Adaptive golf cart may be headed for county course

The Ozaukee County Natural Resources Committee has approved a memorandum of understanding with a nonprofit group to provide an adaptive golf cart for people with disabilities.

The agreement with the Stand Up and Play Foundation calls for the group to donate the golf cart at Mee-Kwon Golf Course in Mequon and for the county to maintain it for the next five years.

“We hope to have one at Hawthorne Hills eventually,” county Planning and Parks Director Andrew Struck told the committee.

Struck said carts like the one being donated have been used on Milwaukee County courses for some time.

“Milwaukee is finding there isn’t a lot of demand and there is some special maintenance required,” he said.

But he said there seems to be some demand in the southern reaches of the county and estimated that the cart would likely be used once a week.

Committee members supported the idea.

“I think this is a good thing,” Chairman Rob Holyoke said. “This will be a good experiment.”

Struck said the cart will be available by reservation only since it requires a person to assist the golfer. The assistants will be a volunteer supplied by Stand Up and Play and not be a county employee, he said.

Use of the cart was first suggested to the county two years ago by the foundation.

The Natural Resources Committee at that time directed Struck to begin negotiating a memorandum of understanding with the foundation.

Under the MOU, the county will maintain and charge the electric cart, and foundation volunteers will assist cart users and coordinate with golf course personnel to return the carts to storage.

Cart use could be restricted at the county’s discretion due to weather or turf conditions. 

The cart would be available for rent at the regular cart fee.  Adaptive cart users will be required to sign a waiver acknowledging that they have been trained to use the cart  and release the county of liability.

The foundation had not seen nor approved the MOU before the committee voted on it, Struck said.

For more information, go online to https://standupandplayfoundation.org.