Taking Life Easy : Retirees at Leisure World Are Trading Their Cars for Golf Carts for an Enjoyable Drive in Slow Lane

If George Holtzinger could find one, the license plate holder for his Toyota Cressida wouldprobably read: “My other car is a golf cart.”

It is no joke, either. For an increasing number of Leisure World residents, golf carts are the preferred mode of transportation within their private retirement community of 21,000.

Each year, more and more retirees trade their cars for golf carts. Leisure World officials say 850 golf cart owners have registered their vehicles. Owners of two local golf cart dealerships peg the number of cart owners even higher, from 1,500 to 2,000.

The folks at Leisure World are hardly unique. At retirement communities across the country, golf carts are fast becoming a preferred mode of transportation.

An estimated 15% of the 80,000 carts sold in the United States last year were bought by people living in residential communities such as Leisure World, according to a spokesman for E-Z-Go Textron in Augusta, Ga., the largest golf cart manufacturer in the United States.

“It’s a big market for us now,” said spokesman Ron Skenes. “More private communities, especially in the Sun Belt, are permitting their residents to drive golf carts on their streets. . . . For this market, we are jazzing the golf carts up with the works--custom upholstery, tinted windows and plush seats--to make them more personal . . . like a car.”

While golf carts at Leisure World are a fixture on the retirement community’s four nine-hole golf courses, many carts have never been near the greens.

Mike Boyd, part owner of Saddleback Cart Service located just outside the Leisure World gates, said at least 20% of the 250 new and used golf carts sold by his company last year were bought by non-golfers in Leisure World.

Retirees who have lost their licenses or can no longer drive because of failing vision and other medical reasons--the average age at Leisure World is 76--have found that carts are the most practical alternative to motor to any of the community’s six clubhouses or to visit friends in not-so-near homes.

“It’s really perfect for Leisure World,” said Helene Holtzinger, who shares a golf cart with her husband. “You don’t have to wait for the hourly buses and it’s cheap transportation. You don’t need a gas guzzler here.”

To be legal on public streets, golf carts must have seat belts, headlights and license plates. But even with licenses, the carts, which have a top speed of 15 m.p.h., can by law only be driven on roads with a speed limit of 25 m.p.h. or less.

Despite such restrictions, some golf cart owners in Leisure World use their carts to zip over to the nearby bank, market or drugstore--or to go cruising.

Others embark on more distant journeys.

An 80-year-old resident who wanted to register his cart decided to make the 20-mile trip to the DMV’s San Clemente office--via Interstate 5.

He didn’t get very far.

“There he was driving (on the freeway) at 12 m.p.h.” said Rod Harrison, who operates Rod’s Cart Service in Santa Ana, which services carts in Leisure World. “He was pretty shaken up by the speed of the other cars. The police became unglued and pulled him over.”

Another customer who decided to go to church with her cart missed her turn and ended up in San Juan Capistrano a few hours later. “She called us to rescue her,” Harrison said.

Boyd said his crews are often summoned to rescue golf cart drivers “who go exploring and get lost.”

There have been “a handful of accidents” involving golf carts outside the 2,000-acre retirement community, but police rarely cite golf cart drivers, California Highway Patrol Officer Ken Daily said.

Two years ago, two elderly Leisure World residents were seriously injured when their golf cart was rear-ended on El Toro Road. The driver, who told CHP officers that he had driven his electric golf cart on public streets for 10 years, received 30 stitches in his head.

“He was a pretty cocky guy too,” Daily said. “He told us that despite the accident, he would continue to drive on the street.”

“A lot of them don’t know it is illegal so we issue a warning instead,” he said. “It’s an excellent form of transportation if you don’t mind going that slow . . . but it’s absolutely not safe to drive them on streets where the speed limit is over 25 m.p.h.”

Some elderly couples say they save money by trading their second car for a cart.

“A retired couple who have two cars would not have to spend money on insurance and maintenance of a second car,” Harrison said. “It only costs $100 a year to operate an electric cart and it’s going to work when they want it, plus they’re in no hurry to get there.”

The Holtzingers, who are Ohio natives, traded their second car for a 1989 Yamaha cart. When George Holtzinger is using the car, his wife, Helene, takes the golf cart to go the swimming pool or to her work as a security guard on the compound.

“Driving a cart gives you a freedom you can’t believe,” George Holtzinger said. “You are not as intense as when you are in a car. When you cruise at 10 m.p.h. you can really enjoy the landscape and everything around you.”

A director of one of the community’s largest housing cooperatives, Holtzinger was successful in convincing the cooperative’s board to build special “cart ports” to house golf carts. The first set of parking spaces was completed a few weeks ago.

The price of a new golf cart ranges from $4,000 to $10,000. Most retirees say they prefer electric carts to gas-powered ones.

Sometimes, the parking lots at the clubhouses are a virtual sea of identical golf carts. Many times owners report their golf carts stolen only to discover that a neighbor or another owner has mistakenly driven off with the wrong cart.

But there are others that stand out in a crowd. One couple’s Royal Ride cart, for example, looks like a miniature Rolls-Royce.

Gale MacMorris, 73, said he, too, could not settle for “the square boxy old (carts) that you see around” when he decided to retire and enjoy life in the slow lane. No bench seats and tarpaulin top for him. MacMorris, who said he plays golf “only about five times a week,” dished out almost $8,000 to buy his beauty--a custom-built Mercedes-Benz look-alike.

The snazzy vehicle is fully equipped with a stereo cassette player and air-conditioning. MacMorris is thinking of installing a heater so he can use it during cold weather.

“I get an awful lot of comments,” MacMorris said. “People say how it’s dandy looking.”

Walter and June Adsit also own one of the more stylish carts in the community. Their Yamaha Sun Classic is complete with independent four-wheel suspension, bucket seats, spoked rims and personalized floor mats.

Walter Adsit, 70, said he is planning to install a citizens’ band radio in his cart.

“Who knows? I’ll probably start a trend here,” the retired general contractor said. “I’ve owned dune buggies, cars, trucks, motor homes, but I really like this cart. . . . Hell, it’s my last toy.”