Accessible Golf Courses - A Summary of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities

Alternative Golf Car Passage

Providing an accessible route that complies with ADAAG may be impractical throughout a golf course for several reasons. First, the route of play for a golfer is dependent on where the ball lands and is therefore unpredictable. The guidelines assume that on many courses, golfers use a golf car to move throughout the course.

Second, requiring an accessible route throughout a course could alter the slopes within some courses and alter the nature of the sport by eliminating some of the challenge of the game. Therefore, a golf car passage may be substituted for an accessible route within the boundary of a golf course. A golf car passage is a continuous passage on which a motorized golf car can operate. While a golf car passage must be usable by golf cars, it does not necessarily need to have a prepared surface and may be part of a golf car path.

The golf car passage could be located on areas such as fairways, greens, and teeing surfaces. A golf car passage can be substituted for all or part of the accessible route connecting elements within the boundary of the course and must be a minimum of 48 inches in width.

A golf car passage may also be substituted for an accessible route outside the boundary of the golf course when connecting certain elements. This is limited to the golf car rental area, bag drop areas, practice putting greens, accessible practice teeing grounds, course toilet rooms, and course weather shelters.