CORRY L. FLADER, an owner of the Umbrella Shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, offered a rule when walking in the rain: “Don’t poke or hit other people with your umbrella,” she said, “unless provoked.”

That advice may seem obvious, but urbanites who venture out in the rain are now weaving and ducking to avoid being stabbed in the eye.

During a recent downpour in New York, Josephine Noah, 25, a business analyst from Jersey City, complained: “Every single time it rains I get hit. And it is always the larger ones.”

The culprit is the golf umbrella, which was once seen only on the fairways but is now increasingly popular for everyday use, especially among men.