Driving sales.

• Author: King, Brad
• Position: NC GOLF

Golf carts were introduced in the early 1930s as a means of assisting disabled golfers. It wasn't until the 1950s that they went more mainstream, aided by the entrepreneurial instincts of a future North Carolina business leader.

Today, increasing popularity of golf and off-the-course uses has spurred estimated sales of about $1.3 billion annually with expected growth to $1.8 billion by 2028, according to Portland, Ore.-based Allied Market Research. Golf courses, which make up more than half of industry sales, typically retain their carts for about three years. Resellers often add fresh paint, new wheels, fancier seats, and other bells and whistles.

Three companies dominate the U.S. market and are based in Georgia: Club Car and E-Z-Go in Augusta and Yamaha in Newnan. "It's about comparing a Ford to a Chevrolet," says Cheyann James of Thomasville's BJ & Son Custom Golf Cars. "All three (brands) do the same thing." .

Augusta-based brothers Beverly and Billy Dolan founded E-Z-Go in 1954. Golf carts in use grew from about 1,000 in the early 1950s to 120,000 a decade later. The Dolans sold their business to diversified manufacturer Textron in 1960.

Beverly Dolan, known as the "father of the modern golf cart," later headed Textron's Homelite chain-saw business in Charlotte and was a longtime director of First Union...