Accessibility
Built for Veterans of Every Ability
American Lake was designed around golfers who cannot easily reach the ground: Veterans playing from a single rider cart, Veterans using prosthetics, Veterans with limited movement, and older players for whom a standard course has become hard work.
Accessibility is not something this course added. It is the reason the course is built the way it is.
This page sets out what that means in practice, on the course and on this website, and how to tell us when something still gets in your way.
Playing the Course
An ADA Accessible Layout
The only course in the nation designed so every green, bunker, tee box and club house is fully accessible, including drive-in restrooms and six specialized mobility-impaired golf carts.
The 18 hole course is laid out to meet the needs of wounded, mobility impaired, and disabled golfers. It was renovated and extended to that standard, and is a recognized Jack Nicklaus Signature Course.
SoloRider single rider adaptive carts are available, letting a golfer play from a seated or supported standing position. Contact us before your round and we will make arrangements. Two person driving carts can also be rented.
All ten bays of the covered driving range have Power Tee, which tees the next ball automatically after each shot, so practice does not mean bending to the mat a hundred times. Volunteer coaches provide instruction, and refurbished clubs are available if you do not have your own.
The Clubhouse and Learning Center
Built to the Same Standard as the Course
There are ADA accessible restrooms on both the ground floor and the second floor, and the men’s and women’s locker rooms have benches, lockers, showers, toilets and sinks, all fully ADA accessible.
An ADA accessible elevator serves the second floor, and the rehabilitation room can be reached in a wheelchair or a SoloRider, so therapy continues year round.
Inside there is a Full Swing golf simulator, a large putting area, a hitting net and a teaching station, along with a lobby and a covered outdoor porch. If you want to know whether a particular part of the building will work for you, email us and we will tell you plainly.
This Website
Built to WCAG 2.1 Level AA
We want this site to work for every Veteran who comes to it, including anyone using a screen reader, a keyboard alone, magnification or voice control. We build and test it against WCAG 2.1 Level AA, the benchmark used for web accessibility in the United States.
In practice that means every image carries alternative text, text and background colors are checked against a 4.5 to 1 contrast ratio, each page has one top level heading in a sensible order, links say where they go, interactive elements can be reached and operated with a keyboard and show a visible focus outline, and every page works down to a phone screen without sideways scrolling.
One part is outside our control. Tee times are booked through foreUP, an outside booking system, and its accessibility is not ours to change. If you have trouble booking there, email us and we will book your tee time for you.
Tell Us If Something Gets in Your Way
If any part of this course, the clubhouse or this website is hard for you to use, tell us what you were trying to do and what stopped you. We will fix what we can, and be straight with you about what we cannot.
American Lake is run entirely by volunteers, so we may not answer the same day. Every message is read.
