Something that really could hold disc golf back...

[Declarkus]

Barfield Crescent course in Murfreesboro, TN has a "wheelchair accessible" 9 hole section. Since it doesn't play in the same order, the hole numbers stacked on the "ADA" holes can be confusing.

The other confusing part is how a raised concrete sidewalk running along the fairway and to each tee box and basket makes the course any more accessible. But if the law requires it, the 3 hole course sounds like a great ADA solution.

Personally, I'd like to see "Murderdisc" wheelchairs modified for DG course conditions. Seems like disc golfing the wheelchair makes more sense than wheelchairing the disc golf.

 

[un4fR4y3d]

Similar Thread on NCDGB

There's a similar thread tracking this issue at North Coast Disc Golf Bulletin:

http://jq4q.x.rootbsd.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=148

 

[mattc]

our club is building a new course at the evergreen state college, and this came up
the college decided to just put some baskets near the tennis courts and gym
and if its good enough for them its good enough for us

 

[knettles]

I'm sorry, but I just don't see this actually catching on. Enough people are going to realize it's insane and not worry about it. Hell, I don't know if a single course in my state is wheelchair accessible. Like others have said, disc golf is like hiking. People will eventually realize that and understand why this law doesn't apply.

 

[DavidSauls]

Lawdy...if they make every disc golf course on public land be 100% ADA compatible you'll never see another new course in a park ever again. The only option will be placing courses on private land and the old courses in public parks will never EVER be able to have updates made to them without updates that include ADA garbage.

Courses on private land, if they're open to the public, aren't likely to escape. Private businesses that are open to the public certainly haven't. And they'll likely have a very expansive definition of "open to the public".

 

[optidiscic]

Can we just call it frolf and be done with the golf confusion

 

[JFibeZZZ]

I guess I'm lucky that my two local courses have streets winding throughout the park. But I guess I'm a little confused, are the disabled planning on chucking discs or do they simply need a path to get through the park, but not necessarily play disc golf?

 

[ohtobediscing]

I don't think BALL GOLF has this issue to contend with. And many disc golf courses are much tougher to walk than golf courses. Perhaps the heat can be shifted to those more financially able to cool it.
Then again, it could just be a Cali thing.

 

[Tfire25]

I brought this up a couple years back in conversation. Most people laughed. The Ada is ridiculous. We were building a skate park and they wanted to put a handrail around the entire bowl because it was more than a 3 foot drop!

I've been a superintendent for 7 years and complying with the Ada is the hardest thing about my job. 2% cross slopes(and any intersection), 5% running slopes, handrails, handicap ramps, etc... It's a complete headache. I'm all for equal opportunity but sometimes life isn't fair. I can't fly in planes because I'm scared of heights. We should make planes fly lower. Stupid.

 

[teemkey]

My brother in law is in a chair. He was a factory sponsored racer with Ducati, and dumped his bike in a race. Being in the lead, he got run over and ended up in the chair.

He does get severely pissed off if he has to be lifted onto a toilet. And rightly so.

When we went to Silverton Falls he took the paths he could handle. My sister and I went to some of the falls he couldn't reach, and he waited where he could while we explored. He gets it.

There are greedy, opportunistic people everywhere. Some are in wheelchairs, most aren't.

 

[davetherocketguy]

Courses on private land, if they're open to the public, aren't likely to escape. Private businesses that are open to the public certainly haven't. And they'll likely have a very expansive definition of "open to the public".

Very true however I was thinking more along the line of Flyboy where folks are invited to play. I don't think what you are talking about would apply there. Then again I've never met a ADA lawyer because if I had I would likely be in jail at the moment...

There is a key element in the story that killed this course and it wasn't so much the ADA it was the local muni calling the DOJ asking for a ruling. In my experience you are much better off NOT calling the government asking for a "ruling" than just installing the daggum thing. Had they installed it without contacting anyone exactly no one at the federal level would have cared. And if they did, it would be an easy fight. "You really going to make us tear up all this nature to make it work? What about our hiking trails? Also, this isn't golf." And the fed would walk away

Now that the DOJ has been contacted and an article has been written they are screwed. Time to start rattling the cage of the local congressman...

Now make no mistake, I have no issue with making certain things wheelchair accessible. For example, if you need to go to court and are chair bound you ought to be able to wheel right into the courtroom no problem. And every publicly owned building (among many other things) ought to be that way. But what they are doing goes way way too far like much of the ADA law.

Here's a great ADA story....

MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) had a little street improvement project right in front of the Commission for the Blind in Lansing a number of years ago. They installed dimpled sidewalk right by the edge of each intersection. According to legend this is how a phone conversation between MDOT and someone at the commission went:

CFB: Hi, what is that dimply stuff you've installed on the walks?
MDOT: It's for you. It's so a blind person can detect the intersection.
CFB: Well, we don't need it. Tear it out because we hate it.
MDOT: Why?
CFB: We already have ways of training blind folks how to detect the intersection we don't need the dimply thingys.
MDOT: The feds made us do it.
CFB: (Grumbling)

*CLICK*

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Can we just call it frolf and be done with the golf confusion

But the kids!

 

[dtuba]

I think that there should definitely be ADA-compliant courses available. But not every single one. That's ridiculous. If there is one or 2 wheel chair accessable courses already existing in an area, then any new courses shouldn't have to be.

Kinda like parking spaces I guess.

 

[davetherocketguy]

I think that there should definitely be ADA-compliant courses available. But not every single one. That's ridiculous. If there is one or 2 wheel chair accessable courses already existing in an area, then any new courses shouldn't have to be.

Kinda like parking spaces I guess.

How do you implement a concept like that? Who would enforce it? How do you define the term "in an area"? 10 miles, 50 miles, 100 miles?

 

[BrotherDave]

I brought this up a couple years back in conversation. Most people laughed. The Ada is ridiculous. We were building a skate park and they wanted to put a handrail around the entire bowl because it was more than a 3 foot drop!

That 3' drop BS is what made the park rip out all the improvements to hole 12 at Castle Hayne in Wilmington. It's a L-shaped hole with the last leg running parallel to a train track, with a trench/water catchment area between the track and the fairway. Overshoot the fairway off the tee and you end up in this 6-7' gully. The slope was getting eroded and encroaching the fairway b/c lots of people end up in that gully. So the club walled off the slope with wood reinforcements and put two stairways, one on each end, complete with handrail. Because it was man-made and higher than 3' tall it was all ripped out and they put up signs forbidding people from going down the slope. (no chit, if people could avoid going down the slope they'd get better scores).

I don't know if it was ADA that was the culprit or some other insurance crap but still, just ridiculous.

 

[WhiteyBear]

Kinda like parking spaces I guess.

Gotta love all those people that get out of their cars being "handicapped". Or my favorite, motorcycles that park in the striped section of a van accessible spot.

 

[turbosteve]

This could really hold disc golf back. One-third of the courses in the United States have been installed since 2010. The PDGA, disc manufacturers, and local clubs are going to have to make a concerted effort for the Department of Justice to treat disc golf courses like hike hiking trails instead of a golf course.

 

[beereakfast]

Suppose we have to close all of the beaches until we can afford to pave them over.

 

[jenb]

Is this what killed the shuttle program?

 

[eegor]

Eventually, everyone will be ticked off enough to reign back our over zealous government. Well, I hope so. More likely most people will be on antidepressants or tranquilizers and won't care. Sad.