph — standing or sitting — is a fun ride. The scooter motor is controlled by a throttle on the right handlebar. A setting allows the scooter to go in reverse. Handbrakes are on both handlebars. Parking is done with a kickstand.
Considered an ebike, Phat Rides scooters are allowed on roads, but don’t require operators to have a driver’s license, buy a license plate or wear a helmet.
Fobes, 57, is a former Nextel sales/operations manager who owned a wireless service. He is gearing up to sell the scooters, priced at about $3,700, to golfers and golf courses, but also to hunters, members of gated communities and recreational users.
“Most people who have ridden one, want one,” Fobes said.
The ‘Caddy’ comes in four models
Phat Rides’ golf model, Caddy, includes a bolted-on bag holder in the rear, a cooler for beverages, and holders for scorecards and sand bottles used to fix divots. The company has two other models, OG and Amp’d. OG is marketed to recreation and street travel while Amp’d includes Boss audio speakers.
Fobes bought a first-generation Phat Rides scooter three years ago. When he brought it to Maple Chase in Winston-Salem, club general manager Shannon Murphy wanted one. With no inventory available, Fobes sold his scooter to Murphy.
Fobes has owned two of the third-generation Caddy scooters, which he uses for demonstrations, for about four months.
His daughter, Mallory, is a senior on the golf team at UNC Wilmington, where she earned first team All-Colonial Athletic Conference honors as a sophomore and junior.
Fobes doesn’t think it will be hard to drum up interest among golfers for the scooter. But gaining supply will be harder. His first shipment of inventory — due later this month — will include 11 — four Caddy models — scooters. For now, a small staff in Phoenix is assembling scooters one at a time.
“My ultimate goal is to start assembling the scooters here to service the Southeast,” Fobes said. “Once we have the supply part, I think we’ll be OK. The product is good — that’s that I keep going back to.”
Fobes hopes to open an assembly site/showroom in Winston-Salem. He owns a 13,000 square foot warehouse at 4411 Cherry St., where he’s operated two small companies, Millennium UAV, a drone provider, and Connect Tech, an IT company.
Fobes also plans to service the scooters. He would also like to set up a leasing system.
“We’re trying to develop a dealer network I am trying to assist with,” Fobes said.
But according to Fobes, only 16% of the 1,000 or so Phat Rides scooters in existence are the “Caddy” model.
Fobes discovered Phat Rides about three years ago at Pinehurst Country Club during a demonstration at The Lily women’s golf weekend. The owner of the scooter offered him a chance to take a short drive around the parking lot.
Fobes, who was looking for a franchise to own, was immediately interested in becoming a dealer, but was told the company, founded about six years ago, wasn’t ready.
“I just kind of kept tabs on them for awhile,” Fobes said.
So Fobes waited. He looked for other franchising opportunities, but couldn’t find a good fit.
“If I could figure out a way to make (a living) in or around the golf industry, I knew that was something I had a passion for.”
Last fall, he called Phat Rides again. He was scheduled for a conference call with CEO Tim Moran the next day.
The timing was perfect. Moran, an investor brought in to run the company in the months since Fobes had seen the product for the first time, had identified the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida as an early target area.
Fobes said Moran, who doesn’t play golf, was particularly interested in other uses for the scooters such as for transportation in inner cities as well as senior and recreational areas. A knobby tire version is marketed to hunters.
Fobes traveled to Phoenix in December to meet with company leaders and see the 44,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.
He quickly jumped aboard. But there was no inventory to sell. Moran said Fobes would have to wait until this month for his first shipment.
When will Phat Rides have the capability to produce enough to sell in large volume?
“I wish I could answer that,” said Fobes, who has reached out on a “cursory” level to several golf course owners. “And that’s one of the reasons I’m not chasing as hard right now.”
Fobes plans to quickly gear up sales when he receives shipment. Moran told him to expect lead time of approximately four weeks.
“I will be trying to sell all through North and South Carolina and gobble up as much terrain as I can,” he said. “But I have to wait on (production).
“My ultimate goal is to start assembling the scooters here to service the Southeast,” Fobes said. “Once we have the supply part, I think we’ll be OK. The product is good — that’s that I keep going back to.”
An obvious way to speed up rounds due to their speed and ability to take players directly to their shots rather than follow cart paths, Fobes said the scooters can increase revenues by allowing more rounds to be played each day.
Fobes said a course’s most effective use of the scooters might be sending one player with a scooter out with four players in a cart. Fobes claims that such a fivesome — typically not allowed at most courses — can play faster than a typical foursome because the player on a scooter can serve as a forecaddy, speeding ahead of the carts to find shots.
Phat Rides has packages of 6, 8 and 12 carts that it markets for courses.
Fobes said he holds no illusions that scooters will make golf carts obsolete. He said he sees them as an additional option. As an industry, golf scooters gained momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic when carts were limited to single users.
Finn Cycles, a golf scooter brand from Sun Mountain Sports, a well-known golf bag maker, are available at Pine Needles and Mid Pines resorts in Southern Pines. Finn Cycles claims to lease scooters to more than 140 courses — typically six per course — throughout North America. Headquartered in Montana, Finn Cycles start at around $3,500.
Koppla, a German company, also makes golf scooters, like Finn Cycles, with 12-inch tires. According to its website, Koppla’s golf model starts at around $3,300.
But in a new industry — especially one that adds enjoyment and some economic benefits to a golfing experience — there could be many potential buyers and clients.
“There’s plenty of turf out there for everyone,” Fobes said.
