According to this story on bostonglobe.com, former sportscaster Bob Lobel is suing the Woodland Golf Club for “discrimination, alleging that the club is wrongly denying him the right to use a specialized golf cart for the disabled, especially on the club’s putting greens.”
You’ll have to read the story to get the full picture but here are a couple of excerpts that show where the two sides are coming from:
“As a direct and proximate result of Woodland’s unlawful discrimination, plaintiff has sustained injuries and damages including [loss of] the right to socialize with longtime friends, feelings of isolation and depression,’’ Lobel asserted in the lawsuit.
Woodland’s General Manager David Garfinkel’s response:
“There is no problem with having them [adaptive carts] on the course. We’ve accommodated Mr. Lobel’s request to have access to the golf course. Mr. Lobel has access to our tees, to our fairways, to our roughs, to our approaches. No one has access to our greens in carts.’’
Garfinkel said the club conducted its own test using an adaptive cart on the green, and concluded the putting greens would be damaged if they are driven on them by anyone. “It’s just that with certain surfaces we witnessed mechanical damage to the golf course,’’ he said. “Whether it was the age of our green or the golf cart — it caused significant impression and wear on the putting surface during the test.’’
Lobel is asking Woodland to change its policy, pay his attorney fees, and award him $250K in damages.
I have a lot of respect for Bob. He’s been a tireless advocate for patient rights, and in particular a proponent of medical marijuana. I’m thrilled to see that he’s still able to golf, and I’m a bit perplexed as to why Woodland cannot reach some accommodation that would afford him access to their putting greens.
As a former private golf course owner and manager, I have a bit of insight and a suggestion. First, it’s worth noting that the grass on putting greens is cut everyday by a much larger, heavier machine than Bob’s specialized cart. It’s not the weight of Bob’s cart that presents an issue. It’s the size of the tires which are much smaller, and therefore put a lot more pressure per square inch of driving surface…
The course should assign a caddy or assistant greens keeper to accompany Bob, and simply lay a hard protective surface on the part of the green he needs to drive over. This would fully protect the greens from damage, accommodate Bob’s admirable desire to continue golfing, and avoid a quarter million dollar lawsuit.
Wow! Bob is suing the golf club that he is not a member of and on occasion a guest of ? For $250000 ? Thanks a lot for the hospitality ! It seems the height of entitlement. He should be ashamed of himself.
I am curious if Woodland would have an issue if Mr. Lobel was accompanied by his own caddy with a platform to eliminate greens damage from his specialized cart as suggested by Mike Striar. I am not sure I would expect the club to have accommodation for any type of mobility impairment.