It’s essential to stay hydrated and energized on the golf course. When appropriate, coolers can be a great way to keep food and drinks cold and encourage refueling. Ideally you want to find a cooler that fits into the basket of a golf cart, maintains temperature and doesn’t make a mess. We put several to the test: Coolers were filled with ice, cans and internal thermometers to record temperature changes over time. We tested coolers under the hot sun, in a 24-hour period and while being jostled around in the back of a golf cart. Each were evaluated on performance, size, ease-of-use and the emptying and cleaning process. There are many different types of coolers to consider depending on what you’re storing, how long you need to keep things cold and what conditions are like outside. Not every cooler is one-size-fits-all. Here are the best we found and tested.
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Two trials of cooler testing. In the off-course trials, each cooler was filled with ice and cans, put under the hot sun for a full day while we recorded internal and external temperature changes over time.
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The on-course testing consisted of evaluating how the coolers fit in three different styles of golf cart baskets, testing leakage driving on bumpy terrain and recording internal temperature change with consistent opening and closing of the coolers to grab a beverage or snack.
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