What is the Best First Golf Cart You Should Buy?

E-Z Go Fleet Vehicle

As most of you know I owned a Golf Cart Sales and Service shop for years. During that time we worked on and upgraded many golf carts to what customers needed and dreamed about owning. During that time we found one cart to be the easiest to work on, get new and used parts and to customize. It was E-Z Go.

E-Z Golf Carts have been around forever and they have made customizing vehicle very easy. In addition, there are thousands of after market parts available to make your vehicle a Street Legal Cart or a Bad Boy Off Road Vehicle.

One of the main reasons we like EZ Go’s for Customizing is the Steel Frame they have. That frame goes from front to back so you are able to weld on it or add a bed or rear seat without worry of the structure breaking. If you check other Golf Carts, some have half frames to save on costs and you really are not able to add a rear seat as well.

EZ Go has thousands of used vehicles at various distribution points where they come off of lease and the interested owner of a used golf cart can get a really good buy on a decent fleet vehicle 4 years old or less.

We do not sell EZ Go vehicles any more and the other carts are good in various ways. We just see the most value for the money and the versatility of the vehicle as being better.

Good luck Friends!

Village Family Services North Dakota Picnic -Mesa Az March 3

North Dakota Picnic in Mesa
3/3/2013
The 2013 North Dakota Picnic in Mesa will be held March 3, 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., at Pioneer Park, 526 East Main, Mesa, AZ. Join North Dakotans for great conversation, music, food, and door prizes.

This year’s North Dakota picnic is hosted by The Village Family Service Center. The Village is headquartered in Fargo, N.D., with offices throughout North Dakota and Minnesota. For more information about the picnic, about The Village, or to reserve a booth for your company, call 701-451-4957.
ND Picnic Poster 2013.pdf

Your Coins in your pocket or in the Cookie Jar are worth lot’s of money!

 

Kennedy half dollar Average Values

The following table lists the value (what you can expect a dealer to pay you) for your Kennedy half dollar. The first column lists the date and mint mark (see the photo above) followed by the value of an average circulated (“Avg Circ”) coin and the average value for an uncirculated (“Avg Unc”) one. These are approximate values and the actual offer that you will receive from a particular dealer will vary depending on the actual grade of the coin and a number of other factors. For issues containing silver, some pricing is based upon the spot price of silver which is approximately $32 per Troy ounce as of this writing.
Date Avg Circ Avg Unc Date Avg Circ Avg Unc
90% Silver 1990 P F.V. $1.60
1964 $11.50 $12.00 1990 D F.V. $2.10
1964 D $11.50 $12.00 1991 P F.V. $1.80
40% Silver 1991 D F.V. $2.90
1965 $5.00 $5.00 1992 P F.V. $0.90
1966 $5.00 $5.50 1992 D F.V. $2.00
1967 $5.00 $5.00 1993 P F.V. $1.60
1968 D $5.00 $5.00 1993 D F.V. $0.80
1969 D $5.00 $5.50 1994 P F.V. $0.80
1970 D $8.00 $10.00 1994 D F.V. $0.90
Copper-Nickel Clad (no silver) 1995 P F.V. F.V.
1971 F.V. $1.00 1995 D F.V. F.V.
1971 D F.V. $1.00 1996 P F.V. $0.70
1972 F.V. $1.00 1996 D F.V. $0.80
1972 D F.V. $1.00 1997 P F.V. $0.80
1973 F.V. $1.00 1997 D F.V. $0.90
1973 D F.V. $1.00 1998 P F.V. $0.70
1974 F.V. $1.00 1998 D F.V. $0.80
1974 D F.V. $1.00 1999 P F.V. $0.90
1976 F.V. $1.00 1999 D F.V. F.V.
1976 D F.V. $1.00 2000 P F.V. F.V.
1976 S 40% Silver $5.00 $8.00 2000 D F.V. F.V.
1977 F.V. $1.00 2001 P F.V. $1.10
1977 D F.V. $1.00 2001 D F.V. F.V.
1978 F.V. $1.00 2002 P F.V. $1.30
1978 D F.V. $1.50 2002 D F.V. $1.30
1979 F.V. $1.00 2003 P F.V. F.V.
1979 D F.V. $1.00 2003 D F.V. F.V.
1980 P F.V. $1.00 2004 P F.V. F.V.
1980 D F.V. $1.00 2004 D F.V. F.V.
1981 P F.V. $1.00 2005 P F.V. F.V.
1981 D F.V. $1.00 2005 D F.V. F.V.
1982 P F.V. $1.50 2006 P F.V. F.V.
1982 D F.V. $1.50 2006 D F.V. F.V.
1983 P F.V. $2.50 2007 P F.V. F.V.
1983 D F.V. $2.00 2007 D F.V. F.V.
1984 P F.V. $1.50 2008 P F.V. F.V.
1984 D F.V. $1.80 2008 D F.V. F.V.
1985 P F.V. $1.80 2009 P F.V. F.V.
1985 D F.V. $2.10 2009 D F.V. F.V.
1986 P F.V. $4.10 2010 P F.V. F.V.
1986 D F.V. $2.80 2010 D F.V. F.V.
1987 P F.V. $2.80 2011 P F.V. F.V.
1987 D F.V. $2.50 2011 D F.V. F.V.
1988 P F.V. $2.40
1988 D F.V. $1.60
1989 P F.V. $1.60
1989 D F.V. $1.40

How did Golf Get Started

The word golf was first mentioned in writing in 1457 on a Scottish statute on forbidden games as gouf,[34] possibly derived from the Scots word goulf (variously spelled) meaning “to strike or cuff”. This word may, in turn, be derived from the Dutch word kolf, meaning “bat,” or “club,” and the Dutch sport of the same name. But there is an even earlier reference to the game of golf, and it is believed to have happened in 1452 when King James II banned the game because it kept his subjects from their archery practice.[35]It has been said that golf started in Scotland in the 1600′s and was played with a stick and a ball from one point to another or village to village some also say the shepherds played it with their crooks and hit pebbles. The oldest golf course is located in St. Andrews and people started playing there in the 16th century. In the 18th century is when the game had started 13 rules of the game. The word Golf has been rumored to mean “Gentleman only Ladies forbidden” this is not true though. The origin of the word Golf may be from the word “Kolf” meaning stick, club or bat. The USGA (United States Golf Association) started in 1894 and following them in 1916 was the PGA ( Professional Golf Association). The first open championship took place in 1860 and back then there was no prize of money,but a red morocco leather belt with silver clasps

After its invention, sometime in the early 15th century, golf was abruptly banned in Scotland, as it was interfering with the duties of the male population (hmm, go figure). The game had proved to be too much of a distraction from such things necessary for the country’s defense as military drills. The Scots faced impending doom, set upon them by the country of England. There were masses of soldiers on their way from the powerful and influential country. They were coming to attack, to kill, to claim the women and children of the Scots. And where were the men? Playing golf. Fortunately, some of the men had control over their senses. That is why the Scottish parliament of King James II banned golf in 1457 and voted to keep the ban in 1470 (though by then most men were ignoring it). The ban was taken off in 1502 when a peace treaty was signed between Scotland and England. The King of England had taken up golf. Well, actually he had been traded to a different team because King James I of England was one and the same as James VI of Scotland.

Have you ever bet that you could make a hole in fewer strokes than your partner? So did Sir David Moncreiffe and John Whyte-Melville in 1870, but they probably played with a little higher stakes than your average bet. The records of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews report that the bet was literally life or death and the loser had to die. Although the records omit the outcome of the match, it is recorded that 13 years later, John Whyte-Melville gave a speech where he lamented “the causes that led to…” the death of Sir David Moncreiffe.
Such wagers in early Scottish golf were not uncommon, especially among the aristocratic class. Restrictions were even formally set by the Honourable Company in the mid-18th century to limit the amount one could bet on a game of golf, but were not followed as elite gentlemen continued to play for large sums.

While a lot has been recorded about Scotland and the history of golf, but long before St. Andrews existed a more primitive form of golf emerged in present-day Netherlands and Flanders in the 13th century. Colf, as it was called, was played with wooden clubs and balls.
The game was not played on an actual course, but was played in the streets, churchyards, and open fields. However, this sometimes resulted in the breaking of windows and the hitting of innocent bystanders. When this became a major issue, the game was banned from the towns and relegated to open fields.
The rules of the game are largely unknown, but a lot can be garnered from dutch paintings of the time. It was probably a team game with one target. The target could be a tree, a post, or even a hole, and the goal was to reach it in the fewest number of strokes.
In the 16th and 17th century, the Little Ice Age forced colvers to play on small frozen bodies of water. The colf ice fields were very crowded, so the nature of the game evolved from a distance oriented game to a more target oriented one. The conditions of colf during this time required specialized equipment, like Scottish cleeks and leather balls.

The popularity of colf dropped off by the end of the 17th century, and it was replaced by a French game called, jeu de mail (a bit like indoor croquet), and the indoor game of kolf. Kolf was a hybrid of jeu de mail and colf, and it is still played in one region of the Netherlands today

A golf-like game is recorded as taking place on 26 February 1297, in the Netherlands, in a city called Loenen aan de Vecht, where the Dutch played a game with a stick and leather ball. The winner was whoever hit the ball with the least number of strokes into a target several hundred yards away. Some scholars argue that this game of putting a small ball in a hole in the ground using golf clubs was also played in 17th-century Netherlands and that this predates the game in Scotland. There are also other reports of earlier accounts of a golf-like game from continental Europe.[1]

In April 2005, new evidence re-invigorated the debate concerning the origins of golf.[2] Recent evidence unearthed by Prof. Ling Hongling of Lanzhou University suggests that a game similar to modern-day golf was played in China since Southern Tang Dynasty, 500 years before golf was first mentioned in Scotland.[3]

Dōngxuān Records (Chinese: 東軒錄) from the Song Dynasty (960–1279) describes a game called chuíwán (捶丸) and also includes drawings of the game.[3] It was played with 10 clubs including a cuanbang, pubang, and shaobang, which are comparable to a driver, two-wood, and three-wood. Clubs were inlaid with jade and gold, suggesting chuíwán was for the wealthy. Chinese archive includes references to a Southern Tang official who asked his daughter to dig holes as a target.[3] Ling suggested chuíwán was exported to Europe and then Scotland by Mongolian travellers in the late Middle Ages.[3]

The late 19th-century boom

In the 1850s Queen Victoria and Prince Albert built Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands.[13] The railways came to St Andrews in 1852.[14] By the 1860s there were fast and regular services from London to Edinburgh. The royal enthusiasm for Scotland, the much improved transport links and the writings of Sir Walter Scott caused a boom for tourism in Scotland and a wider interest in Scottish history and culture outside of the country.[15][16][17] This period also coincided with the development of the Gutty; a golf ball made of Gutta Percha which was cheaper to mass produce, more durable and more consistent in quality and performance than the feather-filled leather balls used previously.[18] Golf began to spread across the rest of the British Isles. In 1864 the golf course at the resort of Westward Ho! became the first new course in England since Blackheath.[19] In 1880 England had 12 courses, rising to 50 in 1887 and over 1000 by 1914.[20] The game in England had progressed sufficiently by 1890 to produce its first Open Champion, John Ball. The game also spread further across the empire. By the 1880s golf clubs had been established in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. Singapore followed in 1891. Courses were also established in several continental European resorts for the benefit of British visitors.

Best Dead Golfer Funeral Ideas

Golf Bag Memorial with flowers and old clubs

Golfers are an individuals who love the game of golf and life too.

In as much golfers want to live forever and play that perfect game of golf someday, everyone dies . But  golfers want to go out with a ” Long Drive Right Down the Middle of the Fairway of Life”.

So these days more Golfers are having a Golf Themed Funeral-Party  to remember them by. Most want their funerals to be a Celebration of Life, a Hole in One, a Double Eagle !

They  want folks to reflect on the good times they had on the golf course and “the fellowship”  had with friends and family. How they do this is a mixture of bringing the course to the  funeral or even having the funeral at the golf course.

Recently my father passed away and we had a “Celebration of Life” for his funeral. He was really an active guy and did all kinds of things especially after retirement. He sang Barber Shop, Bowled, snow and water skied, square danced, built stuff, traveled, tennis, did gardening and fished. But his favorite sport was Golf. So when we had him Cremated,with mom’s wishes , he was put into a ” Golf Bag Urn”.

My mother just loves it. She brings him out in the garden with her sometimes and sits and talks to him to brag about stuff or just remember the times they golfed together. What a great piece to honor him.

Many golfers and families  are doing even more to celebrate the golfer by having there bodies presented in a golf coffin. They can rent the coffin to present “dead golfer in” and have them cremated later or to bury them in the coffin. Here are a few coffins that are being made for the Golfer. Click on the menu to find more caskets for the golfer.

Golfer Gone the Distance Casket sleeve of Balls

Golf Bag Coffin – Dunngolffin Coffin

Chrome Golfer Coffin

Pool Shark loves Pasture Pool too

This Fat Boy Hot Rod Coffin is a great way to go to “Heaven’s Golf Course” and to the Drive Inn in the Sky!

Lucky Irish Golfer – St Andrews here I come

This golfer loved Nascar and being in the pits.

King Tut loved golf and had a coffin made for himself

Budweiser Golfer Coffin

At the Golfers Funeral one needs to know what type of flower spray should you honor the golfer with. Here are the flowers that golfers and family bring to the festive event.

Golf Clubs in the Flowers

” Golfer in the Rough”

Golf Balls Found in the Flowers

Golf Bag in the Flowers of the Flowers

Drivers in the Flowers spray for the Dead Golfer

While at the “Sandbaggers” event, food and drink must be appropriate. Here are the honorable drinks for everyone to enjoy.

Arnie Palmer- The King’s Wine

Arnie Palmer Ice Tea’s are very appropriate

Green Smoothie are great and healthy for the golfer

Anika also would like to be at your party

How are you going to get the coffin to the funeral needs to be appropriate. Of course a golf cart is the only way to take the ” Mulligan Man or Women to the Sand Trap”.

Golf Cart Hearse

How do the fellow golfers-friends get to the funeral? By also using golf carts.

E-Ride 4 passenger Electric Vehicle with Clown at Parade

Shelby Mustang Golf Cart

Fun Mardi Gra Golf Cart

Golf Cart jazzed up for Mardi gras or golfer funeral

What type of gifts to you give to your friends still trying to avoid double bogies in this life. Here you go .

Golf balls and tees with your name on them

There are also some great Golfer Urns to put your ashes in . It of course is less expensive to do and you can buy more stuff for the guests at the funeral.

Golfer Urn

golfer urn wood and glass

Oak Golfer Urn

Another thing to remember when planning a “Golfers Funeral” is to have the Memorial  Boards for the golfer. These tell the story of the golfer and maybe some pictures of the great times had by all on the course.

Golfer Memory Board

Memory Boards for golfer

golfer collage board

The Golfer also should have a Memorial Plaque at a grave site or maybe somewhere on his favorite course. They too are not that expensive and leave a place for people to come and pay respects.

golfer memorial wood

golfer in stream

Golfer Memorial bench and clubs

As we all know there have been some famous golfer funerals with legacy’s that deserve much more then a small token of remembrance. For example Payne Stewart, who was a professional golfer who passed, Received a Life like statue to remember him. There are others too!

Payne Stewart Memorial

Ben Hogan one of the greatest golfers to live

Gentleman Byron Nelson

The Great Bobby Jones

The “Wild Seve Ballesteros

Dead Golfers know they are going to a better place where the Greens are perfect and the Weather is just right. When you have your Golfers Funeral make sure you bring some momento’s to the funeral like these;

Golf Bag with Flowers

Bag Piper

old golf bag

A Trophy The Golfer May have won

Chivas Regal Scotch- Give everyone a shot

Enjoy the Celebration and then go play a round for your friend that is playing the golf courses in the heavens.

Best Golf Cart Maintenance Tip

What causes a golf cart to have a huge maintenance problem or start on fire?  Lack of a good maintenance program and using bad parts. This Gemcar started on fire because of a bad 12 volt DC Board. Eventually Gem had a recall on this product and changed out several parts. Some of the main causes for Golf Carts to have some problems such as not running or to actually start on fire and burn your house down is lack of a Good PM program. We will give you some products to keep  your golf cart-lsv running

.Bad Golf Cart Batteries

The number one reason golf carts do not run correctly or have major problems is lack of care of the batteries. If your batteries look like the ones above you may have several things going on with your PM program. What most people do not realize is when batteries get older or have not been charged properly, they start to not take a charge as effectively as new batteries. When you have bad batteries and are charging the cart everyday, often times the batteries do not take a full charge and do not shut the charger off. So the Charger continues to boil the batteries and hydrogen gas is created which creates the corrosion on your terminals and on on the tops of the Batteries. This is called “battery current leakage”. Your State of Charge meter may indicate the batteries are full but that is a false reading. Only new batteries will give you a correct reading of battery capacity. Batteries must be put under a load to give you proper capacity of the battery. To Find out exactly what the condition of your batteries you need to have a Battery Load Tester.This product can be used not only for your golf cart batteries but even your car batteries state of charge condition. You may find that you only have one battery that is bad and you will save the price of 5 other batteries.
Equalizing Batteries

Batteries need to be charged each day to enable the entire battery pack has all its batteries charged equally. Many Golf Carts have 12 volt accessories on them such as head lights, brake lights, radio’s and cell phone plug ins. Most carts use a 12 volt battery connection that taps off two 6 volt batteries to run them. This discharges those two batteries more then the rest of the battery pack. It is important to charge your batteries everyday to insure all the batteries are working in sync with each other. If your battery pack is dead, then your golf cart battery charger will not start until the pack voltage is brought to a certain level. This must be done by charging each battery individually with a regular 6-12 volt battery charger. You may only need to charge each battery a couple hours and then the Golf Carts Battery Charger should kick in. To fully equalize the batteries, you need to charge it for two consecutive days. The second day, unplugged the charger and plug it in again. This restarts the charging cycle. The charger should shut off after the batteries are equalized if the batteries are in good shape. If it stays charging, you may have bad batteries and need to replace.

The Best Golf Cart Maintenance tip I can give you is to keep your batteries fully charged and full of water . If you start to see corrosion on your battery terminals, clean them off with water and baking soda. If your battery cables are getting old, replace them so there is a solid connection on the battery.

http://astore.amazon.com/golfcartmaintenance-20

Enjoy your cart!!

Use your local Golf Course for your Wedding. Its a beautiful venue.

Use your local Golf Course for your Wedding Venue and support your local community and save some money. Golf Courses are a beautiful place to take pictures and are used to serving lot’s of folks at various golf events. In addition, they are hungry for your business since it does not interfere with the golf course itself.

Our youngest daughter is getting married soon and we are having it at a golf course. Hopefully, I can get a couple of rounds of golf out of the deal too!

Best Golf Tournament Raffle Prizes

Every Charitable Golf Event has Raffle Prizes. These prizes are usually donated by Businesses, Individuals or purchased by the golf committee to enhance the event. Usually, raffle tickets are sold and when your lucky number comes up. you win a great prize or at least a great memory of the event. Below are some of the Best Raffle Items we have found at many golf events.

Gift Basket

Golf Clubs

Wine and Spirits

Golf Apparel

Travel Bags

Sports Prints

Golf Gifts

Electronic Raffle Items

Electronics are the new hot item for Golf Raffle items. Do not forget them in your raffle!

Golf Rounds and Gift Certificates

Donated Foursome Golf Rounds

Most Raffles have donated rounds of golf from the course that is having the tournament or from the committees respective home courses. These rounds are highly coveted.

Gift Certificates for Restaurants

Restaurant Gift Certificates are a great raffle item

Jewelry is always a great raffle item

http://astore.amazon.com/golfrafflegifts-20
http://astore.amazon.com/golferscotches-20
http://astore.amazon.com/excellentwines-20

Golf Cart Accessories and Parts

Click on Link for Accessories and Parts

http://astore.amazon.com/golfcart08-20

Meaningful Life

“In the meaningful life “you use your highest strengths and talents to belong to and serve something you believe is larger than the self.”