This trip has brought the world what is being described as Golf Force One. A fully-armored golf cart that accompanies the President around his rounds, and no-doubt infuriating groundskeepers who are screaming at the Secret Service to stay on the cart path.
The so-called Golf Force One cart isn't really a golf cart. It's a specially-built Polaris Ranger XP1000. The four-door UTV is one of many models that Minnesota-based Polaris offers to customers and forces around the world. Those models include the MRZR Alpha light tactical vehicle that can be brought into action via V-22 Osprey, and even military-grade snowmobiles.
Officials aren't talking about the capabilities of this rig, but it is showing all the signs of being armored. Like thick glass with wide borders, doors that look extra-extra thick, and those hinges look to be reinforced, too. There's also a hard rear panel instead of the usual rear window.
A look at the General Services Administration shows that there is an armor kit available for the Polaris Ranger. It's called the PolarisArmorKit, and it starts from $188,992.92. The site says it has "protection scalable to mission" so this one is likely a lot more. The Ranger itself is extra on top. The same company offers a range of armored vehicles to the government, including Chevy Suburbans, Toyota 300 series Land Cruisers, and even a $568,000 limo.
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Trump didn't ride in the cart. Instead, he played his round with a normal cart, as he usually does. The armored unit seemed to be on hand in case of an immediate threat or emergency, rather than just as transport. The President has had security issues on the golf course before, including last September when a suspect waited for 12 hours with a rifle in some bushes at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
The Secret Service remained, as always, very secretive. The agency told The War Zone that "The US Secret Service employs a variety of tools and resources to safeguard our protectees. In order to maintain operational security, the Secret Service does not discuss the specific means and methods used to conduct our protective operations."
Trump, as well as all but three US presidents since William Howard Taft, have been avid golfers. The three non-golfers were Hoover, Truman, and Carter. Spending hours on a wide-open field with a few trees, bushes, and hills to provide cover is likely a nightmare for the security details over the years, and this new cart is probably a very valuable asset to the group.
But after all that seriousness, and while we acknowledge the need for it, an armored golf cart is a pretty funny concept. Much like the Army's experimental EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle. The EM-50 was an armored and armed vehicle based on a GMC Motorhome which helped rescue a platoon lost in Czechoslovakia in 1981. You may have heard about the fictional mission in a neat movie called Stripes.
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