By Design - Special Edition

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The City of Los Angeles was
selected to host the Special
Olympics World Games, to be
held in August 2015. The golf events
would take place at the city’s Wilson
and Harding municipal courses in
Griffith Park, classic era designs by
George C. Thomas.
Neither course was compliant with
accessibility guidelines set out by
the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA). Cart path access to tees and
greens had been compromised by
decades of additions that involved
curbs, walls and stairs.
In order to get ready for the Special
Olympics, the host city needed a
solution to rectify the access issues
and, at the same time, build forward
tees to allow yardage to be more
flexible and meet the criteria of the
Special Olympics golf format.
Complicating the assignment was a
limited budget and minimal cart path
coverage—more than six miles of new
paths would be required.
Forrest Richardson, ASGCA,
developed a master plan for both golf
courses, with a focus on preparation
for the Special Olympics. In preparing
the master plan, care was essential to
preserve the classic design features of
the courses, making additions appear
as if they were part of the original
intent and design.
Goals established to guide the
work included: conforming to ADA
accessibility guidelines; constructing
new paths to work with existing paths
and routing them out of distant views
where possible; constructing new tees
to appear as original; attaining a forward
yardage length of approximately 5,000
yards at each course.
The project saw paths added to 31
golf holes, 68 existing tees re-leveled
or rebuilt, and 28 new forward tees
constructed.
Photos: courtesy of City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks
Location: Los Angeles, California
Golf course architect:
Forrest Richardson, ASGCA,
Forrest Richardson & Associates
Project summary: In preparation for the
2015 Special Olympics World Games,
the golf courses at Griffith Park in Los
Angeles needed to be updated to
meet event requirements and conform
to standards for accessibility, while
preserving their classic design features.
Partners: City of Los Angeles (James
Ward, David Takata, Bob Davis);
American Landscape (construction);
Mark Fine, Design Associate
Griffith Park GC
Access for all
LA course upgraded for Special Olympics