Epson Tour says electric pushcarts are approved for use during 2025 season

The 2025 Epson Tour season kicks off this week in Winter Haven, Florida, and will feature a new twist: electric caddies.

The tour announced Wednesday a new partnership with MGI Golf, an Australian-owned maker of electric pushcarts. The news also comes with a change in tour regulations to make electric pushcarts legal on the development tour, effective immediately at this week’s Central Florida Championship.

Athletes on the Epson Tour don’t make enough to require a professional caddie like on the LPGA. Jody Brothers, the Epson Tour’s Chief Business and Operating Officer, said that while there are no formal statistics on the subject, he feels the tour can be split-up equally into three camps: Those who have regular professional caddies; those who use local caddies or friends and family; and those don’t use a caddie at all.

“When I saw some of these athletes carrying their own bag and or pushing a cart, I was like well, that seems weird too,” said Brothers, “because you’ve got somebody who has the financial resources or the backing to have a professional caddie, and somebody out here that’s maybe just scraping by and has the winter job and is it really talented player, but they just don’t have the resources to to hire a caddie yet.

“It feels like there is a gap in performance that needs to be bridged a little bit. Personally, I use a electric motorized caddie when I play at my home club, and I thought ‘There’s gotta be a way that we can make make this work on the Epson Tour,’ and then I was shocked to find out that we had a regulation against it.”

Brothers did a little more digging on the subject and ultimately got the rule changed, and then reached out to MGI to get the conversation going. MGI was onsite in Winter Haven showing players how to use the carts.

Epson Tour players will receive discounted pricing for the carts, which retail between $699 and $1,895. MGI also plans to sign on several players as ambassadors.

Brothers said the reaction from players has been overwhelmingly positive, especially for those who travel by car to most events and don’t use professional caddies.

“There’s been a few that have sort of had raised eyebrows, I’m not gonna deny that,” said Brothers, “and that’s maybe some of the more purists, and maybe some of the athletes that have played some seasons on the LPGA tour and they probably were just surprised more than anything that we would put this into play.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Epson Tour changes rule to allow electric pushcarts for 2025 season