You’ve seen the videos. A standard E-Z-GO or Club Car, usually meant for manicured fairways and paved paths, suddenly looks like a miniature tank. It’s crawling through three feet of snow or navigating a literal swamp without breaking a sweat. It’s a golf cart on tracks, and honestly, it’s one of those modifications that feels like total overkill until the second you actually need it. If you’ve ever high-centered your cart in the mud or felt the wheels spinning helplessly in loose sand, you know the frustration.
Standard tires are great for grass. They’re terrible for almost everything else.
Converting a golf cart to a tracked vehicle isn’t just about "looking cool," though it definitely checks that box. It’s about ground pressure. A standard golf cart tire might exert 20 or 30 pounds per square inch (PSI) on the ground. When you swap those out for a track system—like the ones made by Mattracks or Camso—that pressure drops to something ridiculous, often under 2 PSI. You’re basically floating.
The Reality of Track Systems for Golf Carts
Let’s get the elephant out of the room first: this isn't a cheap weekend DIY project you can finish with a basic wrench set. Most people think they can just bolt on some rubber treads and head into the woods.
It’s more complicated.
Most track kits, specifically the Mattracks LiteFoot series, are engineered to bolt onto the wheel hubs. But because tracks create so much more friction and "scrub" than a round tire, your motor and controller are going to scream for mercy. If you have a bone-stock electric cart, you’ll probably fry the controller within twenty minutes of heavy trail use.
You need torque. Lots of it.
Most successful track conversions start with a high-torque AC motor upgrade or a heavy-duty gas engine. If you're running a Navitas AC 5kW conversion, you’ve got the guts to turn those tracks. Without that power, you’re basically just building a very expensive lawn ornament that can’t climb a hill.
🔗 Read more: Who is my ISP? How to find out and why you actually need to know
Why Ground Pressure Is Everything
Think about a snowshoe. If you walk in boots, you sink. If you wear snowshoes, you stay on top because your weight is distributed across a massive surface area.
A golf cart on tracks works on the exact same principle. This makes them indispensable for specific types of work. We see these used heavily in:
- Commercial Vineyards: Where you can't compact the soil around delicate root systems but still need to haul gear.
- Search and Rescue: Getting a full-sized 4x4 into a narrow, wooded trail is impossible; a tracked cart fits and floats over the debris.
- Snow Removal: Property owners in the Northeast use them to check fences or haul wood when the snow is too deep for a quad but too tight for a tractor.
- Beach Maintenance: Sand is the enemy of the thin golf cart tire. Tracks turn a beach into a highway.
It’s a niche tool.
If you just drive on gravel driveways, stick to tires. Tracks are loud. They vibrate. They will absolutely tear up a manicured lawn if you turn too sharply because they don't "roll" through a turn—they skid. It’s called skid-steering physics, and it’s brutal on grass.
The Hidden Costs: Beyond the Kit
You’re looking at $3,000 to $6,000 just for a quality set of tracks. That’s more than some people pay for the actual cart.
But the "real" cost is in the suspension. A golf cart's factory suspension is designed for a light wheel and tire. A track assembly is heavy. We’re talking 40 to 100 pounds per corner depending on the model. That’s a massive increase in unsprung weight. You’ll need a heavy-duty lift kit—usually 6 inches or more—to provide the clearance for the tracks to rotate without chewing through your body panels.
Also, consider the steering.
💡 You might also like: Why the CH 46E Sea Knight Helicopter Refused to Quit
Turning a tracked vehicle requires significantly more physical effort. If you don't have electronic power steering (EPS) installed, your forearms are going to feel like you’ve been at the gym for four hours after a short ride. Many high-end builds now integrate aftermarket EPS kits originally designed for UTVs.
Battery Drain and Range Anxiety
If you’re running an electric golf cart on tracks, your range is going to take a massive hit.
Roughly 30% to 50% loss.
Friction is the culprit. A round tire has a tiny contact patch. A track has dozens of internal bogie wheels and a massive rubber belt that requires energy just to move. If you’re still using old-school lead-acid batteries, forget it. The voltage sag will be so intense that the cart will feel sluggish. Lithium is almost a requirement here. A high-discharge lithium battery like a BigBattery or EcoBattery unit can handle the "amp hog" nature of a tracked system.
Maintenance is a Different Beast
Tires are easy. You check the air pressure once a month and call it a day. Tracks are mechanical systems.
You have to tension them. If they’re too loose, they’ll "throw a track" in a turn, leaving you stranded in the mud with a 100-pound rubber belt and no way to get it back on without a jack. If they’re too tight, you’ll burn out your bearings.
Then there’s the cleaning. If you run through mud and let it dry inside the bogie wheels, it turns into concrete. You have to pressure wash those tracks after every messy outing. It’s a labor of love, or at least a labor of necessity.
📖 Related: What Does Geodesic Mean? The Math Behind Straight Lines on a Curvy Planet
Is It Actually Worth It?
Honestly? It depends on your dirt.
If you own 50 acres of swampy bottomland in Louisiana or a mountain plot in Colorado that gets five feet of powder, a golf cart on tracks is a game-changer. It turns a seasonal vehicle into a year-round workhorse. It’s cheaper than buying a dedicated side-by-side (SXS) with tracks, which can easily push into the $30,000 range.
But if you’re doing it for the "vibe" at a local campground? You’ll hate it. It’s too loud, it’s too slow, and you’ll be vibrating like a paint shaker the whole time.
The smartest way to approach this is to look at the Camso UTV 4S1 or the Mattracks LiteFoot systems. These are the gold standards. Stay away from "no-name" universal track kits you find on discount import sites. Those often use inferior rubber that cracks under UV exposure or steel frames that rust out after one winter.
Actionable Steps for a Track Conversion
Before you buy anything, do these three things:
- Measure your hub bolt pattern. Most golf carts are 4x4 (4 bolts on a 4-inch circle), but some newer models or heavy-duty versions differ. Tracks are rarely "universal."
- Verify your controller's amperage. If you’re under 400 amps, upgrade the controller first. You need the "push" to get the tracks moving from a dead stop.
- Check your clearance. Measure the distance from your hub to the nearest piece of the frame or body. Tracks have a much larger "swing radius" than tires. You might need to trim your fenders or install offset spacers to prevent the tracks from rubbing.
If you’ve got the power and the clearance, the capability is mind-blowing. You’ll find yourself looking for the deepest mud hole just to prove you can get through it. Just remember to bring a pressure washer.