There’s a moment in almost every walking round when it clicks. You’re not rushing. You’re not waiting on batteries, paths, or traffic. You’re simply moving through the golf course the way it was designed to be experienced—one step at a time.

It might happen on a quiet walk with a putter in hand, already reading the green before you reach it. Or between shots, when a conversation stretches naturally because no one has peeled off into a different cart. Or when you notice a contour, a bunker edge, or a wind line that somehow escaped you for years.

That belief sits at the center of a wide-ranging AmateurGolf.com podcast conversation with Stewart—Co-Founder and CEO of Stewart Golf—and Rob Rigg, Founder of the Walking Golfer Society. What begins as a discussion about walking quickly turns into something deeper: golf culture, health, community, technology, and why walking may be the most overlooked upgrade in the modern game.

Falling in love with the game on foot

For Rob Rigg, walking golf isn’t a preference—it’s where the game took hold. Growing up in Toronto, golf wasn’t a daily fixture. Hockey was. But summers spent in Ireland changed everything. Long days on foot. Caddying for family members. Walking 36, even 54 holes when daylight allowed.

Stewart’s path was different but arrived at the same conclusion. Raised in England, surrounded by walking-only golf culture, he never thought twice about whether you’d ride or walk. Walking simply was the game. What stayed with him wasn’t scoring—it was time. Time spent with people, drifting between conversations, truly present in the round.

It’s a realization many golfers have only after returning to walking: riding fragments the group. Walking keeps it whole.

The Walking Golfer Society: born from a simple question

The Walking Golfer Society didn’t begin as a business idea. It began during a wet Portland winter, fueled by golf architecture rabbit holes and a practical frustration: how hard it is in the U.S. to know whether a course is genuinely walkable.

Courses built through housing booms, routed over hillsides, or stretched across rugged land can be wonderful—but punishing to walk. The Walking Golfer Society aimed to bring clarity: simple walkability ratings, honest reviews, and an emphasis on experience rather than dogma.

When technology supports the walk, not replaces it

Stewart Golf entered the conversation not as a disruptor, but as a supporter. Stewart describes electric caddies not as replacements for walking, but as enablers—tools that make walking accessible to more golfers without changing the soul of the round.

Stewart compares follow technology to cruise control: invaluable at the right moment, invisible when not needed. The philosophy is simple—engineer everything around stability, ease, and flow, so the golfer’s attention stays where it belongs.

COVID, community, and a quiet shift

The pandemic accelerated something already waiting to happen. Forced into single carts or separated groups, many golfers discovered walking—and realized they preferred it. More conversation. More awareness. Less fatigue.

The challenge now isn’t convincing golfers walking is good. It’s sustaining momentum—supporting a community that already understands what walking gives back.