The best drink for golf when you're not drinking

Second9 is a non-alcoholic functional seltzer built for a full round of golf. It replaces the beer-cart pour with bright lime, ginger, and bitters, plus clean caffeine, calm focus, and real electrolytes — so you finish the back nine as sharp as you started the front, and drive home with a clear head. If you've stepped away from drinking but not from the game, this is what goes in the cooler.

What should you drink golfing if you're not drinking beer?

The best non-alcoholic option for golf is a functional seltzer like Second9 — it gives you the ritual and refreshment of the beer cart without the alcohol, the sugar crash of soda, or the blandness of water. You get bright flavor, 30mg of clean caffeine from guayusa for steady energy, L-theanine for calm focus over a putt, and electrolytes to fight the quiet dehydration of four hours in the sun. All at 15 calories, 0g added sugar, and 0.0% alcohol.

The best drink at the turn

The turn is where a round gets decided — and where most golfers reach for a beer that softens the back nine. A functional seltzer is the better call: one Second9 at the turn tops up hydration and gives you a clean lift for the second half, instead of the warm, heavy feeling that comes with mid-round alcohol. Golf clubs are increasingly stocking 4-packs at the turn for exactly this — one per foursome.

Why golfers are trading the beer cart for functional seltzer

Golf has always paired with a drink in hand; the ritual matters. What's changing is what's in the hand. More golfers — sober-curious, driving, or just tired of playing the back nine a step slow — want the ritual without the trade-off. A non-alcoholic functional seltzer keeps the cooler, the cart, and the cheers-at-the-18th intact, and adds a functional edge: energy, focus, and hydration built for the exact demands of a long round.

What to put in the golf cooler (no alcohol)

Best non-alcoholic drinks for a day on the course, ranked for what golf actually asks of you:

• Functional seltzer (Second9) — the top pick: flavor + caffeine + electrolytes + 0 sugar, purpose-built for a long round.
• Electrolyte water — good hydration, no flavor payoff or energy, easy to get bored of.
• Kombucha — flavorful but sugary and unpredictable fizz; not built for performance.
• Non-alcoholic beer — scratches the ritual, but empty of function and often full of sugar.
• Soda / sports drinks — sugar spike then crash; the opposite of what you want by 16.

The Second9 case for golf

Bright lime, real ginger, a dash of bitters — a drink with a spine, not a sweet mocktail. Under the flavor: guayusa for clean, steady energy (no jitters, no crash), L-theanine for the calm focus a putt rewards, L-tyrosine for the mental drive of the closing holes, and electrolytes + magnesium for hydration that actually lands. Built by two founders who quit drinking and still love the game — the drink they wanted at the turn, and couldn't find.