For some golfers, walking enhances the experience; for others it's tiring and frustrating

Like many golfers, Drew Koeneman and his three buddies signed up for a round at The Park, the new course in West Palm Beach that opened to fanfare in April.

Koeneman, 34, said he usually takes a golf cart, but decided to walk the course on Fourth of July weekend for a "fun change of pace." At The Park during the summer, walking with a caddy is mandatory before 9 a.m. and walking is required from 9-10 a.m. Golf carts aren't allowed before 10 a.m.

It saved him a $60 cart fee ($30 for each person), but in the middle of a scorching Florida summer, it's a long day.

"It's hot, but you know what you're getting into," he said. "It's a walkable course, though. I would do it again."

Koeneman, from Palm Beach Gardens, can certainly take the heat. He said he recently played six rounds of golf in three days at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on Oregon's Pacific coast. There, walking with caddies is mandatory.

At The Park, he likes the option of being able either to walk or ride.

"Walking is a different pace, but one that you can really take in the whole course," he said.

Of course, Koeneman, being in his 30s, has a lot more stamina to walk a golf course than many of the seniors who reside in Palm Beach County.

Ray Lowe of West Palm Beach wrote Mayor Keith James to express his frustration, criticizing the push to have golfers walk the course if they seek to play it before noon during the busy season.

"The result of this is that senior golfers like myself, not to mention golfers with physical handicaps, will be excluded from morning tee times," Lowe wrote. "That is unless we walk and pay a caddy. I don't think that the senior golfers of our community will be happy with this arrangement. I know I'm not!"

The Park's general manager, Brian Conley, however, has assured everyone that if a golfer needs to take a cart because of a physical handicap or disability, it will be available. Push carts are also provided free of charge by the course so carrying a bag isn't required.

And some locals worry that, after initial interest wanes, The Park will be hit with a double-barreled problem: high costs and an insistence that golfers walk the course if they arrive before noon during high season.

During the slower summer months, golfers will be encouraged to walk if they begin play before 10 a.m.

Those who are unable to walk the course because of a physical handicap or disability will be allowed to rent a cart no matter when they play. And they can always hire a caddy, though that will cost $100 for an adult caddy or $65 for a student caddy (minus the tip).

Those fees would be on top of green fees that will range from $50 to $80 for West Palm Beach residents, $120 to $200 for Florida residents who don't live in the city and even more — $180 to $280 on up, depending on market conditions — for out-of-state residents looking to play The Park.

Some prefer the tradition of walking; others don't

Timothy Hunt, a Palm Beach County resident, said he sees The Park as part of an unfortunate trend of golf "surprisingly going back to a game for the wealthy with rates being priced out of the reach of people wanting to get started in the game, or those living on retirement incomes moving to South Florida."

Another Palm Beach County golfer, Patrick Connolly of Jupiter, added: "I understand they have to make some money, but this is way over the top. Nobody charges $60 for a cart, and the green fees are outrageously high. I guess the people in charge don't care about the average Joe who feels $50 is about the limit for reasonable golf."

But for West Palm Beach residents, the costs for a round at The Park — say, $60 in green fees and a $60 cart fee for a total of $120 — is not out of line with what some other top public courses in the area such as Abacoa in Jupiter and Boca Golf & Racquet Club cost.

James has pushed back against the notion that The Park will be too expensive.

"The Park's green fees are affordable for West Palm Beach residents, starting at around $60 for 18 holes," the mayor said. "Florida resident rates will (be) in line with high-end public course fees, and rates for out-of-state golfers will be comparable to destination public golf facilities."

The Park's amenities are second to none

Few who have played or toured The Park quibble about its quality or the breadth of its amenities.

In addition to its Gil Hanse-designed 18-hole course, The Park will feature a nine-hole course, putting greens and an expansive driving range with computer technology that can track the distance and direction of a drive.

The facility will have training rooms, and area students are expected to be able to get schooled not only on golf but also on financial literacy and science, technology, engineering and math.

"There will be no shortage of recruiting kids and getting them involved, which is the whole reason this thing came out of the ground," Conley said.

Some young people will learn more about the game through work as caddies, Conley said, adding that that's part of why walking will be encouraged at The Park.

"We obviously want to get people walking," he said.

A throwback: Before golf carts, everyone walked

When the sport of golf originated in 15th-century Scotland, it's safe to say there were no electric golf carts with GPS systems. The golf cart didn't really come into play until the mid-1960s as a mainstay, and today golf carts dominate the fairways as a way to increase speed and an additional revenue stream for the expensive game.

A big part of that push was that many of the modern courses over many acres and, particularly in South Florida, are laid out among housing communities with long distances between greens and tees.

The Park, however, was designed with walking in mind, and the old municipal course was a popular walking course.

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Conley said golfers who opt to use a cart could end up walking more than those who don't use one. Tees are a short distance from one another.

The golf-cart-vs.-walking argument will likely always be around. Recently, Paul Goydos, who plays on the PGA Tour Champions, posted a tweet — that he later deleted — that it was unfair for players in competition to use carts on the Tour, labeling it "a clown show."

But under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a player can take a cart in competition, just as Casey Martin did in 2001, when he successfully sued the PGA Tour for denying him a cart.

And even if walking West Palm's new course isn't as difficult as some of the private clubs, it's still, well, not a walk in The Park with the scorching Florida heat in the summer.

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For Jupiter's Connolly, the old adage that "golf is a good walk spoiled" rings true. "I think I would have a hard time at 74 years walking that course," he said.

A visitor to Palm Beach County, Andy Warnar, 61, said he prefers to walk, but only on the courses near his Carlisle, Mass. home.

"When you walk, you can see the whole scope of the course," he said. "Plus, it's great exercise, but for me, from a health point of view, I'm not walking in 92-degree heat in Florida. Those days are over for me."

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Conley, however, understands the preference some have for using a cart, but said he stands by the decision to encourage walking — even if it means some will choose to get their hacks in elsewhere.

"We're not trying to push as many people through here as we can," he said. "We're trying to have about half of our rounds as walking."

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer James Coleman contributed to this report.

Wayne Washington is a journalist covering West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and race relations at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter @waynewashpbpost. Help support our work; subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: At West Palm's new golf course The Park, morning walking is mandatory