Provided by: Starline
As golf courses shift from gas to electric carts or grow their fleets, course staff must ensure the electrical infrastructure in their cart barns can handle increased charging demands. Often cart barns are saddled with legacy pipe and wire electrical systems that are costly and time consuming to upgrade.
Butler Country Club, a family eighteen-hole country club located in western Pennsylvania, converted their electric golf cart charging infrastructure to a flexible track busway system. See how busways improve the operational efficiency of electric golf cart charging in this case study.
Inflexible, inefficient power infrastructure
Founded in 1904, Butler Country Club is a private club with over 350 members in Butler, Pennsylvania. With a legacy charging system installed in their cart barn, the club’s operations team faced electrical and space limitations when charging their 60-cart fleet. Their charging setup consisted of bulky metal racks hung low from the ceiling. Dozens of electrical cables, also known as home runs, ran from their main electrical box through the barn to power their charging stations.
“The chargers came down from the ceiling, they were really low. I could hit them with my head, and they were pretty tightly packed, so there were a lot of cords on top of each other,” said Micah Lowell, Grounds Superintendent for Butler Country Club.
With 25% membership growth over six years and 23,000 rounds played annually, the club faced growing demands on their fleet operation. When hosting larger events such as invitationals, they were unable to plug in all 60 carts at once, which posed an operational challenge.
“We would pull the 48 that we needed out, take the 12 that hadn't been charging overnight, park them first thing in the morning, and then it’s a time crunch to get them out for the golfers,” said John Brautigam, Head Professional at Butler Country Club. “We made it work, but obviously it wasn’t ideal.”
Flexible Busway Solution
To accommodate the power demands of their electric fleet, Butler Country Club installed 100-amp T3 Starline Track Busway (100a/600V). Suspended from the ceiling, the busway’s open channel design enabled the club to install enough chargers to support their entire fleet, delivering flexibility and streamlining operations.
What is Track Busway?
Track busway is a power distribution system that uses a continuous open access design to provide power at the exact point of use. Busway systems are made up of several interconnected components that are configured to meet the layout requirements of each facility. Plug-in units are inserted into the open channel and locked into place, directly delivering power to equipment.
Benefits of Busway
Streamlined Installation
The Starline Services team installed three 50-foot busway runs in the club’s cart barn. Plug-in units, each designed with four 20-amp breakers and 20-amp receptacles to power four chargers, were installed down the busway next to custom mounting brackets for the club’s E-Z-GO chargers.
“Butler’s biggest thing was they did not want [the installation] to interrupt their operations. Our install team was able to have the busway hung and energized all within two days,” said Nick Funyak, Field Services Program Manager for Starline.
Improved Operational Efficiency
Starline Track Busway’s open channel design enabled Butler Country Club to increase the number of available outlets in their cart barn. The increased electrical access also allowed the club to power the additional equipment housed in their cart barn such as Tempo Walk caddies, utility carts, and other maintenance tools that were previously difficult to power.
“If we had to plug in more carts, we had to get creative. We had to move them around in the shop, maybe in our lower part of the shop or in corners. It was tricky,” said Lowell. “The busway gives us a lot of flexibility on how many pieces of equipment we can plug in, let alone more than just golf carts.”
Increased Safety and Usable Space
The original charging stations’ low clearance presented safety and cord management issues for the club. With busway, the chargers and support hardware were installed higher, providing safer working conditions for employees and easier cord management.
“The busway is higher, which allows us to get our carts in and out without tangling any of the cords. There's more space in between the rows of carts so that we can move freely,” said Brautigam.
Custom Brackets for Charging Equipment
Custom brackets were designed based on the E-Z-GO charger dimensions. The double-sided brackets allowed the chargers to be hung directly on the busway housing with no additional support required. Customizable for any cart charger, the bracket design enables the club to move chargers wherever they are needed along the busway run without rewiring.
Future Flexibility and Scalability
Busways are designed to simplify and expedite modifications to electrical layouts. If additional carts or equipment are needed, club operators can add or move plug-in units from one location to another in minutes without needing to hire an electrician.
If the club decides to expand or move the system to a new building in the future, the busway can be disassembled and reassembled, reducing cost and material waste. By design, additional sections can be installed to expand the busway run if needed.
Conclusion
By upgrading their electrical infrastructure to busway, Butler Country Club improved the flexibility, safety, and efficiency of their golf operations. Installed in less than two days, Starline Track Busway helped to streamline their current operations while setting the club up for future expansion.
"Golf courses should consider installing busways to charge their cart fleets. It gives flexibility for varying number of carts or other electrical needs. And from a safety standpoint, having them higher, having the cords organized can easily get your staff in and out without any safety concerns,” said Brautigam.
"If anybody was considering buying busway systems, I would highly recommend it,” said Lowell. “It's going to make things more efficient. It's going to give you more options.”
Learn more about busway by visiting: starlinepower.com/golf