Comment NumberOL-100240
OrganizationWalnut Creek Golf Course
Received04/02/2005 08:52:06 AM
Commenter
First NameLast NameState/Province
RandyBallingerIN
AgencyU. S. Department of Justice
Docket IDCRT Docket No. 2004-DRS01
RuleNondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services; Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities
AttachmentsNo Attachments

CommentsAnswers to Specific Questions


6- Shortly after the proposed ADA regulations were published in the 90's we took a very proactive stance to this issue. We searched for companies that produced carts that might help service this underserved market segment. I do see potential opportunities for some golf facilities but certainly not all. We did have a single rider cart at our facility in the early 90's for a period of 2 years. This cart was a prototype for a company out of England. The owner of the company wanted to patent and sell these carts in the USA. Apparently another company did a knock off of the cart and things got tied up in litigation over the patent and did not materialize. I was doing testing for him and contacted the local ADA representatives and had several people visit and operate the cart. We wanted as much critical evaluation as possible so that we could improve any design problems prior to manufacture. It was an enlightening experience. The thing that I was disappointed in, during the time we had the cart we did not have the first golfer that was willing to play golf in this cart! We received quite a bit of publicity on the cart and certainly we contacted several ADA organizations including "Breaking New Ground" from Purdue Univerisity and invited these people out, but none of the contacts could find a person that was willing to try the cart in a round of golf. The other thing we found was the limitations of the people that we visited with varied so widely that we did not feel that one or two carts on a golf course would accommodate the people that might come to play. The representatives from the ADA office as well as Purdue Univerisity Breaking New Ground people did not feel that one cart could fit all because some of the controls needed to be specific to the particular disability. I might add that in most cases, the persons that visited us with a disability had a more sophisticated and specifically adapted cart than this single rider cart could provide. In all cases, I would rather let these personally adapted carts traverse our golf facility than try to require them use a cart that I had purchased to accomodate their needs. One size does not fit all. And certainly with my experience, the potential play did not justify the expenditure and potential disappointment of someone that might want to use our cart but might find the cart unsuitable for his disability. We did not get the first player request in the two years we had the cart. I am sure that we are not the best representative sample of golf facilities, because we are in a relative rural area. I feel that making every course buy one of these carts is not very wise use of capital, and in most cases will not serve the market very well. I feel that these carts need to be customized to the person's disabilities. I my experience, I would rather give free greens fees to someone that has an ADA approved cart than invest $6000 to $12,000 in accessible carts. Randy Ballinger INGCOA Chapter President
General Comments