MARK Twain it was who described golf as a perfectly good walk spoiled. Today, Twain might have considered it rather more appropriate to refer to golf as a perfectly good buggy drive spoiled.
The ever-increasing popularity of the golf buggy - on and off the links - is undeniable. Just ask the good residents of Discovery Bay.
We've even reached the stage where golf buggies are becoming collector's items. Frank Sinatra, it was recently reported, has decided to sell off his own personalised cart emblazoned 'Ol' Blue Eyes' on one side and 'Lady Blue Eyes' on the other. It is expected to fetch US$6,000.
In Asia, golf carts are widely considered as much a part of golf as the golf clubs within your bag.
The cart invasion came along with the golf boom that swept the region in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As big money-spinners, they have been taken on in large quantities by a high proportion of the many hundreds of clubs that have sprung up.
Which explains why, for the new generation of Asian golfers, the prospect of walking a full 18 holes is totally alien.