Thousands of gallons of water pulse through cascading waterfalls and rapids at Adventure Mini Golf in Lake Worth, Fla. The course, which covers about an acre, features different elevations. When people ask whether it’s accessible for the disabled, owner Jerry Doser says he jokingly tells them, “No, but I’ll paint some lines in the parking lot and put some cups out there and then you can play.
“But who wants to pay to play that?”
Courses like Doser’s could end up in the annals of miniature golf history. Miniature golf courses, along with amusement park rides, stadium and theater seating, fishing piers, boat slips and bowling lanes are among the millions of businesses that would be affected by proposed changes under the Americans with Disabilities Act, establishing specific requirements for qualifying accessible designs.
For miniature golf courses, 50 percent of the holes would have to be accessible for players in wheelchairs.
“We are worried about people claiming, ‘We did this, this and this, we renovated the bathroom on the second floor,’ but you still can’t get in the three steps at the front door,” said Kleo King, senior vice president of accessibility services at United Spinal Association.
