Buying an Electric Golf Scooter? 8 Things We'd Consider Before Choosing One

Electric golf scooters are still relatively new compared with traditional electric trolleys, which means buying one isn't always straightforward.

If you're looking at spending a couple of thousand pounds, you'll probably compare motor sizes, batteries, speeds and plenty of other specifications. That's understandable, but having sold electric golf scooters for a while now, we've realised that some of the things customers worry about most before buying aren't necessarily the things that matter most once they actually own one.

So, rather than simply telling you which scooter we think you should buy, these are the things we'd genuinely consider if we were choosing one ourselves.

1. Can You Actually Transport It?

This would be pretty close to the top of our list.

A scooter can be fantastic on the golf course, but if getting it in and out of your car becomes an ordeal every weekend, you're probably not going to enjoy owning it very much.

Don't just look at the overall weight. Find out how the scooter breaks down, what the individual sections weigh and how much room it takes up in the boot.

Our Birdie Glide, for example, separates into two main sections of roughly 20kg each. That makes each section more manageable than trying to lift the complete scooter in one go.

The Birdie Pro takes a different approach. It's lighter overall at around 30kg and folds down more like a conventional golf trolley rather than splitting into two sections.

Neither approach is necessarily better. It depends on you, your car, where you'll store it and how comfortable you are lifting it.

It's also one of those things we'd strongly recommend thinking about before ordering rather than discovering afterwards.

2. Think About the Courses You Actually Play

This is another area where specifications don't always tell the whole story.

A golfer who spends most of their time on a relatively flat parkland course has very different requirements to someone whose home course has steep climbs and more demanding terrain.

Our two scooters are a good example.

The Birdie Pro is designed to give golfers the flexibility of riding or using it in trolley mode and is well suited to flatter and rolling courses.

The Birdie Glide is a more powerful, ride-only scooter with dual 1200W motors, a wider wheel stance and three gear settings. If you're regularly playing hillier courses and expect to ride for most or all of the round, the Glide is likely to be the more suitable of the two.

That doesn't mean looking for the scooter with the biggest motor and assuming it's automatically the best. Think about where you're actually going to use it.

That's far more useful than comparing numbers on a screen.

3. Decide How You Want to Play Golf

This sounds obvious, but it's probably one of the biggest differences between the scooters available.

Do you want to ride for the whole round?

Would you rather have the ability to ride when you want to but walk at other times?

Do you mainly want to reduce fatigue?

Or are you actually trying to play faster?

We originally expected mobility and fatigue to be the main reasons people bought our scooters, and they certainly are important for many customers.

But we've also had younger, perfectly mobile golfers buy the Birdie Pro for a completely different reason: time.

They want to finish work, get to the golf club and squeeze nine holes in before it gets dark. A scooter gives them the opportunity to move around the course more quickly without changing the actual game of golf.

That's something we probably wouldn't have put particularly high on this list when we first started selling them. Customer experience has changed our thinking.

So before choosing a scooter, ask yourself what you're actually trying to get from it.

The answer might make the decision considerably easier.

4. Don't Get Too Carried Away With Battery Range Claims

Battery range is understandably one of the first questions we're asked.

Nobody wants to be standing on the 16th hole with a flat battery and a very expensive scooter to push back to the clubhouse.

But we'd be cautious about treating any quoted range as an absolute guarantee.

A scooter's real-world battery performance can be affected by the golfer's weight, the terrain, hills, ground conditions, temperature and how the scooter is being used.

Two golfers using exactly the same scooter on two completely different golf courses may therefore get different results from the same battery.

Our advice is to look at the battery specification, understand what the manufacturer recommends and make sure the scooter is suitable for the type of golf you play rather than focusing solely on the biggest advertised range.

And, obvious as it sounds, get into the habit of charging it properly before you play.

5. Look Beyond Speed and Motor Power

Motor figures are easy to compare because they're nice simple numbers.

Bigger must mean better, right?

Not necessarily.

Power matters, particularly when hills and more difficult terrain are involved, but we'd look at the scooter as a complete package.

Braking, stability, wheel layout, controls and how confidently you can manoeuvre the scooter around the course all matter too.

For example, the Birdie Glide uses dual 1200W motors and has disc brakes and a wide wheel stance, whereas the Birdie Pro uses dual 800W motors and motor braking.

They're different scooters designed around different types of use.

Rather than buying based on one headline specification, look at how all those features work together and whether they suit the way you intend to play.

6. Check With Your Golf Club

This is a simple one, but it's worth doing.

Golf clubs can have their own policies regarding ride-on equipment, particularly during periods of poor weather or when course conditions are especially wet.

If you're buying a scooter primarily to use at one particular club, speak to them first.

Explain what you're considering buying and check whether there are any restrictions you need to know about.

It's much better to have that conversation before spending the money.

And remember that course restrictions can change throughout the year. A club may be perfectly happy with scooters during normal conditions but introduce restrictions when the ground becomes particularly wet.

7. Ask What Happens If Something Goes Wrong

This isn't the most exciting part of buying a new scooter, but we'd argue it's one of the most important.

Before spending a significant amount of money, find out:

Who handles warranty claims?

Are replacement parts available?

Can the scooter be repaired in the UK?

Is there actually someone you can speak to if you have a problem?

We've put a lot of work into this side of Only Birdies because it's one of the questions customers ask us most often.

We have our own engineer in Shropshire, hold a range of spare parts and have also started building a wider repair network, including PGM Services in Mid Wales.

We don't pretend that every possible component is sitting on a shelf waiting to go. Some less commonly required parts may need to be ordered in, but we'd much rather be upfront about that.

We've written a separate guide explaining what happens if your golf scooter needs servicing or repairs, which is worth reading if after-sales support is an important part of your decision.

Hopefully you'll never need any of it.

But when you're spending this sort of money, it's worth knowing it's there.

8. Buy the Scooter That Suits You, Not Necessarily the Most Expensive One

This is probably the most important point we'd make.

There isn't one electric golf scooter that's right for every golfer.

Even within our own range, we'd happily recommend different models to different people.

If you want something lighter that folds down, gives you the option of walking in trolley mode and suits the courses you regularly play, the Birdie Pro could make far more sense.

If you're looking for a ride-only scooter, regularly tackle hillier courses and want the additional power and stability of the larger machine, we'd point you towards the Birdie Glide.

And there are golfers for whom we'd recommend neither.

If you enjoy walking, have no problem getting around 18 holes and simply don't want to push or carry your clubs, an electric golf trolley might be all you actually need.

We've previously compared electric golf scooters and electric golf trolleys in more detail, because they're not really competing versions of the same thing. They solve different problems.

The important bit is working out what your problem is before spending the money.

So, Which Electric Golf Scooter Should You Buy?

We'd start with three questions.

Where do you play? How do you want to play? And how are you going to transport it?

Those answers will probably tell you more than an hour spent comparing motor specifications.

Once you've narrowed things down, then start looking at battery capacity, power, braking, warranty and all the other details.

And don't be afraid to ask questions.

We speak to customers all the time who aren't sure whether the Birdie Pro, Birdie Glide or even an electric trolley would suit them best. We'd much rather have that conversation before someone orders and help them choose the right product than try to convince everyone that the most expensive option is automatically the best.

A golf scooter should ultimately do something pretty simple.

Make it easier for you to play more golf.

Everything else comes after that.