Is it illegal...

[Jordan Wall]

I read that Bing Crosby used to hand a fifth to each competitor before they teed off at the Crosby Clambake.  Many times the fifth was gone by the time the round was finished.

Is this illegal nowadays?

If so, why?

If not, why don't more players drink and play?  Some of the celebrities are fun to watch anyways but with them and a partner AND the caddies drinking a fifth....there wouldn't be a better event to watch, period.

Golf needs some entertainment.

Thoughts?

[C. Squier]

The last thing the AT&T needs are spontaneously unfunny comedians trying to be even funnier. 

[Adam Clayman]

With spectators around and in such close proximity, drinking and driving, once again, don't mix.

Plus, look at all the wholesome advertising dollars from Cialis they might lose.

[Rick Shefchik]

I had a conversation with my club pro last summer about this, because obviously a lot of drinking goes on at club events (even in the club championship, the beer cart is in high demand). He told me drinking is prohibited on the pro tours.

I'm not positive this true, and I don't know when or if a rule was put in place. I do recall being at the 1970 U.S. Open at Hazeltine and hearing a fan offer Charlie Sifford a beer while he was waiting on a par 3 tee. He waved it off and said, "This game's hard enough without that stuff."

[Kyle Harris]

I read that Bing Crosby used to hand a fifth to each competitor before they teed off at the Crosby Clambake.  Many times the fifth was gone by the time the round was finished.

Is this illegal nowadays?

If so, why?

If not, why don't more players drink and play?  Some of the celebrities are fun to watch anyways but with them and a partner AND the caddies drinking a fifth....there wouldn't be a better event to watch, period.

Golf needs some entertainment.

Thoughts?

Sounds like you need to put the bottle down a bit more in college...

Sober life is fun too.

[Paul Jones]

I know it is against the PGA Tour rules to drink while playing in a tournament.

[Tim Martin]

I remember spectators handing Ray Floyd beers over the ropes at the Greater Hartford Open back in the day. Wonder when this rule changed.

[Bob_Huntley]

The Bing Crosby story is half true. Bing would hand out as a tee prize  a fifth of bourbon that was in a Toby Jug sort of bottle and the theme would change every year.

The stories of drinking were embellished by Phil Harris, he called himself the pro from the Jack Daniels Country Club.

Bob

[Jordan Wall]

I had a conversation with my club pro last summer about this, because obviously a lot of drinking goes on at club events (even in the club championship, the beer cart is in high demand). He told me drinking is prohibited on the pro tours.

True, and the members are hilarious when this happens.  At Seattle CC, the best rounds were during the member-guest with the beer coolers being filled every twenty minutes.

Kyle,

It was a question on golf with regards to a book I read, settle down.  I think it would be fun to see something like this at Pebble with the celebrities.

[Jamie Barber]

Er Brian Barnes anybody? Marked his ball at the Scottish PGA with a beer can...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1008363/index.htm

[John Moore II]

Yes, its a condition of competition for PGA Tour events and USGA events that drinking is not allowed. Does it happen? Probably, but its not obvious I guess.

[Jordan Wall]

Should it be illegal?

They are men, after all.

[Kyle Harris]

Should it be illegal?

They are men, after all.

Yes, because it is.

Public intoxication. Open container laws, etc.

[PCCraig]

Should it be illegal?

They are men, after all.

Yes, because it is.

Public intoxication. Open container laws, etc.

Kyle, give me a break. You should have a drink once in a while, it'll put that hair you've been waiting for on your chest. 

Jordon, I tend to agree with you that giving players/celebrities/etc... something to drink is perfectly fine as long as its done in reason. Of course what your talking about was done before TV cameras and Microphones were placed all over the course.

Unfortunately for all of us, we live in a very different world now than when the real clambake was being held. Corporations run the show and people like Kyle who will call the cops on someone drinking a G&T on the 17th prevent any real opportunities for a return to form.

[Jud_T]

Didn't Daly get fined for drinking beers during a rain delay a few years back? I'm all in favor of entertainment value, but a little swing juice could be an advantage in settling the nerves, no?

[Chris Cupit]

JKM,

I am pretty sure there is no such Condition of Competition for USGA events.  I did scan both the entry forms for The Open (2009( and the US Sr. Open (2009) and there is no alcohol policy mentioned.  There is also no alcohol CoC anywhere in the Rules and Decisions book where many sample Local Rules and CoC are listed.  I could be wrong but I have also officiated, played and caddied at about a dozen USGA events and if alcohol is a DQ or penalty then there would be some major issues

As far as open container laws (and I am not advocating drinking or getting hammered on the course) but it is perfectly legal to have a beer on most of the golf courses I am familiar with.  Beverage carts!?  Hello, they were designed in order to get beer in guys hands specifically on the course.  My course has carts (sorry Melvin) fitted with coolers where players can fill up with the beverage of their choice.  The legal issue has been brought up before only because there are two spots where my golfers cross a public road and there is no problem there either.

While I am a teetotaler on the golf course (I have enough issues without being buzzed or drunk) I don't see what on earth is the big deal.  
Breathalizers on the first tee

[Jordan Wall]

Should it be illegal?

They are men, after all.

Yes, because it is.

Public intoxication. Open container laws, etc.

Kyle, give me a break. You should have a drink once in a while, it'll put that hair you've been waiting for on your chest. 

Jordon, I tend to agree with you that giving players/celebrities/etc... something to drink is perfectly fine as long as its done in reason. Of course what your talking about was done before TV cameras and Microphones were placed all over the course.

Unfortunately for all of us, we live in a very different world now than when the real clambake was being held. Corporations run the show and people like Kyle who will call the cops on someone drinking a G&T on the 17th prevent any real opportunities for a return to form.

That made me laugh.

My best golfing days were the ones where my golf course hired an ex WSU cheerleader to be the beer cart girl.  Two greatest summers ever, I'll tell you what.  I was young, played til dark, she stayed til dark, and there was no better way to spend summer nights.

I think you get my point as well - I'm not advocating getting hammered on the golf course, but theres nothing like a drink to warm you up a bit.

[Wade Whitehead]

Should it be illegal?

They are men, after all.

Jordan:

Does your employer permit you to drink alcohol while working at your job?

WW

[TEPaul]

"If not, why don't more players drink and play?"


Jordan:

The reason is because most everyone playing today thinks drinking a fifth during a round is unhealthy. What do they know? Have any of them ever tried it?


Many years ago Jimmy Paul had to endure this opening remark while sitting next to cosmetics doyen Estee Lauder at a dinner party in Palm Beach Florida:

EsteeL:
"Jimmy Paul, did you realize that in the course of a normal man's lifetime he produces about eight cases of sperm?"

JimmyP:
"Is that right Estee? Would that be fifths or quarts?"







(Not to even mention the fact at that particular dinner party JimmyP had a perfectly awful case of laryngitis and EsteeL could hardly hear him which apparently prompted her to talk louder and louder ending up in a virtual scream at which point JimmyP had to say: "Estee, I have a perfectly awful case of laryngitis but there is nothing wrong with my hearing.")

[Jordan Wall]

Mr. Whitehead,

No.


Tom Paul,

Great story.  I would love to play golf some time. 

[TEPaul]

"Tom Paul,
Great story.  I would love to play golf some time."


What? What do you mean by that? You would love to play golf some time or you would love to play golf some time while polishing off a fifth? I can arrange that. I've tried it and it's actually pretty cool but that was well over 40 years ago. The key is if you are going to drink a fifth while playing a round you definitely don't want to drink anything BEFORE you tee off. And if you want to make it extremely interesting and a wonderful challenge it helps to do it in extreme heat!   

[Jordan Wall]

"Tom Paul,
Great story.  I would love to play golf some time."


What? What do you mean by that? You would love to play golf some time or you would love to play golf some time while polishing off a fifth? I can arrange that. I've tried it and it's actually pretty cool but that was well over 40 years ago. The key is if you are going to drink a fifth while playing a round you definitely don't want to drink anything BEFORE you tee off. And if you want to make it extremely interesting and a wonderful challenge it helps to do it in extreme heat!   

How about we do a late night nine with a quart 

[Bob_Huntley]

Tom,

Did you ever play with Dick Chapman

[Kyle Harris]

Should it be illegal?

They are men, after all.

Yes, because it is.

Public intoxication. Open container laws, etc.

Kyle, give me a break. You should have a drink once in a while, it'll put that hair you've been waiting for on your chest. 

Jordon, I tend to agree with you that giving players/celebrities/etc... something to drink is perfectly fine as long as its done in reason. Of course what your talking about was done before TV cameras and Microphones were placed all over the course.

Unfortunately for all of us, we live in a very different world now than when the real clambake was being held. Corporations run the show and people like Kyle who will call the cops on someone drinking a G&T on the 17th prevent any real opportunities for a return to form.

With all do respect Pat, my drink of choice is probably much harder than you or most can handle.

The last thing golf needs is canned drunken debauchery. The absolute last thing.

[TEPaul]

Bob:

No I didn't. I never met him but he was an awful good friend of my father's. I took up golf right around the time Chapman died and for some odd reason I've always gotten him mixed up with Frank Stranahan who I have met and did play with one time at Seminole many years ago. There were a lot of those types who were very good friends with my father like Harvie Ward, Charlie Coe, the singer Don Cherry, Truman Connell, Porky Oliver, Dynamite Goodlow, P.J. Boatright, Bobby Knowles, Billy Joe Patton etc. I'm afraid I just started golf too late (about at 35) to have gotten to know and play with people like that through my father. Had I started about twenty years earlier it might have been different that way.

Did you ever play with Dick Chapman?