Hovering Around the Golf Course
BLITZER: Why walk on the golf course when can you hover? There isn't a question out of a science-fiction story. CNN's Jeanne Moos shows us it's very real.</s>JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a golf cart that is anything but par for the course and hit a driver drooling, watching masters champ Bubba Watson tooling around in a modified hovercraft, zipping over water hazards.</s>BUBBA WATSON, GOLFER: And who doesn't want to do that?</s>PIERS MORGAN, CNN ANCHOR: If it's real, then I want one.</s>MOOS: Well, Bubba put the "if" to rest.</s>WATSON: This is not a gag. This is really it. Me and Oakley teamed up.</s>MOOS: Oakley being Bubba's sponsor. It took two months for this prototype to be adapted by a company called Neoteric Hovercraft. It's been building hovercraft for over 50 years.</s>CHRIS FITZGERALD, NEOTERIC HOVERCRAFT (via phone): It's sort of a magic carpet floating around on the golf course. It's about nine inches off the ground.</s>MOOS: The great thing about a golf hovercraft is it doesn't mess up the grass, says company founder Chris Fitzgerald.</s>FITZGERALD (on camera): You leave absolutely no tracks. (voice-over): It's about the same -- the same force as a seagull standing on one leg.</s>MOOS (on camera): Now some golfers might be tempted to take a club to the hovercraft. It makes about as much noise as a vacuum cleaner or an electric leaf blower. (voice-over): Make that several leaf blowers. Though they have reduced the engine noise some and hope to reduce it more.</s>WATSON: It was fun to do. It was scary to drive it. I only had a five-minute lesson.</s>MOOS: Actually, Bubba, you're supposed to say "fly it," not "drive it." The controls are on a handlebar like a motorcycle. It's a little like flying a helicopter. Hovercraft are especially good for rescues on ice and in swift moving floodwaters. But it took a golf cart version to get everyone excited. YouTube commenters say, "Should have called it the BubbaHova or Bubbacraft." The small company that made the prototype is being flooded with orders from golf courses worldwide. But it won't be able to meet demand for months.</s>FITZGERALD: You just can't press a button and have these things coming out.</s>MOOS (on camera): The makers of Bubba's hover estimate its price tag would hover at around 30 or even $40,000. (voice-over): Noted one poster: "Rich man's sport just got richer." But at least Bubba didn't mow down golfers like Jackie Chan did with a giant hovercraft in "Rumble in the Bronx." Better to get hit by a flying golf ball than a flying BubbaHova. Jeannie Moos, CNN, New York.</s>BLITZER: Leave it to Jeanne Moos. Thank you, Jeanne. Remember, can you always follow what's going on here in THE SITUATION ROOM on Twitter. Just tweet me, @WolfBlitzer. You can tweet the show, @CNNSitRoom. That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.