A golf cart (called golf car in ANSI standard Z130.1, since "carts" are not self-propelled) is a small vehicle designed originally to carry two golfers and their golf clubs around a golf course or on desert trails with less effort than walking.

Golf cars come in a wide range of formats and are more generally used to convey small numbers of passengers short distances at speeds less than 15 mph (24 km/h) per ANSI Standard z130.1 as originally manufactured. They are generally around 4 feet (1.2 m) wide × 8 feet (2.4 m) long × high and weigh 900 pounds (410 kg) to 1,000 pounds (450 kg). Most are powered by 4-stroke engines.

The price of a golf car can range anywhere from $3,000 - $15,000 per car, depending on several factors. These factors may include whether or not a fleet of cars is being purchased for a golf course or a country club, for example, and whether the cars are new or used. Other factors may include options such as equipment requirements, and how many people the car is meant to transport. With the rise in popularity of golf carts, many golf clubs or country clubs offer storage and energy options to golf cart owners. This has led to the modification of golf carts to suit use at the particular golf course. Typical modification includes windshields, ball cleaners, cooler trays, upgraded motor or speed controller (to increase speed and/or torque), and lift kits.

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players (or golfers) use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.

It is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on golf "courses", each of which features a unique design, although courses typically consist of either nine or 18 holes. Golf is defined, in the rules of golf, as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules."

Golf competition is generally played for the lowest number of strokes by an individual, known simply as stroke play, or the lowest score on the most individual holes during a complete round by an individual or team, known as match play.

A cart is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from a dray or wagon, which is a heavy transport vehicle with four wheels and normally at least two horses, which in turn is different from a carriage, which is used exclusively for transporting humans. The restriction of "carts" to two wheels has become less strictly observed since they were commonly horse-drawn, particularly for those pushed by people.

The draught animals used for carts may be horses or ponies, mules, oxen, water buffalo or donkeys, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs.

Carts have been mentioned in literature as far back as the second millennium B.C. The Indian sacred book Rigveda states that men and women are as equal as two wheels of a cart. Hand-carts pushed by humans have been used around the world. In the 19th century, for instance, some Mormons travelling across the plains of the United States between 1856 and 1860 used handcarts.