I'm working on a course proposal for our local university. Things have gone very well for the most part, but the issue of ADA-compliance has come up. Does anyone know of any courses that are ADA-compliant? Is there anyone out there with experience dealing with this issue? Any help is appreciated.

It does not seem to be required by law to make courses/holes compliant due to the sometimes rugged nature of the game/sport. But some public entities who fund courses make it their requirement for maybe a 6-9 hole loop. We looked at the standards pertaining to ball golf and there's no requirement to make their courses ADA-compliant. If you Google search, you might be able to find the wording pertaining to ball golf as a reference.

My read of the ADA guidelines is the same as yours - I just have to get a campus building inspector to see it that way. Our plans already include a series of holes on flat terrain or with ADA-compliant routes. We're raising all the funds from private donors, so the funding issue hasn't come up yet.

Thanks!

The last time I read the ADA regs, disc golf did not have to be ADA compliant because it is intended to be played in a non-ADA compliant environment. However, if the disc golf course is in an area that is used for other activities, bridges, gates, water fountains and other structures may need to be ADA compliant.

The Kendall Indian Hammocks First and MAIN disc golf course is psuedo ADA compliant with cut throughs in the wood fences and handicapped parking spaces and can be used by wheelchairs or by disabled persons when the baskets are in "A" or "B" positions. "C" positions use elevated greens, or greens in rocky or soft sand areas that wheelchairs cannot roll in.

The course was regularly (and maybe still is - haven't lived there since 2001, but visit yearly) used by several people in wheelchairs and walkers including a past Miami Disc Golf Association board member who was paralyzed by a fish in South America - who used disc golf to regain the ability to walk and use his arms again after a few years of therapy.

I know someone in Ft. Smith, AR (Shea Hammond) who put an ADA compliant course in the ground in Mississippi, anyone wanting him to contact you for any advice can pm me and I will pass along your contact info to him

I believe Barfield-Cresent park in Murfreesboro, TN is handicap accessable, I didn;t get to walk the whole course, but from what i saw there were paths leading from the teepads to the basket, and a large concrete pad around the baskets(ouch for missed putts)

This came up when we were proposing a course in Golden Gate Park. After a few years of delay -- and lots of discussions between our dept. and the Justice Department's ADA compliance division, the final opinion was that to make the course truly accessible (i.e. every hole from tee to basket) would fundamentally change the nature of the game and therefore could not be mandated. The corollary which was mentioned a lot was a climbing wall (i.e. to make a climbing wall truly accessible to someone in a wheelchair would fundamentally change the nature of said wall). What they wanted was to make sure that the facility itself (i.e. access to the first tee) be accessible which it is.