Gentleman’s Vice Review

imageGentleman’s Vice
Grade: B+
Teachers’ Comments: Nice enough, but I would have made a couple of design changes.

Golf and cigar smoking seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. In my Friday golf league, I’m the only one who doesn’t smoke (I have no objections to cigar smoking, I just never took it up—even though as a teen, I worked on a Maryland tobacco plantation.)

So it’s only natural that some enterprising entrepreneur would come up with a handy swiss army knife tool for cigar smoking golfers: The Gentlemans’ Vice. It’s a combination ball marker-ball mark repair tool-cigar holder-club holder-cigar cutter.

About the size of a small Leatherman tool, the Gentleman’s Vice is constructed of metal and heavy duty plastic. The body is plastic; the cigar cutter and mark repair tines are metal. The Vice feels very solid and substantial. If anything, I found it too large and heavy to fit comfortably in my pocket. But that’s ok because it also comes with a heavy duty fabric holster that you can clip to your bag.

I tested it for a couple of rounds and find that it works very well as a club holder to keeps your grips off the wet grass around the greens. As you can see from the photo, it sticks very well into the turf. I assume that it also works well to hold cigars. The rounded indention as the top is wide enough to balance the stogie of your choice.

imageTo use the cigar cutter, you release the catch, extending a pair of “wings” and revealing the hole in the center for clipping. Pushing the wings back to the Vice’s body looks as thought it would provide adequate force to cut through the leaves.

The ball marker is typical of a lot of ball mark repair tools, attaching to the tool magnetically.

The mark repair function of the Vice, however, is not quite as well done. For my tastes, the tines on the Vice are a little short. I had some trouble getting under the crater my balls sometimes leave on soft putting surfaces.

Another thought. This tool also needs a bottle top opener. Beer is as ubiquitous on golf courses as cigars (I don’t drink beer either, but like cigars, don’t object).

All that said, I think that the Gentleman’s Vice would be a great giveaway for a high-end golf outing. The company can personalize the ball markers, which would be great for corporate branding.

1 thought on “Gentleman’s Vice Review”

  1. This tool is an absolute must in my opinion. I’m not even a diehard (I get out once or twice a month if I’m lucky), but I never hit the course without my Gentleman’s Vice.  Although the emphasis leans toward the cigar aspects (I smoke a cigar maybe twice a year), as the Golf Blogger points out, it’s fantastic for keeping your grips up off the wet turf.

    Additionally, the design allows it to be clipped on to your pocket (it’s not shown above, but pretty handy) allowing easy access to the ball marker once you hit the green.

    Lastly, I’d like to comment on the length of the divot repair tines.  Admittedly, I thought they were a little short myself when I first received mine, but came to discover that this was intentional.  As I understand it, more and more greenskeepers, pros, etc. are adopting these “limited/restricted depth insertion” divot repair tools because they do less damage and are better for the course.  So far I’ve found the tool works well in nearly all circumstances.

    Botton line, I’ve had everyone I’ve played with ask what it was and where I got one.  I’m thinking about ordering some with my company’s logo on them and passing them out as corporate gifts. Great gadget in my opinion!

    Reply

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