On February 19, 1998, Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin of the United
States District Court for the District of Oregon, ordered the Professional Golfers
Association (PGA) Tour to allow golfer Casey Martin the use of a golf cart in rounds of
tournament play. While the use of carts is permitted for the Senior PGA Tour and during
qualifying rounds of tournament play, until this decision no golfer had ever been allowed
to use a cart during regular PGA tournament play.
In an earlier decision, on January 30, 1998, Coffin held that the PGA
Tour was subject to the ADA by being included within the definition of places of
"public accommodation." (Martin v. PGA Tour, Inc., 984 F.Supp 1320 (D.
Or. 1998)). Because of this earlier ruling and the fact that the PGA never contended that
Martin was disabled, the central issue for this case was whether the cart use
accommodation could be done without frustrating or fundamentally altering the purpose of
the rule and nature of PGA and Nike Tour competitions.
Title III of the ADA provides that an individual shall not be
discriminated against because of a disability from the equal enjoyment of goods, services,
advantages, privileges, facilities or accommodations of any place of public accommodation.
Included in discrimination is the failure to reasonably modify policies and procedures,
unless the entity can prove that such modification would fundamentally alter the nature of
the good, service, advantage, privilege, or that such accommodation would somehow place an
undue burden on such entity. Martin was required to bear the burden of proving that cart
use would be a reasonable accommodation. The court held that this burden could be met by
introducing evidence that would show cart use was reasonable in a general sense for this
situation.
The court noted that no rule exists under United States Golf Association
(USGA) rules of play prohibiting the use of a cart or requiring a golfer to walk as part
of the game. The USGA rules do state in Appendix I that where rules of "local
competition" prohibit the use of a cart, players shall walk at all times during the
stipulated round. While the PGA and Nike Tournaments have adopted the USGA rules of play,
they have also modified them with rules for local competition and conditions. Included in
this modification is rule 6 of Appendix I, "Players shall walk at all times during a
stipulated round unless permitted to ride by the PGA Tour Rules Committee." However,
the court found that no written policy existed to guide the Committee in granting or
denying of waivers of the walking requirement.
To determine whether the accommodation would fundamentally alter the
nature of PGA competitions the court primarily focused on the purpose of the rule. The
court held that tradition alone would not be enough to justify a denial of the requested
modification.
The PGA asserted that walking was required to add "the element of
fatigue into the skill of shot-making." The court relied on expert testimony to find
that fatigue from walking was not a significant factor under normal circumstances. The
testimony pointed out that most exhaustion is caused by heat or humidity and is a result
of the loss of fluid- not walking. Furthermore, the court found that although Martin would
not walk the average five miles during a round, even with the use of a cart he would still
be required to walk approximately one and a quarter miles and face fatigue greater than an
able bodied golfer as a result of his disability.
The court also considered the psychological factors involved in the use
of a cart and the potential impact on the game that a modification of this type would
have. While walking five consecutive miles might have some impact on a golfers psyche, the
court found that it was not a significant factor where the walk is not continuous, and
where golfer's can take there own pace and enjoy frequent opportunities for rest. The
court found that Martin faces the same stress of competition that an able bodied golfer
faces plus added "stress of pain and risk of injury." When given the choice in
events such as the Senior PGA Tour or qualifying rounds of regular tournament play, most
golfers prefer to walk. The court pointed out that if there was any advantage to riding in
a cart, preference to walking would seem absurd.
Indeed, the court held that the use of a cart by Martin was a reasonable
accommodation where Martin would suffer the same amount or greater fatigue than able
bodied competitors, and where such accommodation would not fundamentally alter the nature
of the PGA Tour's game.
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You Make the Call. . . Index
"You Make The Call..." is a newsletter published four times per year (spring,
summer, fall, winter) by the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law
School, PO Box 1881, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201-1881. (414) 288-5815, fax (414) 288-5818,
munsli@vms.csd.mu.edu. (www.marquette.edu/law/sports/call.html).
This publication is distributed via fax and email to individuals in the sports field upon
request.
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Editorial Staff:
Paul M. Anderson, Editor & Designer
Kirsten Hauser, Associate Editor
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Copyright © 1999 -- All rights reserved.
