Yes, most of my recent rounds of golf have looked like this:

Yes, those are my clubs. On a push cart.

I don’t know why, but over the past couple of weeks, the combination of golf and my back has led to tightness. Especially when I carry my sticks. Maybe it was the result of playing a bunch of golf in cool weather in April. Maybe I did something goofy and knocked my back out of whack. Or maybe it’s because I’m getting old.

Whatever the reason, it was time to pull the push cart up from the basement. I originally got this Sun Mountain beauty about five or six years ago. I had some ongoing back issues that led to me going to the chiropractor on a regular basis. I used the push cart almost exclusively for a couple of years.

But my back got better. I didn’t carry my laptop and a heavy work bag through airports all the time and that certainly didn’t help. So the push cart ended up in the basement.

I have some friends who swear by their push carts and wouldn’t consider playing golf any other way. I’m pretty luke warm about it. There are certainly positives: My back feels better after the round, I feel like I probably have more energy down the stretch and you can stuff as much stuff as you want in your bag.

But at the same time, I don’t totally love it. I don’t like having to walk around greens instead of being able to walk right to my ball when carrying. I don’t like when you have to hit a chip from one side of the green and then the next tee is on the opposite side of the green. And I feel old having to use it.

This weekend I carried once and pushed once. It certainly beats having to ride and it does allow me to get some good exercise, but I’d rather have my back stop barking at me when I carry.