Point Walter Golf Course — Attraction in Bicton

On Saturday, my partner and I had a delightful date playing mini-golf at Point Walter Golf Course! For me, managing social situations can be tricky fas I experience additional barriers to communication, social anxiety and agoraphobia.

When I am faced with unfamiliar faces or new settings, my comfort zone shrinks and being able to vocally communicate becomes impossible. That's where my AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) device steps in, helping me connect with others when I cannot rely on my vocal speech.

The biggest hurdle for me in accessing the community often lies in people's perceptions. Using an AAC device sometimes leads to misconceptions, such as the assumption that I can't hear when other’s talk or that I don’t have the capacity to understand what they’re saying.

It can sometimes be amusing to witness the charades people do trying to act out what they want to communicate before I type the familiar phrase, “Please speak as you usually would—I can hear and understand you”. Sometimes amusing, often frustrating.

So….. here's where the magic happened! The Cérge app put me in the driver's seat, allowing me to decide which of my access needs I shared and the level of detail I felt comfortable sharing. See ya later assumptions! Instead of explaining the intricacies behind the way my Autism presents, I could focus on what I needed on that particular day at that particular venue to enjoy it stress-free.

Checking the Sensory Guide before leaving the house was a gamechanger. It reminded me to grab my noise-cancelling headphones, hat, sunscreen and therefore preparing me for both the environment at the golf course and the noise levels I might experience at the cafe.

Richard in reception was open and receptive to communicating with me and made me feel seen and welcome. He took the time to explain the details of the course in a way that gave me all the information I needed without any uncertainty.

The result? An absolutely fantastic time at Point Walter Golf Course!

Even though my partner beat my score by 10 (lucky them!), I had a wonderful time!

Thanks to the Cérge app, putting me in control and making the outing stress-free...

NOT SO HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY- Kid friendly?? MOST DEFINITELY NOT - Thought we’d try some putt putt for Australia Day. We decided on Point Walter as we’d never been there before. What a huge error in judgment it turned out to be. Sandra the power hungry control freak informs us whilst we are happily eating our food and drinking our drinks that our boys are not allowed to practice their putting on the putting green. Apparently they are getting in the way of golfers was her concern. Only one other golfer on the green putting area I might add. We had just finished a game of miniature golf which took all of 45 minutes to complete My boys as you could imagine were keen to practice some more only to be forced off the putting green. I’ve gotta say this is a first for me, being a keen golfer single figure handicapper regularly taking my boys along to numerous courses around Perth and WA. One would think the future of the sport is with the kids! Certainly not the view at Point Walter. Consequently we decide to leave, finish our drinks and have the food we purchased in take away boxes. To add further insult Sandra proceeds to accuse me of stealing the course putters. She takes out the 4 putters one by one from our babies pram to inspect them. Her exact words as we are leaving are “you can leave the putters behind” I reply with how dare you accuse us of stealing now, these are ours we actually play a lot of golf. Not the slightest hint of an apology once she had realised her mistake. From there she seeks comfort with on looking customers at the table besides us as we leave. Disgusting disgraceful humiliating behaviour towards paying customers. No value what so ever at Point Walter - We shall certainly not be returning. Some advise for the sub standard manager and gstapo Sandra IF YOU DONT WANT CHILDREN ATTENDING/PLAYING ON YOUR OVER RATED GOLF COURSE - STOP PROMOTING AND CHARGING OVERPRICED FEES FOR CHILDREN TO COME AND...

For the Mini golf. We were unnecessary rushed by the man at front desk (mature silver haired and bearded man). We had booked 2 groups of 4 people (8 in total - only 1 kid) at 4.50 and 4.55 pm. By 5.45 we all had finished the first half (9 holes) and decided to take a break at the Cafe. Once we resumed for the second half, exactly at 6pm, we had to start together in hole 10. Very quickly the man approached us in an quite unnecessary severe tone "reminding us" that we cannot play as a group of 8, which we were not. We were simply waiting for the first group to finish, so the second group could start playing. He claimed we had taken 2h to complete first 9 holes, which was clearly inaccurate. I had to raise my voice to even up his tone and explaining him that his brash intervention was out of place as we only took 45 min to complete the first half. Once he realised of his miscalculation he ended up saying "you need to finished by closing time at 7pm" another unnecessary clarification as we were well aware of timing. Long story short my family was very upset by the situation, my son had to see his dad (me) arguing unnecessarily with a stranger, and we never received an apology or anything even remotely close. Quite unfair situation, completely uncalled-for that totally ruined out family outing. What a pitty! as the place is quite nice, this was our second time there and wanted to share the experience with our family travelling from overseas. What a...