Cigarette Butts (The disgusting habit!)

I am sure you already know about all the negatives ( personal health, odor and second hand smoke) that result from smoking.  There is another occurrence that happens all too often that has a negative impact to our facility and our customer's experience.  This scenario takes place far too often and is disrespectful to the facility and the staff that work so hard to keep The Preserve beautiful.  We will call the golfer "Joe" for descriptive purposes but this name does not apply to anyone in particular.

Joe has played through hole 15 with his buddies and he has just hit the green on hole 16 for an opportunity at par.  Joe is feeling really good and thinks he better light up and get a quick drag on his Marlboro Light to calm his nerves.  He lights that thing up in a blaze of glory and is looking cool while he walks up to the green with that cigarette and smoke trail following behind.  He sees the ball and it has stopped 20 ft from the hole.  Joe thinks to himself that he needs to really concentrate on this putt and he may be able get a birdie!  Joe kneels down and lines everything up and takes one last big drag in order to sooth the nerves.  Then what does Joe do?  He takes that cigarette butt and flicks it smoothly onto the playing surface right off of the green for all the world to see.

Cigarette butts collected from around 16 green.

Proper golf etiquette would be for Joe to kneel over and tamp out the butt on the ground and put the remains in his pocket and then throw it into the next trash can he sees.  By doing this he keeps the hole clean for the golfers following behind and keeps me or my staff from having to pick up after him.  So next time Joe.. please keep your butts to yourself.

Fun Fact:  It can take a cigarette butt 18 months - 10 years to decompose in the environment.