Golf cart etiquette for first-timers

Within an hour of arriving you will be driving a golf cart, and within a day you will have opinions about how other people drive theirs. Here is how to be on the right side of those opinions.

The license rule comes first, because it’s the one people break. Every cart driver must hold a valid driver’s license, full stop. The quiet roads make it tempting to let a teenager or an unlicensed friend take the wheel “just to the beach access,” and every summer someone does. It is strictly prohibited, it is dangerous on narrow shared roads full of bikes and walkers, and North Carolina road rules apply to carts exactly as they do to cars. Treat the cart like the vehicle it is and the rest of this list is easy.

The speed limit is 18, and it’s plenty. The island is a few miles end to end. You are never more than about fifteen minutes from anywhere, which means the difference between driving politely and driving like you’re late is roughly ninety seconds. Pull right and let faster carts by.

Beach parking has one commandment. Every tire off the pavement. Not two tires, not most of the cart. The accesses are marked, the sand shoulder is the parking lot, and the rule keeps the narrow lanes open for everyone including emergency vehicles.

Night driving is real driving. The forest roads under the live oaks get genuinely dark, and deer treat the whole island as their yard. Headlights on at dusk, take the curves gently, and give the wildlife the right of way; they had it first.

And wave. Cart drivers wave at each other, at cyclists, at walkers, at the occasional permitted work truck. You don’t have to mean it at first; by day three you will.

The carts are all electric, and rentals come from a handful of island companies; book ahead in summer because they do sell out. Details, rates, and the full rules live in our getting around guide.