ORLANDO, Florida — Four years ago, Max Togisala was a top high school golfer in Colorado and headed to Central Wyoming College on a scholarship.
That arc, though, changed on Feb. 19, 2022 when a skiing accident at Sun Valley Resort left Togisala paralyzed from the waist down. At the time, he believed his golf career was over.
Mike Nicholson has a similar story of golf perseverance. The 36-year-old Marine fondly tells the story of taking a 6-iron with him on his deployment to Afghanistan to practice hitting balls. That was before Nicholson was severely wounded in 2011, losing his legs and his left arm.
Both somehow, some way refused to give up the game they love because handicaps that don’t involve scores. Each was out hitting balls straight down the fairway at the PGA Show’s Demo Day at Orange County National Golf Center earlier this week, tightly strapped into an adaptive state-of-the-art golf cart called a VertaCat.
The idea of the VertaCat was floated in 2022 by Jeff Nicholson (no relation to Mike) and his brother, whose Florida neighbor at the time was struggling with multiple sclerosis (MS) and using an adaptive cart manufactured in Germany that was being discontinued. And replacements parts would soon become scarce.
“His story touched my brother’s heart,” says Jeff Nicholson, whose family business in Minnesota since 1953 involved manufacturing message signs for highways. “We thought to ourselves that we have mechanical, electrical and software engineers at our company, so we felt we could design an adaptive cart, and 18 months later we came out with the first VertaCat.”
One of the first models was used by Togisala during the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst Resort.
“We were rushing to get one done for Max and we didn’t even have a name yet,” Jeff Nicholson says. “So, my son and I put it in a van and we drove it from Minnesota to Pinehurst. We said a prayer that the thing was even going to work. Not only did it work but Max played all four rounds in it and we won his division.”
Both Togisala and Mike Nicholson were using another form of adaptive cart before discovering the sturdier and more powerful VertaCart, which weighs 600 pounds and can scoot around a golf course with the speed of a regular cart.
Jeff Nicholson says a smaller version called the SimCat can be used with indoor simulators and taken to facilities such as TopGolf. That version costs $10,000, with the VertaCat retailing for just under $30,000. It has a 17-degree slope capability, a 15-mile range and enough battery to last 36 holes.
“The VertaCat helps me to be able to play golf in a standing position, and it can take me all around the golf course — into bunkers, on the steep hills, even onto the greens and hopefully in the fairways,” Togisala says. “My dream was to play college golf and unfortunately I wasn't able to finish that, but I think I got something better using this cart.”
Meanwhile, Mike Nicholson now works as an assistant pro at a private club in Tampa, Florida.
“When my accident happened, I pretty much thought that was it for golf for me,” he says. “But then I was introduced to the world of adaptive golf in 2016 and tried different products, different carts, to see what worked best for me. I have been using VertaCat the last two years in a bunch of tournaments and it has definitely changed my life.”
Mike Nicholson says there is a learning curve to get in the proper hitting position while strapped into the cart.
“After a while, muscle memory kicks in and you just know where you need to be,” he says, adding that the cart has helped him at work. “Being able to use the VertaCat makes my job 20 times easier because I'm able to get out onto the course better than in a regular manual wheelchair. I even use it when I'm not golfing, just to get around there a little easier.”
Jeff Nicholson says the product can be used for anyone who is mobility challenged, and the company has customers from 10-year-old kids to seniors in their 90s.
Most of the VertaCat clients are golfers who can apply for grants to help defer some of the steep cost, but Nicholson hopes golf courses will soon become more involved with the carts.
“An able-bodied person goes to a golf course,” he says. “They pay for their green fees, they pay for their cart fees, and they pay for food and beverage. We believe the mobility challenged person should be able to do the same thing — pay green fees, pay for adaptive cart fees and pay for your food and beverage. So, we need the golf courses to start purchasing these. It’s an untapped market. There are so many people that are mobility challenged and they just want get out and be with their buddies and their friends. I’ve investigated this and no matter how you crush the numbers the golf courses can make money purchasing these.”
