A new name, a new design and new partners: SoloGolf is hitting the links.
The company, founded by Raleigh entrepreneur Josh Hein, started as a whimsical idea while he was playing golf. He saw the inefficiency in how golfers utilized two-person carts to chase down a single ball. What if, instead of a cart, there were individual vehicles moving across the course?
He started sketching, and he and his brother-in-law built a solo-rider prototype.
Initially, the company, formerly called Caruca, was a side gig. Hein was pulling double duty, working at Citrix (Nasdaq: CTXS) by day and by night, the passion project.
Then, nearly two years ago, he took on the company full time.
The firm added three former Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) engineers. It rebranded to SoloGolf and fine-tuned the vehicle, now called SoloCart. The new model is “significantly better,” armed with a lithium battery. The firm started selling about a year ago, and its scooters are now available at courses such as Bald Head Island Club and True Blue Golf Club in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
But the success he’s seeing has had some help. The pandemic – even with the challenges it brought – boosted the golf industry in a big way.
“For our business … people actually realized they enjoyed riding alone in a golf cart,” Hein said.
So far, the firm has sold just under 200 carts, but it’s projecting sales to go up 300 percent over the next year.
There have been challenges – particularly in materials sourcing and shipping and logistics. Parts that used to take two months to receive now take nine months. Costs have increased across the board “which is a huge challenge.”
But the three-person company keeps chugging along, one hole at a time. And it's growing as locally as possible, Hein said. The firm shifted its metal manufacturing to Raleigh from South Carolina. All of its main components are made locally. And the firm opened an assembly and shipping facility in Holly Springs.
