Prineville golf course unveils cart for people in wheelchairs

Derek Shike is a 31-year-old medical coder in Portland. Golf wasn’t always his cup of tea.

“For me, golfing, I always thought it was kind of lame when I was younger,” Shike said.

“I played sports more like football, baseball and basketball. And then as I got a little older, just looking for more chill activities, I realized just how relaxing and enjoyable it really is.”

He started playing with friends and he got pretty good at it. But in 2021, Shike got into a serious car accident. Now he’s in a wheelchair.

“It’s been kind of hard to navigate that sport,” Shike said.

Playing golf essentially requires standing up, and that’s not something Shike or most people in wheelchairs can do. But instead of giving up, he began researching whether there were any ways that people in wheelchairs could get onto the links.

“I just got online and started looking,” he said. “Asking ChatGPT questions, trying to find some options.”

Eventually, he found a press release about a new VertaCat golf buggy coming to Prineville this month.

“When I called the Prineville guy, he was like, ‘We don’t even have it yet!’ He sounded a little surprised that I even knew about it,” Shike said.

The “Prineville guy” was Zach Lampert, the pro at Meadow Lakes Golf Club, a municipal course.

“It’s like a solo-rider golf cart, essentially. It has a joystick,” Lampert said.

The golfer is strapped in, in a sitting position and uses the joystick to drive around the course.

When they reach their ball, they press a button and the cart seat pushes the player into a standing position that allows them to swing their club naturally without anything getting in the way.

“The golf clubs also go right alongside you,” Shike said. “So you don’t need someone handing you clubs the whole time. You can play all on your own. You don’t need a caddy.”

The golf course bought the $30,000 cart, and a new shed to house it, with a grant from the Central Oregon Future Fund.

Kim Molnar, the director of tourism for Explore Prineville, submitted the grant with the hope of making local tourist attractions more accessible.

“We have (accessible) trails, and we have fishing docks. But we didn’t have anything at the golf course,” Molnar said. “If you think about it, golf is really one of those sports where if you can’t stand up, it’s very difficult to play.”

The new VertaCat is one of several efforts around Oregon aimed at making tourist attractions more accessible.

Related: Oregon Coast communities get grant to enhance accessibility

Travel Oregon just awarded $6.2 million to 65 different projects. For example, towns like Seaside, Rockaway Beach and Coos Bay are getting all-terrain track chairs to help disabled people get out onto the beach. And Oregon Adaptive Sports is creating new accessible paddling and mountain biking opportunities.

“These transformational grant funds build upon the remarkable travel experiences available across Oregon for residents and visitors alike,” said Travel Oregon CEO Todd Davidson.

“We’re removing barriers to experiences that have, in the past, been out of reach for many people. We’re excited to support projects across the state’s seven regions that help ensure Oregon is truly welcoming to all.”

Quite apart from being the right thing to do, improving accessibility also promises to help boost the bottom line for Oregon’s towns.

Derek Shike said he’s planning to make the three-hour drive to Prineville with friends to try the new golf cart.

“For me it’s going to be driving over and staying for the weekend. Like a vacation,” Shike said.

That’s business for local hotels, shops and restaurants, from a group that might otherwise never have visited.

And after paying green fees, Shike can use the VertaCat for free.

Other highlights of Travel Oregon’s accessibility efforts include:

Central and Eastern Oregon

• Oregon Adaptive Sports: $60,000 to expand program offering adaptive paddling.
• Joseph Branch Trail Consortium: $120,000 to build a 1-mile accessible trail onto the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland.

Mount Hood / Columbia River Gorge

• Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation: $150,000 to make the Bonneville Dam Historic District more accessible.
• National Forest Foundation: $125,000 for a redesign of the Fish Creek Day Use Area, lost in the 2020 Riverside Fire, with an accessible boat ramp and path.

Oregon Coast

• David’s Chair Outdoor Mobility Systems: $98,900 for all-terrain track chairs at Seaside, Rockaway Beach, Pacific City and Coos Bay.
• City of Gold Beach: $75,000 to make the Collier H. Buffington Memorial Park playground ADA-compliant.

Portland metro area

• Lan Su Chinese Garden $100,000 for a multilingual accessibility and cultural inclusion project.
• Oregon Walks: $150,000 for a pedestrian wayfinding pilot project in downtown Portland.

Southern Oregon

• Lake County Chamber of Commerce: $150,000 to make the Warner Canyon Summertime Mountain Bike Network more accessible.
• Sutherlin Area Chamber of Commerce: $20,000 to achieve Wheel the World (WTW) Destination Verification by undertaking accessibility audits.

Willamette Valley

• Salem’s Riverfront Carousel: $21,250 for a wheelchair ramp.
• Linn County Parks and Recreation Department (LCPR): $150,000 for ADA-accessible yurts and an adaptive kayak launch at Clear Lake.

Multiple regions

• Dirty Freehub: $60,000 to promote more than 300 accessible Ride Guides highlighting gravel cycling for people living with both visible and non-visible disabilities.
• Oregon Remembrance Project: $141,500 to pilot “Sunshine Trips,” overnight tours connecting Black visitors with communities that were historically unwelcoming to African Americans and other racial minorities. Visitors will meet with community leaders, visit sites of local and cultural significance and attend local cultural celebrations.