“IT’S RARER OUT HERE to find a caddie-player duo where one of them doesn’t do nicotine than a duo where one of them does,” says Brandt Snedeker, a two-time Ryder Cupper and not a user.
Today’s nicotine pouches are tiny (about 25mm by 12mm), and players can tuck them discreetly under the upper lip. And no tobacco means no need to spit, so the product and the process have become less offensive. “Smokeless tobacco has traditionally been associated with southern or rural locales in America, but the nicotine pouches that are popular now seem to have found acceptance among a wider audience,” says Vaughan Rees, PhD, director of the Centre for Global Tobacco Control. “They might be considered a cut above conventional forms of tobacco.” These little white pouches, from brands like ZYN, Rogue, Zone, LYFT, On! and VELO, have made nicotine use essentially invisible – and almost certainly more popular. “I’d say it’s over half of the guys out here (on the PGA Tour) who do some sort of tobacco or nicotine pouch,” says Brandt Snedeker, a two-time Ryder Cupper and not a user. “I would guess 60 to 70 percent of caddies use nicotine. It’s rarer out here to find a caddie-player duo where one of them doesn’t do nicotine than a duo where one of them does.” “It’s not 50 percent,” Ryder says, “but it’s creeping in that direction.” Billy Horschel, an eight-time PGA Tour winner and also a non-user, doesn’t think it’s quite that high. “If there’s 20 guys hitting balls on the range, I’d say seven or eight are using nicotine. Not much traditional tobacco anymore, mostly pouches, so you don’t see the nasty spitting.” On LIV Golf, our interviews indicate that usage among players is more like 25 to 30 percent. One reason for the lower rate might be the lack of availability of nicotine products in some of the foreign countries where LIV Golf plays. One LIV golfer based in the US says he has to “buy out the stores” when he’s home to stock up for extended trips to places like Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Morocco. Toby Mündel, PhD, a professor of kinesiology at Brock University in Ontario, helped conduct a nine-year study that analysed more than 60 000 doping-control tests of competitive athletes worldwide. For many of the sports surveyed, including golf, nicotine was detected at a higher rate than tobacco use in the general population, estimated at 20 percent. Golf was singled out in two of the years as golfers tested positive for nicotine in the 40-percent range. Despite the lower cancer risk with tobacco-free pouches, any chemical as widely consumed in pro golf as nicotine demands further research, for one, to head off other potential health hazards, but also to find out whether legions of players are gaining an unfair advantage.
How Nicotine Works AS A STIMULANT DRUG, nicotine impacts the brain and body in various ways. The most obvious effect is an almost immediate rise in heart rate and blood pressure, which creates physical arousal, more energy and heightened sensitivity in the body. On the psychological side, nicotine can improve concentration, mental clarity, reaction time and memory. These changes could help with critical analysis and decision making and even create an overall sense of well-being. The dangers of traditional forms of nicotine consump- tion are staggering. According to the Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention, smoking causes more than 480 000 deaths annually in the US, and smokeless tobacco is a known cause of cancer.
WHAT’S IN MY BAG Usage has evolved from cigarettes to smokeless tobacco to pouches.
94 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025
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