azgreg
Is this new or have they been doing this for a while now? The course where I worked for several years back in the mid-2000's removed theirs after their insurance company told them their rates would go up considerably if they continued to keep them, due to a lawsuit from some golfers in the midwest contracting e-coli from a water cooler on a golf course. They said screw that... so they just gave out this small bottle of water with a paid greens fee.
Interestingly enough, the rule banning any type of cooler stayed in place, although I never enforced it when I was doing the starter duties. We only had the beverage cart out on the weekends or for outings, and I caught hell for it a few times. I literally got into a heated argument with the owner, reminding him, "you think a lawsuit for e-coli is bad? Wait until someone dies of heat-stroke because they had no access to water and weren't permitted to bring water with them!" He shrugged his shoulders and said, "it's not on us to give them the weather forecast before they come out to play."
I never enforced it. In fact, when I would play there myself on my days off, I'd bring my staff bag with a 2-gallon igloo in the back compartment. I just told the customers to keep them out of sight and out of mind until they got out of eyesight of the clubhouse.