Hover like Bubba at Windy Knoll Golf Club

Maybe you can’t drive a golf ball like Bubba Watson, but now you can fly a hovercraft golf cart just like he did in Bubba’s Hover, the viral video that took over the Internet a couple of months ago - which now has 9 million views.

Bubba’s one-of-a-kind BW1 is no longer one-of-a-kind: this month Windy Knoll Golf Club in Springfield, Ohio will become the first of the world’s more than 35,000 golf courses to use the Neoteric HoverGolf™ cart, the official limited edition replica of the BW1.

                    The first Windy Knoll HoverGolf™ cart undergoing Neoteric’s final performance testing.

Each craft has a 65-hp engine capable of 50 mph, seating for up to four passengers,

a lift-up roof, space for two golf bags, and sand bottles.

Windy Knoll was built on the former site of a thoroughbred horse farm. After Managing Director Pete Duffey watched Bubba cruising the fairways in a hovercraft, he decided to make golf history with a different kind of horsepower.

“We wanted to be able to offer something no other golf course could – a way to further put Windy Knoll on the map … It was an easy decision. When we saw them on YouTube, we said, ‘We gotta have one of those!’”, Duffey told ABC News. “We’re always looking for a way to set ourselves apart from the competition. We’ll be able to offer something that no one in the area, in the state and at this point in the country can offer … it’s going to turn heads.”

Duffey called shortly after the video went viral and ordered Neoteric’s first two HoverGolf™ carts. The craft will make their debut on July 27 at a day-long star-studded HoverBash at Windy Knoll, featuring HoverGolf™ rides, a clinic with Tim Rosaforte of the Golf Channel, appearances by LPGA Hall of fame member Nancy Lopez and LPGA golfer Paige Mackenzie, an afternoon shotgun scramble, and a huge party with dinner, entertainment and fireworks.

Next week, Windy Knoll representatives will come to Neoteric to pick up their hovercraft golf carts and undergo pilot and maintenance training at HovercraftTraining Centers headquarters.

The Windy Knoll craft will be in general service at the course in August. “We rely on golf scramble events throughout the season and the hovers offer yet another incentive for entities scheduling and organizing the events to have them at Windy Knoll. We also plan to come up with a VIP golf package for foursomes wishing to use them,” Duffey explains, adding that the carts will not be “for the average everyday group of golfers.”

Word of Windy Knoll’s hovercraft golf carts hit the news this week, launching a media tsunami second only to the original Bubba’s Hover storm. Golfers and media personnel alike are wild about the idea of flying around a golf course on a cushion of air. As CBS Sports’ Kyle Porter wrote, “I asked my boss if I could move to Ohio!”

For more information, check out Windy Knoll’s web site and Facebook page, the
Hover Bash events page, and follow on Twitter @windyknollgolf.