Why club-throwing needs to be banned from golf

VERO BEACH, Fla. – Guy Donatiello reckons he will always get emotional when talking – heck, even when thinking – about a round of golf with three friends in Philadelphia in October of 2022.

Not just because of what happened that day, but rather two months – and two surgeries (the first in a series of five to date) – prior.

It was August 4, a practice round ahead of the annual Member-Guest at Cedar Hill Country Club in Livingston, N.J. Donatiello and his partner, club member Doug Harte, were on the 14^th tee of the suburban club 15 miles west of Newark. They were paired with two other teams, one of whose guest players topped two tee shots into a pond. In anger, the man thoughtlessly, violently winged his driver backwards. The sole of the clubhead smashed Donatiello squarely in the right eye.

Donatiello collapsed, blood everywhere. With Harte driving, they rushed first to nearby Saint Barnabas hospital, then to Philadelphia's Wills Eye Center on the urging of an ophthalmologist friend whose advice Donatiello credits with saving his eye.

In addition to detaching his right retina, the thrown club had deformed Donatiello’s eyeball altogether, ejecting the fluid that is meant to hold it in place, requiring the injection of an oily solvent to replace it. The resulting skull fracture required 18 stitches and, ultimately, a cosmetic procedure to correct.

"I have had five surgeries since this happened," Dontiello said. "Many have involved two-month layoffs where I have been unable to work out, play golf, even ride a bicycle. But I still have the eye, though it's not very useful. My central vision is essentially non-existent."

Donatiello is an intellectual property attorney by trade, and as avid a golfer as you will meet. Lawyers gravitate to the game for many reasons, often including an interest in the codes of behavior - both formal and informal - that it entails. During his recuperation time from his injury, Donatiello found himself thinking about the possible relationship between the Rules of Golf and the horrifying incident at Cedar Hill that has permanently cost him the majority of his sight in his right eye. Donatiello declined to discuss whether any legal action has resulted from the incident.

"There's no reason for people to throw clubs on a course - ever," said Donatiello. "It's not so much an etiquette thing as it is dangerous."

Donatiello believes there needs to be explicit language that outlaws club-throwing and imposes severe penalties against it, as well as other breaches of golf etiquette.

On-course behavior is covered - loosely - by Rule 1.2, which outlines golf’s code of conduct. It consists mainly of a general admonition to behave civilly on the golf course and apply common sense in order to keep everyone safe. Club-throwing doesn’t get a specific mention, and the rule places enforcement of all on-course conduct at the feet of a competition's committee. But given the potentially fatal consequences of club-throwing, perhaps it should go further.

"I think there should be a specific penalty associated with throwing a club in anger or frustration," Donatiello said. "Golfers are pretty rules-conscious; it's a rules-driven game. I think if people know that there's a rule against it, that they're much less likely to do it, and may not do it at all because of the consequences to their score."

In light of possibly devastating, life-altering consequences, Donatiello would favor disqualification as a specific penalty for club-throwing. "Considering the danger, that might be the appropriate penalty.

"The USGA has known about it for a long time," he said. "They reprimanded Bobby Jones for it back in the '20s, when he hit a woman with a club that he threw." 

A USGA pamphlet detailing Jones' life and career mentions this post-1921 U.S. Amateur admonishment from association president Howard F. Whitney, who wrote a letter to Jones saying, "you will never play in a [USGA] event again unless you can learn to control your temper."

A century after Jones' attitude adjustment, the time may be right for more explicit prohibition on club-throwing before more people get hurt.

Golf has never been more popular among young people, but the proliferation of TikTok, Instagram and other social videos where influencers and even established media outlets glorify club-throwing for laughs and clicks is a trend that needs to stop before someone else is hurt or worse. Tyrrell Hatton's vicious club-throw at the 2019 Scottish Open could have seriously injured - or killed - someone standing nearby; it's evident from the video that the club slipped in Hatton's hand and didn't end up flying where he meant it to. But it's also obvious that Hatton meant to throw it. That's flat-out unacceptable.

In a 2021 Instagram post from Danielle Kang's account, legendary teacher Butch Harmon opines on the "art" of club-throwing. From a naive golfer's perspective, I can see how it might be seen as a light-hearted attempt to comment on the anger golfers sometimes feel. But after spending time with someone who was nearly killed by a thrown club, it is clear that there is absolutely nothing funny about it.

It goes without saying that Harmon and any other public figure in golf would never advocate for throwing a golf club in the direction of another golfer, but neither would the golfer whose own club-throw nearly killed Guy Donatiello. So what should be done?

Regardless of the potential for the USGA to rewrite Rule 1.2, any golf course can establish a Local Rule around it and implement it in all competitive play immediately. That is exactly what has happened at The Moorings Club in Vero Beach, Fla., where Donatiello plays.

Seeing what one of his members has gone through was a revelation for Thomas Brinson, the director of golf at The Moorings. "So many things happen in concept, but when you see how it affects a person - their game, their life, their family - yeah, it makes it more personal," he said. "It makes it more real, so it certainly has a bigger impact."

So Brinson, along with The Moorings' golf committee, established a local rule, believed to be the first to explicitly outlaw club throwing. Perhaps it will become a template for other clubs. We asked the USGA if the organization would ever considering banning club-throwing but have yet to receive a response.

As for Donatiello, he continues to play the game he loves despite vision issues that will linger for the rest of his life. In 2023, he was part of the winning side in a team club event, and even took first-place in an individual net event. "I'm not a give-up kind of guy," he said.

"It was good to get back out there, back out there with friends," he said of that triumphant, emotional October 2022 return. "One thing that was important to me in that round: I could trust everyone I played with."