Throttle ON or Throttle OFF

[insbob]

I own a 1995 Club Car DS that I purchased used from a dealer this spring.
My issue that I am looking for help with today is that it seems like the throttle is either wide open or the engine shuts off.
Immediately when I depress the throttle to the start point, the cart takes off at full throttle, reaches the rev limiter point, then shuts off, then after the speed drops restarts, accelerates to the rev point, then shuts off again. On and on this goes.
There is basically no detectible throttle control other than on (wide open) and off. I noticed that there is a ground wire that is frayed and broken. I will lengthen the wire and reattach before I respond again. I removed the "black box: cover and inspected the throttle cable travel. It seems smooth and is not restricted. The cable housing looks good as well. I have adjusted the throttle cable slightly, but it didn't seem to make a difference.
In the past I have secured the carb choke box in the proper location, this took care of a starting issue and a backfire issue as well. I had a push rod slip out and put that back in place. This slipped out going down a hill, so it may have have been related to slight over-revving or the backfire issue. After reinserting the pushrod, I now have a bit of a popping noise on deceleration on occasion. I assume this is a valve setting issue and want to take care of my issues one at a time.
It is so jerky that my wife is afraid to operate it.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Bob