Zuca owner with good back checking in - I dislike carrying and fiddling with a bag of discs and hydration on the course.
Approach hole, swing bag of discs and sloshing water off back, hang on a hook or place on ground/bench, drive, pick up and one-strap bag, approach where I inevitably went out, place bag on dirty/wet ground, bend down to thumb through my get-out-of-trouble options, bushwhack to my lie, back to the bag, pick up and one-strap, ad nauseum.
With the cart I feel like I bring the amenities around the teepad with me - my bag is continuously hung up on a hook at a reasonable height, I have my towel hung and ready to go, and my water isn't weighing down one side of my body. Plus, although a backpack sucks less than a traditional tourney bag with quad straps, it still sucks to swing the damn thing onto my back after every shot.
Backpack and tourney bag owner with bothersome back checking in - I dislike pushing and pulling a cart of discs and accessories on the course.
Approach hole, use tired arms to swing cart into a large enough spot, carefully maneuvering it to not roll away, drive, swing cart into proper direction and push/pull over rocks, roots, mud, and steep hills, inevitably flip the cart on a rock once or twice, approach where I inevitably went out, park cart in the mud, bend down to thumb through my get-out-of-trouble options, bushwhack to my lie since I can't bring a cart anywhere off the fairway, back to the cart, tired arms maneuver over more rocks, flinging mud everywhere, having to lift the heavy cart over particularly big obstacles anyway, ad nauseum.
With the backpack or tourney bag I feel like I bring the amenities around with me - my bag is easier to carry everywhere I need, I never forget random accessories, and my water isn't falling out of the crappy water bottle holders. Plus, although a cart sucks less than a little red wagon, it still sucks to swing the damn thing everywhere after every shot.
...
Half-joking aside, I've had a cart for just over a year now, and it's easily the most disappointing disc golf purchase I've made. While it saves my back a little, my forearms and hips get way more tired, and that's on a flat, smooth, cart-ideal course. Probably 3/4 of the courses in my area are rough going for a cart, in ways that I never even thought about or realized pre-cart, and the small benefits just aren't worth it to me then. I actually find the cart to be really mentally straining too - constantly having to find the flattest and smoothest paths for it amongst all the rocks and roots, figuring out what angles to park it at, etc. Just not for me, clearly. I am glad they work so well for others, I don't know how you guys manage to do it on some of these courses.
