Why walk the golf course when you can use Bubba Watson's insane jetpack instead?
Bubba Watson, the fifth-ranked golf player in the world, just can’t seem to get around a golf course like regular pros. Three years ago, he boarded a hovercraft and glided over fairways, bunkers and water hazards. Now he’s ready to fly over them in the world's first golf cart jetpack.
The two-time PGA Masters champ is featured in a new stunt video from Oakley and Thinkmodo, the marketing, media and video company that memorably brought you Devil Baby (yes, that’s a thing), Tiny Cop Lifting Car and the Automated Selfie Stick, which strangely never caught on with Kim Kardashian..
Oakley commissioned the new video, which Mashable is debuting here, to celebrate the return of golf to the Olympics when they kick off in Brazil on Aug. 5. Watson is a member of the U.S. Olympic Golf Team. They also commissioned the video to, obviously, promote their sports apparent and their PRIZM sports sun-glasses. Watson's somewhat nontraditional style of play fit the creation of this radical golf cart design.
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In the video, a trained pilot boards what looks almost like a tiny rocket ship, then lifts off and flies over Methven golf course in New Zealand -- where the aircraft is certified to fly -- as other stunned golfers look on. It’s a feat you could accomplish easily in CGI, but this jetpack golf cart (a.k.a. BW-Air -- for Bubba Watson- Air) is real.
Built by Martin Aircraft, BW-Air is actually an experimental aircraft capable of flying at 46 mph and at 3,000 feet of altitude. It runs on regular gasoline and makes about as much noise as a high-performance motorcycle (which means it’s pretty loud), but Thinkmodo's James Percelay insisted it's quiet -- in a relative sense thanks to a piston-less rotary engine that runs at about 90 db. Its ability to take off and land vertically in relatively small spaces makes it, potentially, ideal for first responders, the actual target market. Martin Aircraft hopes to start selling to fire, police and rescue departments by then end of this year.
Percelay told me that Martin Aircraft is seeking FAA approval and does hope to eventually market the $200,000 aircraft to consumers. Those who do buy this extreme craft for personal transportation will need flight training. Even Watson has yet to pilot a BW-Air, but Percelay told me the golfer is currently third in the queue for training.
And, yes, the Martin Aircraft is already taking pre-orders.
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Topics Olympics
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
