WEB ACCESS 500 Campaign!

Does the Golf Industry Want to Lead, or Follow?

As of Jan 2023 and based on study results published by accessibility.works, "... 96.8% of the top million homepages failed ADA compliance testing." The Department of Justice's position is that "Inaccessible web content means that people with disabilities are denied equal access to information." What does this mean?

Simply put, if your golf course is open to the public (Title III), or a state or local government facility (Title II), ALL customers should be able to navigate your website to understand what you offer such as contact information, purchasing from on-line stores, booking tee times, lessons, course policies, etc.

Private clubs? Well, that's a longer conversation, but many do fall under Title III compliance requirements. However, is it unimportant at a private club to consider member or guest experiences for those who may have disability? We don't think most would answer "yes" to this question.

The ADA and WCAG, or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines drive the requirements, but most golf courses can automatically convert websites to meet compliance requirements for approximately $500 per year through an artificial intelligence (AI) application.

We've converted at the National Alliance for Accessible Golf and, certainly, there are golf course websites out there that already comply, but let's ramp it up! Assuming the golf industry is somewhat aligned with the 3.2% of sites that comply from the study, that puts us at about 500 courses out of approximately 15,500 today. Can we do better?

YES, we can do much better and here's how.

Our preferred provider is accessiBe and we were compliant within 48 hours! Sure, there are other providers of website compliance services, but if you choose accessiBe, not only will you be taking a great step towards creating an accessible and inclusive environment at your facility, accessiBe will contribute a small part of their fees to our mission of increasing the participation of people with disabilities in the game of golf.

Please, join the Alliance and golf courses around the country in choosing accessiBe to provide your organization an ADA and WCAG compliant website.

ACCESS 500! Let's get 500 more! It's never too late to make a first impression.

To get the Access Thermometer moving, just scan the QR code ABOVE or select accessiBe anywhere in this article. Thank you.

Use of materials from Golf Inclusion Monthly: Please note, the Alliance encourages you to repurpose and share articles we have written or that have been provided to us for publishing in Golf Inclusion Monthly. We request that you please reference Golf Inclusion Monthly Published by the National Alliance for Accessible Golf and share the link for the article you have sourced. If you have any questions, please reach out to info@accessgolf.org. Thank you.