And 8th Iron is already teed up.
Golf has always been a slow-burn sport. Long walks. Long pauses. Long conversations stretching from the first tee to the final putt. It’s a game built on rhythm and temperament, where one bad swing can hijack the next five holes if you let your head spiral.
That’s exactly why cannabis has been quietly riding shotgun in carts for years, even when plenty of clubs still treat it like a dirty secret. Not everyone is chasing a party round. A lot of golfers are chasing calm: looser shoulders, fewer swing thoughts, more patience when the game punches back.
Dominic DeNucci is building a brand around that overlap. Through 8th Iron Golf Club, he’s betting that cannabis doesn’t disrupt golf culture — it sharpens it.
Dominic DeNucci Didn’t Grow Up In Golf
DeNucci didn’t come up through country club junior programs. He grew up playing baseball and football. Golf came later.
Cannabis didn’t.
By his late teens, DeNucci was already deep into cultivation, scaling grow setups, and learning the plant beyond just smoking it. He moved into solventless work, including rosin production, where patience and precision matter as much as starting material. That discipline—steady hands, emotional control, attention to detail—would later translate to the course.
Golf hit him in 2020 and stuck. Within a year, he was competing in money games. In less than two years of playing, DeNucci had become a golf professional—a rare timeline in a sport where most players grind for a decade just to feel competent.
That matters. 8th Iron doesn’t read like a novelty because DeNucci didn’t borrow golf aesthetics. He earned his place inside the culture. He understands etiquette, the ego, and the unwritten rules. including where cannabis still makes people uncomfortable.
When he decided to build a club around that overlap, the name came naturally. The 8-iron is one of the most dependable clubs in the bag. It’s versatile, steady, and reliable. Pair that with the familiar “eighth,” and the wink is obvious.
But the deeper meaning isn’t just wordplay. It’s normalization. Cannabis and golf don’t have to be enemies. The crossover doesn’t have to feel rebellious or disruptive. It can be functional, rooted in respect for the game rather than shock value.
The goal isn’t to get obliterated mid-round. It’s to get out of your own head.
Why Golf And Cannabis Actually Work Together
If you had to design a sport that naturally pairs with cannabis, you’d end up with something that looks a lot like golf.
It’s outdoors. You’re moving, but you’re not sprinting. There’s space between shots offering time to breathe, reset, and let the last mistake go. Even on a packed Saturday, golf gives you pockets of quiet that most sports don’t.
Then there’s the mental battle.
Golf is a slow-motion argument with yourself. The swing is technical, sure. But the bigger fight is emotional—not spiraling after a chunked wedge, not carrying frustration to the next tee box, not letting ego pick the wrong club.
For many players, cannabis can help smooth those edges. Used responsibly and where permitted, it’s less about “getting lit” and more about lowering the internal volume. Fewer intrusive swing thoughts. Less tension in the shoulders. More presence over the ball.
Golf punishes extremes. Consistency wins. That overlap of composure over chaos is the thesis behind 8th Iron.
The Stigma Isn’t Gone—Even In Legal States
Legalization doesn’t automatically equal acceptance. DeNucci learned that while planning his first major on-course event in October 2024. Momentum built quickly. Social media lit up. Sponsors showed interest.
Three weeks before the event, the host course pulled out.
The concerns were predictable: neighbors, members, optics. The assumption that a cannabis-friendly tournament meant chaos. DeNucci argues the opposite. In his experience, alcohol-based tournaments are more likely to bring reckless behavior. Cannabis crowds tend to show up calmer and more focused on the round itself.
He scrambled for a replacement venue. Most courses said no. One didn’t: Cross Creek in Temecula.
The last-minute pivot improved the day. The more secluded setting meant fewer outside complaints and a better atmosphere for what the event was actually meant to be—community-driven, controlled, and centered on golf.
The proof-of-concept landed.
8th Iron events aren’t stiff brand activations with step-and-repeat banners and forced sponsor mentions.
They feel like a round with friends — just scaled up.
Cannabis brands and golf brands share the same space. Players show up solo and leave with new connections by the 18th green. That dynamic is already built into golf culture. DeNucci is simply removing the tension around something many players were quietly doing anyway.
Etiquette still matters. Respect still matters. The score still matters.
The cannabis isn’t there to hijack the day. It’s there to smooth it.
Las Vegas, Live Music, and “Get High Shoot Low”
The next expansion takes 8th Iron out of state and into Las Vegas, partnering with Fortunate Youth for a two-day crossover experience: golf first, live music second.
On April 3, the 8th Iron experience hits the Las Vegas Country Club. On April 4, Fortunate Youth performs at Area 15.
The brand tagline says it plainly: “Get High, Shoot Low.”
The meaning isn’t complicated. Even if you’re consuming, you’re still there to compete with yourself. You still want to post a number you’re proud of.
The high isn’t the destination. The low score is.
Building Products For The Rhythm Of A Round
DeNucci isn’t interested in slapping a golf label on generic flower.
He’s building toward cannabis products designed around how golfers actually experience a round. One concept he’s floated is the “Player Per-Fore-Mance” pack—four joints mapped to four familiar emotional checkpoints: first-tee nerves, a blowup hole, fading focus, mental fatigue.
The intention isn’t excess. It’s pacing. Golf rewards steadiness. The idea is to match product to moment so the round doesn’t unravel. It’s cannabis framed as performance temperament, not rebellion.
The Bigger Picture
Golf and cannabis make sense for the same reason golf works at all: time.
The sport gives you room to reset. Room to socialize. Room to be present. Add cannabis—responsibly and legally—and you reduce the emotional volatility that ruins rounds.
That’s the lane DeNucci is carving out with 8th Iron Golf Club.
Not shock value. Not stoner cosplay. Not anti-golf posturing.
Just a simple thesis: if the game is about rhythm, patience, and composure, why wouldn’t you use tools that help you access those states?
Cannabis isn’t crashing the clubhouse.
It’s already on the course.
Photos courtesy of Dominic De Nucci
