Smoking Ban Threatens to Make Golf Pointless
Not all golfers smoke cigars, and not all cigar smokers golf. Nonetheless, there is a hefty chunk of both groups that overlaps. Step out onto the links at any major course, and you're bound to find more than a handful of duffers with stogies lit while they fret about their backswings. Now, this tradition is in jeopardy.
Across the country, public golf courses are trying to ban what essentially is outdoor smoking where common courtesy dictates that you not get too close to the groups around you anyway. It comes as no shock that many golfers are resisting the trend.
The city of Spokane, WA is the latest to attempt a prohibition on lighting up while teeing off, only to back down in the face of immense opposition. It's already hard enough to enjoy a cigar in Washington, which has banned indoor smoking – not to mention puffing within 25 feet of a door or window.
The Spokane golfers' victory is an anomaly. Several public courses have succeeded in keeping cigars off courses, including San Francisco, Glendale and Pasadena, CA; Hawaii County, HI; Bloomington, MN.; Goshen, IN.; Abilene, TX and Arvada, CO.
So, it looks like you'll only see the most upscale of cigars at golf courses in the near future. After all, country clubs will be the only places that can make their own rules.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brendan May 7th 2009 11:06AM
Stupid. Golf and cigars are both luxuries and go very well hand-in-hand. I would like to meet a golfer who is out on a golf course (which is obviously extremely well aired) who complains about how their short game was effected all day by some guy's cigar smoke. What person out there makes up a rule like this? I understand banning smoking indoors; it traps the smoke and gets into everything. But outside on a golf course of all places where you are hundreds of yards from other people is just stupid.
FYI: I play golf and I do enjoy an occasional cigar (like three times a year) but not at the same time. And I am not a smoker.
just me May 7th 2009 11:53AM
That's a really funny looking photo.
BBQandBourbon.com May 7th 2009 4:42PM
You'll never see a cigar butt laying next to the green,
but I'll see a couple dozen cigarette butts during a round at our prestigious Le Club du Golfe and Spa.
I'm a cigar smoker and I would never smoke one during a round. It takes away the pleasure. Afterwards, certainly.
Cigarette smoking golfers are the true blight.
golf printer May 8th 2009 6:53AM
At the golf can also print