How Cartin’ Started
Cartin’ began with a question that probably should have had an easy answer:
“Where can we drive our golf carts?”
It did not.
There was no clear answer. No app. No map built specifically for the way golf carts actually move through communities.
So Winston McDavid and John Burke decided to build one.
The idea came together while they were doing something completely unrelated to golf carts: climbing a mountain.
Which is probably as good a place as any to start a golf cart navigation company.
Somewhere between the rocks, the altitude, and the realization that going uphill on foot is a deeply inefficient way to travel, the conversation turned back to golf carts.
They both loved the same thing about them.
A golf cart changes the pace of your day.
You notice things.
You wave at people.
You take the long way.
You stop somewhere because it looks interesting.
You see a friend and actually pull over.
A ten minute trip can somehow turn into an afternoon.
But there was one annoying little problem.
You could own a cart, spend thousands of dollars on it, customize it, add better seats, lights, speakers, wheels, and a screen big enough to land a small airplane and still ask:
“Can I actually drive this thing there?”
Regular navigation apps were built around cars.
Golf carts had guesswork.
So John and Winston started with navigation.
Build something that understood the vehicle.
Help people figure out where they could go.
Make the ride easier.
Simple enough.
Except the more they thought about it, the more they realized navigation was only part of the story.
The interesting part was what happened after people knew where they could go.
They could find a new restaurant.
Meet friends.
Go on a poker run.
Take the grandkids on a scavenger hunt.
Track how far they had ridden.
See what they might be saving by leaving the car at home.
Compete with their neighbors.
Or head out with no particular plan other than:
“Let’s go Cartin’.”
That was the bigger idea.
Not just GPS for golf carts.
An app built around the experience of golf cart life.
John and Winston grew up in a time when you did not always need a calendar invitation to see your friends. If their bikes were lying in the driveway, you knew they were home.
You knocked on the door.
You figured out the rest from there.
Golf carts bring a little of that feeling back.
Freedom.
Spontaneity.
Neighborhoods that feel like neighborhoods.
Ordinary afternoons that somehow become stories.
So the question that started Cartin’:
“Where can we drive?”
Eventually became a few better questions.
Where can we go?
Who can we find?
What can we do when we get there?
And maybe most importantly:
What if owning a golf cart could be even more fun than people already think it is?
That’s what we’re building.
Find your way. Find your people. Live the Cartin’ life.