Here鈥檚 a question for golfers: The next time you play, will that cute girl in the beer cart be dealing weed?
Well, no, probably not. Even if Canada鈥檚 new pot laws were to give golf clubs that option, few would take it, according to a B.C. Golf Association survey of its member courses. 鈥淢ost of them said no,鈥� says association CEO Kris Jonasson.
As for the broader question of whether to allow dope-smoking on the golf course, though, it鈥檚 not that straightforward. That鈥檚 why Jonasson鈥檚 group is doing another survey, this one asking golfers themselves what they think should happen when recreational marijuana becomes legal Oct. 17.
As it is, golf courses are often among the few remaining places where people can simultaneously drink alcohol and smoke tobacco in public. That leaves the clubs with a tricky lie vis-a-vis grass and greens, as the rules that still聽prohibit puffing pot post-prohibition won鈥檛 necessarily apply to them.
Many expect the laws concerning where you can and cannot smoke marijuana to parallel those about alcohol. Basically, you won鈥檛 be allowed to do it in public places. Just as you鈥檙e not supposed to hang around Yates and Douglas working on a bottle of Canadian Club, you鈥檙e not supposed to smoke a joint there, either.
Similarly, tobacco rules will continue to blunt the blunts elsewhere, even where booze is imbibed legally. Anywhere workplace regulations or public-property rules ban smoking they will also bar toking, so don鈥檛 expect to fire up a doobie in the pub, or in Beacon Hill Park, or Burger King, or the break room at work. Note that the CRD updated its bylaw this spring to ban marijuana smoking or vaping in any public place, including parks, playing fields and public squares.
But that still leaves golf courses 鈥� private property where it鈥檚 possible to see a stogey-puffing duffer suck back a beer bought from the aforementioned cart girl (who, BTW, really is laughing uproariously because the duffer鈥檚 jokes are hilarious and not because he just tipped $5 on a $7 drink) 鈥� uncertain of where the out-of-bounds marker will be planted.
This has become a hot topic for聽some. By Friday, just one week after B.C. Golf asked golfers聽to respond to an online survey on the聽subject, it had received 4,000聽replies. (If you want to fill out the survey, go to britishcolumbiagolf.org.)
Early returns show opinions split by age. More than half of respondents under age 35 said they plan to toke up on the golf course, compared with just one in 10 of those over 55. Two-thirds of younger golfers see smoking marijuana as being the same as drinking or smoking tobacco, while only one-third of older players feel that way.
What many struggle with is the question of etiquette. Should you ask your playing partner if you can light up? What if there are kids nearby? 鈥淚f you drink a beer, it doesn鈥檛 bother other people in the group, but if you smoke a joint there鈥檚 a smell issue that can bother other people,鈥� Jonasson says. Even if the law allows you to do something, that doesn鈥檛 mean you should.
The earlier survey of golf clubs found that only about 20 per cent of them have prepared a practical policy for addressing legalization.
For some, it鈥檚 straightforward. The municipally owned Cedar Hill course in Saanich is technically a park, so is covered by the CRD bylaw. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty simple,鈥� said manager Carole Ireland. No smoking pot. No smoking cigars or cigarettes. No vaping.
For others, it鈥檚 a matter of figuring out everything from municipal policy to their own ability to impose or enforce a ban on any kind of smoking (though Jonasson notes that some courses have been able to ban butts when wildfires are a threat, and that B.C. Golf already has rules saying entrants in its sanctioned events must not smoke pot or drink while playing).
鈥淲e鈥檙e kind of in a grey area,鈥� says Gorge Vale Golf Club general manager Patrick Chury. The law is clear when it comes to smoking in or bringing a controlled substance into the clubhouse (you can鈥檛) but is muddier when it comes to the course itself. 鈥淚t鈥檚 140 acres of licensed area. It鈥檚 a challenge at the best of times.鈥� When it comes to marijuana law, he suspects it鈥檚 going to take a while for the smoke to clear (as it were).
Others don鈥檛 expect much to change at all. Legal or not, some golfers like to smoke up during games, says Jim Goddard, the director of golf at Cordova Bay. 鈥淚t has happened for years at our course.鈥� He figures the club will approach it like alcohol: If you鈥檙e over-imbibing or interfering with the enjoyment of others, they鈥檒l step in. Otherwise, go ahead and get buzzed, though Goddard questions why anyone would want to do so: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really hard game when you鈥檙e completely sober.鈥�
