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Blue puts golfers closer to greens
Published November 9, 2009
LAKE JACKSON Though walking from hole to hole is a required part of professional golfing, many recreational golfers enjoy using a golf cart, especially those with physical limitations.
In an effort to allow golfers with disabilities better use of The Wilderness golf course in Lake Jackson, the course is implementing a blue medical flag program that will allow golfers with disabilities to get closer to the greens.
We want to be accessible to everybody, said Kit Thomson, The Wilderness golf course general manager.
The medical flag program will begin this weekend, he said. The decision follows a meeting of course management, city representatives and golfers with disabilities.
While a regular golf cart must stop at a sign keeping the vehicles a certain distance from the pitching and putting areas, a cart with a medical flag will be allowed to get several yards closer, Lake Jackson City Councilman Gerald Roznovsky said. Roznovsky helped the golf course put together the trial program.
The Wilderness will try the medical flag program for three months to see if the wear and tear on the course is too much of a problem, Roznovsky said.
Depending on the hole, the golfer can get 10 to 20 yards closer to the green with the medical flag program, Thomson said.
Under compliance with federal law, The Wilderness already has an $8,000 golf cart with a seat that swivels, allowing the golfer to hit the ball from the cart, Thomson said. The cart is not always available when another golfer needs it, however, and a medical flag program is one way to address the problem, he said.
The new program will be wonderful, said Bill Bullock, a 58-year-old Lake Jackson resident.
Bullock uses the special cart because his left leg is amputated below the knee, making walking with a prosthetic difficult, he said. Bullock first proposed the program after going to the course when the cart for people with disabilities was in use, he said.
Bullock said he enjoys The Wilderness and saw similar programs available at other courses. Getting closer to the greens makes walking less painful, he said.
It makes a round of golf much more enjoyable, Bullock said.
Only three blue flags will be issued per day, and if course conditions require golf carts to stay on the cart paths, then golfers with disabilities must stay on the path as well, Roznovsky said.
Golfers are eligible to use the medical flag program if they own a blue car tag that allows them to park in disabled parking, he said. They can then call and reserve one of the three medical flags for the day, he said.
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