By BIG DOG TIM BAINES
When you’re making push carts, you want to develop something that helps make life easier for the golfer. Makes sense, right?
Award-winning Bag Boy is at the top of its game right now – its TOP-LOK technology is fixing a problem golfers have all the time – securing your golf bag in the cart so it doesn’t shift around.
One of things we’ve focused on as a company is how to make our pushcarts easier to use for the consumer,” said Craig Ramsbottom, president of Dynamic Brands, Bag Boy’s parent company. “Really there are two areas we focused on: One was opening and closing the push cart. No carts on the market open and close easier than Bag Boy. They’re all compact, you can fit them in your trunk or store them in a small place.
The other thing we noticed was if you put a stand bag on a pushcart, a lot of times the upper bag bracket is not designed to hold the stand mechanism. So after a couple of holes, your golf bag is going to be sitting on its side on the push cart – it twists. We set out to fix that. The first thing we did a number of years ago was we sculpted the upper bag bracket so there was room for the stand mechanism. Now, when you lock that bag in, it doesn’t turn. If it turns and lays on its side, you don’t have access to all your pockets anymore.
We took that concept to the next level and have designed the stand mechanism so it locks into the upper bag bracket of the pushcart. You don’t even need straps anymore. You basically lift the bag just over the upper bag bracket of the cart, slide it down and it locks into place. It’s a pretty cool innovation that makes it easier for the golfer to use our cart and our bag. We expanded TOP-LOK to include not only Bag Boy bags, but Datrek bags as well – and not only the stand mechanism, but we put the feature on the cart bags as well.”
The newest models of the Bag Boy pushcarts feature TOP-LOK – Tri Swivel II, Quad XL, Compact 3 and Express DLX Pro, and bags; the Revolver FX, Defender, Chiller Cart, Chiller Hybrid and TL Stand Bag. The 2018 line of Datrek bags also include TOP-LOK – Go Lite Hybrid, SGO Cart, Lite Rider II and DG Lite II.
There’s a simple philosophy behind the company that’s made it so successful.
The owner has been in an ownership position for 20 years,” said Ramsbottom. “He’s got a couple of things he likes to say: ‘Details make the difference.’ and ‘It’s all about the product.’ It’s so true. If we just had a bunch of me-too products, we wouldn’t be nearly as successful as we are.
Bag Boy has another innovation to help traveling golfers – the Stand Guard protection system. When you put a stand bag in the travel cover, there’s a chance the golf bag’s stand mechanism could break when it’s being thrown around by baggage handlers. The extra padding in the back of of the Bag Boy travel bag cover is a big help.
No question, innovations have come a long way.
It’s probably been 15 years since the pushcart was introduced,” said Ramsbottom. “Prior to that, you had a two-wheel pullcart. It’s much harder to walk around the course with a two-wheel pullcart – you’re bearing all the weight, you’re pulling it. With three or four wheels, the cart’s just rolling. I feel like we’ve converted a lot of people who carry into being pushcart users, but also someone who is riding in a cart who wants to exercise – they weren’t going to carry their clubs, but now they will walk and push their clubs. There’s that fitness trend, get some exercise. If you’re going to play golf for four or five hours, why not walk the course and get some exercise?”
Bag Boy is distributed by Golf Trends in Canada. www.golftrendsinc.com/
Bag Boy – www.bagboycompany.com
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April 2018
