There may not have been a standing rule against smoking in the Clubhouse, but I'm sure there isn't a rule against burning cow manure, either. If your club is, by natuer of its charter, an "Open" club - that is, all that wish to join is permitted to do so - then even if there is ONLY ONE non-smoking member, he/she must be accomodated. Otherwise, the club will be practicing implicit exclusion.

Smoking isn't a majority rule issue, as one guy puffing away can gag 99 other non-smokers in the same room. However, what the majority may be able to do is vote to turn the entire Clubhouse into a smoking area. That would be perfectly legal. What that will do to the membership in the long run is quite another matter.

I have suffered through my first 20 some odd years with smokers practicing their "rights" in public buildings, cars, buses, and airplane cabin. Besides the health concerns, cigarette smoke gags me. When a smoker pursues his happiness in the same room, I cannot pursue mine. These days, I have no qualms about telling a smoker to put out the light where it don't belong.

Oh, let's not make this into a young v.s. old thing. Respect is granted neither by age nor tradition; it is earned through the very practice of same for others. One only hopes with age comes the wisdom to excercise, rather than demand, respect.