# Handicapped Pro Golfer **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 17, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340 "2010-01-17T18:28:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/1 "2010-01-17T18:28:44Z")
I remember Casey Martin’s battle to play professional golf. He needed to use a golf cart and pro golf’s rules prohibited it. He finally won the right to play thanks to The Americans with Disabilities Act. > **[Casey Martin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Martin)** > > Casey Martin (born June 2, 1972) is an American professional golfer and the current men's golf head coach at the University of Oregon. > Martin was born in Eugene, Oregon and still resides there. He was educated at Stanford University, where he was initiated into the Sigma Chi fraternity and was briefly a teammate of Tiger Woods. He was a three-time all Pac-10 and was a member of the university's NCAA Championship team in 1994. He won the 1993 Sahalee Players Championship, and turned professional ... I never heard if this case definitively resolved the issue. Are pro golfers free to use adaptive equipment if they have a disability? Or, was Casey Martin an isolated case? What is the PGA’s current position in accommodating the disabled that want to play professionally? ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/2 "2010-01-17T18:41:51Z")
IIRC, [Erik Compton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Compton) was allowed to use a cart in a PGATour event recently. (I think this thread is headed to the game room.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/3 "2010-01-17T18:44:36Z")
I posted here because there might be a legal discussion. Whether the PGA is continuing the legal fight on a case by case basis. etc. But, maybe it is a game room topic. I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/4 "2010-01-17T19:52:53Z")
At the time it wasn’t reported much but the PGA allows golfers to use a cart on the senior tour. Not sure if any do use cats. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/5 "2010-01-17T20:06:10Z")
[QUOTE=aceplace57] I posted here because there might be a legal discussion. Whether the PGA is continuing the legal fight on a case by case basis. etc. But, maybe it is a game room topic. I’m not sure. [/QUOTE] While there is a legal question involved, people who may have been following this case are most likely to see it in the Game Room. Moving from GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/6 "2010-01-17T20:15:43Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > At the time it wasn’t reported much but the PGA allows golfers to use a cart on the senior tour. Not sure if any do use **cats.** From what I understand, most of them are dog people actually. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/7 "2010-01-17T21:11:12Z")
As with all ADA cases, the result is individual to the situation, including both the person with the disability and the person/business having to make the accomodation. IIRC, there’s a golfer who was wanting to try to qualify recently who needed an accomodation to play (I forget what exactly the accomodation was). The PGA was not simply saying “yes” to the request. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/8 "2010-01-21T22:43:57Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > At the time it wasn’t reported much but the PGA allows golfers to use a cart on the senior tour. Not sure if any do use cats. \ And here’s Martin lining up his putt for a birdie on 13. It looks like he’s going to try to break it slightly left. Here’s the stroke… MMEEEOOORWRWRWRRWWW! ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/9 "2010-01-21T22:48:03Z")
Whatever happened to Casey Martin? Is he still on the Tour? Is he any good? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-pro-golfer/525340/10 "2010-01-22T02:43:51Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Whatever happened to Casey Martin? Is he still on the Tour? Is he any good? [Wikipedia, so easy to use.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Martin)😉