MAGAZINE 2025-26
27th President, from 1909-1913
Howard William Taft was the first president to form a passionate relationship with the game of golf.
The 25th POTUS, William McKinley, had taken the first presidential golf shot in 1897, but didn’t get the bug. Tragically he was assassinated in New York in 1901 when anarchist Leon Czolgosz fired two shots from a revolver, one of them inflicting a wound which became infected and proved fatal eight days later.
McKinley’s fault? “Causing oppression,” according to his killer.
Taft admitted he quickly became “addicted to golf.” During the 1908 presidential campaign he played so much his predecessor and mentor, Theodore Roosevelt, begged him to abandon the game, saying he had received “literally hundreds of letters” from citizens bemoaning Taft playing a “rich man’s game.”
Taft would have none of it. For him golf was all about life, honour and code. He wrote: “I know that there is nothing more democratic than golf. There is nothing which furnishes a greater test of character and self-restraint, nothing which puts one more on an equality with one’s fellows, or, I may say, puts one lower than one’s fellows, than the game of golf.”
President Taft was a very portly man but, rather like Donald Trump, extolled the health and fitness virtues of the sport. He argued that he maintained “splendid physical condition” to take on the demanding work of attracting votes. He played fair, too. Having taken 12 shots to get out of a bunker, his subservient partners proposed he mark down a smaller number. Taft refused, sticking to his view that golf “affords the chance to play the man and act the gentleman.”
He was a poor player who rarely broke 100, and his time at the American helm was undermined by his love affair with golf. It’s said that in 1909, not long after he was elected and having played on 20 of August’s 31 days, a popular joke was: “As a president, Taft is an excellent golfer.”
28th President, from 1913-1921
If Taft was daft about golf, Wilson was fanatical. It’s been estimated that during his eight years in office he completed more than 1200 rounds, and such was his devotion he had the Secret Service paint his golf balls black or red so he could play on snow.
Wilson was charged with guiding the United States through World War One, first by defending its neutrality, then by offering to mediate in the conflict, and later, in 1917, by deploying American troops. Wilson said that golf helped him cope with the stress of these dark times.
He had won his second term the year before having campaigned to keep his country out of the war, but attacks on American shipping and a threatened alliance between Germany and Mexico persuaded him and his cabinet that Germany was already at war with the US and military force was the only possible response “to make the world safe for democracy.”
Woodrow Wilson is often associated with the quote, “Golf is a game in which one endeavors to put a small ball into an even smaller hole with implements ill-adapted for the purpose.” Strangely, the aphorism, or a mild variation of it, is also attributed to another wartime leader, Winston Churchill, one of our few golfing PMs. He was a poor player who endured many darkest hours on the course.
Like Taft, President Wilson did not excel at golf, topping his predecessor’s bunker exploits by once taking 15 putts to complete a hole.
29th President, from 1921-1923
The only newspaperman to become president, Harding put politics aside to play golf with friends on the day he was elected, November 20 1920. It was also his 55th birthday.
Harding loved golf even though he too did not excel. However, his dog Laddie Boy proved first class at retrieving golf balls from the White House lawn once the president had trained him.
During the first year of his term he presented the U.S. Open trophy, making him the first and only sitting president to do so. The winner was Jim Barnes, the venue Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Harding was a church going sort of a guy, which maybe explains why he insisted on holing out and never took a gimme. He died of a heart attack in a San Francisco hotel room while listening to his wife, Florence, read a magazine article aloud.
He was a popular leader and his passing triggered national grief, though historians have since cast shadows over his presidency, citing a lack of lasting achievements, scandals within his administration, and accounts of extra-marital shenanigans.
There were no great golfing exploits, but Warren Harding left his mark on the game. San Francisco’s TPC Harding Park, which opened in 1925, was named after him, and was considered to be the second best municipal course in the world after the Old Course at St Andrews.
30th President, from 1923-1929
In this post truth world of ours Coolidge’s wisdom echoes across the past century and reaches our ears like the sweetest and most illuminating music. “I did not see the sense,” he said, “in chasing a little white ball around a field.”
This is the kind of honesty and clarity American politics urgently needs to rediscover.
Senseless maybe, but courageous Coolidge played, hauling his tortured soul around golf courses - feeling he was obliged to do so. Why? Because of Taft, Wilson and Harding? Because of the pursuits of high society and movers and shakers? Or because this was the time of much loved conquering American heroes like Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen?
He was not a single figure golfer, because he rarely took a single figure on any hole. Had he been born into a different time - ours - he could simply have shot 112 and declared himself Club Champion with a 66.
Instead, it’s said that on quitting the White House the only things he left behind were his clubs.
Though Coolidge was for most of his tenure a popular president because times had seemed good, the Great Depression that began in 1929 turned public opinion against his record. He had become president in 1923 following the sudden death of Warren Harding, won the 1924 election, but chose not to stand again in 1928.
32nd President, from 1933-1945
Roosevelt was an ardent golfer long before his political ascent. At home in Hudson Valley and then at Harvard he practiced and played and lowered his handicap to single figures.
Sadly, he contracted polio in 1921 when he was 39, but though his playing days were over, his belief in sport for all in general and golf in particular continued. Paralysis of the legs obliged him to use a wheelchair, a disability he tried hard and bravely to hide from the American public, training himself to walk short distances while supported by leg braces.
His New Deal initiatives, particularly through the Works Progress Administration, funded hundreds of public projects, including municipal golf courses. These efforts democratised golf, chipping away at elitist barriers by creating affordable spaces for ordinary Americans.
FDR also leveraged his prominence to promote golf’s therapeutic and social value, especially during the Great Depression. His administration’s support for recreational infrastructure underscored the belief that leisure activities were vital to a nation’s morale and wellbeing.
He was an extraordinary man, viewed as one of the greatest U.S. presidents alongside George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. He steered America through the despair of the grimmest of economic times and then World War Two to a place of prosperity and hope.
In 2007 biographer Jean Edward Smith summed up FDR like this: “He lifted himself from a wheelchair to lift the nation from its knees.”
I did not see the sense in chasing a little white ball around a field
34th President, from 1953-1961
‘Ike’ Eisenhower won two landslide elections, victories which perhaps gave him the confidence to play an estimated 800 rounds at least during his eight years in office.
He was a member of Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, and had a putting green installed at the White House. In 2000 he was named Golfweek’s Golfer of the Century.
Ike was of average ability, shooting mid to late 80s scores, but he was also best mates with Arnold Palmer. Teamed together in 1964 the pair won a charity event.
He also hung out on the golf course with Bob Hope, who reported: “President Eisenhower has given up golf for painting. It takes fewer strokes.”
He had criticised Eisenhower for his frequent golfing, calling him ‘the Duffer in Chief’
35th President, from 1961-1963
JFK is said to have had a handicap of 7, but to a certain extent his presidential golfing is shrouded in mystery because he tried hard to keep his outings out of the media - possibly because he had criticised Eisenhower for his frequent golfing, calling him ‘the Duffer in Chief’.
That said, a quick look at YouTube reveals what appears to be home movie footage of Kennedy in action, revealing an athletic frame, good swing and nice tempo. A caveat: His friend Ben Bradlee said, ““He could hit it a ton - but often had no idea where it was going.”
Earlier in life JFK had been a member of the Harvard golf team so must have been pretty handy, though he would later endure severe back pain. He played most of his presidential golf at Burning Tree Club in the Washington D.C. area, but rarely completed a full 18, preferring to keep his round short and quick by skipping from one hole to another before calling it a day.
I came across this interesting and touching blog by Frank LaRosa.
In his third year in office, Kennedy was focused on improving his game. He decided that Arnold Palmer was the man who could help him.
On August 4, 1963 Kennedy walked from his family home to the golf club which was about a par 5 away.
As always, he never ventured into the Members’ Club House and changed his shoes in the club’s modest bag room, sitting on a wooden stool with the telephone linked to the White House there by his side.
He had asked a White House photographer to shoot a slow motion 16-millimeter silent film of his swing on the golf course.
His plan was to invite Arnold Palmer to the White House to view the film and critique the President’s swing.
The photographer returned to Washington to process the film and Kennedy looked forward to inviting Arnie to the White House - as soon as the President returned from Dallas, Texas.
36th President, from 1963-1969
Johnson, or LBJ, did much to address American poverty, inequality and discrimination, but also escalated the war in Vietnam in 1964, the same year the landmark Civil Rights Act was passed. This is his political legacy in a nutshell, though historians tend to regard his overall presidency favourably.
LBJ wasn’t a golf nut like some of his predecessors, but embraced the game as a powerful tool for forging political and social connections. At his Pedernales River retreat or elite clubs like
Burning Tree he hosted U.S. lawmakers, foreign dignitaries, colleagues and friends. He also took golfing time to unwind amid the pressures of his job.
It’s said he used the game to sway senators towards voting for the Civil Rights Act. On the golf course with friends and foes he’d have four or five unbroken hours in which to firm up or sway their opinions.
Johnson’s golfing ability was eclipsed by his negotiating skills. One historian has stated he could take 400 shots to complete a round because he would repeat a shot until he was satisfied with the result.
He said of himself, “I don’t have a handicap. I’m all handicap.”
37th President, from 1969-1974
Richard ‘Tricky Dicky’ Nixon once said, “A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits.”
Well, golf seems to have defeated and finished him, because he quit.
He took up the game when he was Eisenhower’s VP, and is believed to have played off 12, and occasionally broke 80.
But in his second term, despite having built a three hole course at his house, he abandoned the game and even had the White House putting green installed by Eisenhower removed.
Arnold Palmer crops up here too, this time as a top psychiatrist. He had several interactions with the president destined to be doomed by Watergate, and once said: “I liked Richard Nixon despite his quirks and apparent lack of warmth. I think his decision to abandon golf for political purposes revealed something fundamental about the dark side of his character, or maybe his deep social insecurities, that Mr. Nixon never permitted himself to examine.”
Sigmund Arnie! Who knew?
38th President, from 1974-1977
Gerald Ford took up golf around the age of ten, and was a better player than most people imagine. Unfortunate moments like hitting a spectator on the head with his ball at Rolling Green Country Club in Minneapolis in 1974 have tainted history’s impression of his prowess.
He was a decent player who regularly broke 90 easily, and he made time to practice. Even though his request to reinstate the White House putting green and sand trap created by Eisenhower and dismantled by Nixon was foiled because there was no longer space, he took advantage of the spacious South Lawn, as well as the Marine One Hangar at Andrews Air Force Base and Camp David.
Ford was the first president to join the U.S. Golf Association and was honorary chairman of the first Presidents Cup in 1994.
It’s claimed he once out drove Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.
Gerald Ford must have been a decent man, decency I cannot match. If someone had obliterated my putting green like Richard Nixon did, I certainly wouldn’t have pardoned him for any crimes he might have committed against the United States.
Violent insurrectionists? Of course. Putting green vandals? Absolutely not.
40th President, from 1981-1989
Reagan wasn’t an avid golfer and played rarely, but did feature in the most dramatic and unusual on-course presidential incident.
On October 22 1983, Reagan found himself playing Augusta National, the guest of his Secretary of State, George Schultz.
Watching TV at home not far away was Charlie Harris, a man who’d had a tough time and turned to drink following the loss of his father, job and marriage. A news bulletin was describing how U.S. Steel would have to cut thousands of jobs having lost business to foreign steel.
Charlie, who was in pain and angry and knew the president was nearby, reckoned something should be done. He decided to pay the Commander-in-Chief a visit - though none of this excuses Charlie driving his pickup truck through an Augusta National gate while armed with a .38 revolver.
Once on the course, he walked a club chauffeur to the pro’s shop, let him go, then went inside and took six people including White House staffers hostage. He demanded to see Reagan, who responded by phoning the shop to speak to Harris. “This is the president of the United States. This is Ronald Reagan. I understand you want to talk to me. If you are hearing me, won’t you tell me what you want?”
But Harris thought the call was some kind of trick and held out for a face to face meeting.
Two hours after the incursion, the president and his bodyguards sped away and Charlie Harris gave himself up to face the consequences - which turned out to be five years in prison.
41st President, from 1989-1993
George Herbert Walker Bush had strong connections with golf, thanks to his maternal grandfather, George Herbert Walker, from whom the president got three quarters of his name. Walker was also a president, of the U.S. Golf Association, and founded the Walker Cup, the transatlantic amateur match trialled here at Hoylake in 1921, and first staged in August the following year at the National Golf Links of America in New York, the USA beating GB&I by 8 to 4.
Bush’s father was a scratch player, and his mother also a very good golfer.
Winner of the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest honour, in 2008, he said on receiving it: “Golf has meant a lot to me. It means friendship, integrity and character. I grew up in a family that was lucky enough to have golf at the heart of it for a while. It’s a very special game.”
Playing off 11 at his peak, George Bush was known for his high pace of play, supposedly holding the presidential record of one hour and 51 minutes for 18 holes. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.
On leaving the White House his fortunes took a turn for the worse. He observed: “It’s amazing how many people beat you at golf now that you’re no longer president.”
I think I’m the only president whose handicap has gone down while he’s been in office
42nd President, from 1993-2001
“I think I’m the only president whose handicap has gone down while he’s been in office. It’s only because I’ve gotten to play with all these pros and other good golfers, and they give me all this good advice.”
Bill Clinton has long been an enthusiastic golfer. He began playing at an old course in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In 2000, as he prepared to leave the White House, he told Golf Digest, “When I was growing up, my uncle belonged to it and he loaned me some clubs. I had no lessons or anything, so I kind of hacked around until I was 17, then I quit. I started again right before I got married to Hillary; I started playing with her brothers.
“When I was governor, the old Little Rock course was only 10 minutes from my office and I used to go out there a lot in the summertime. I could get there at 6:30 and still play 18 holes. That’s when I played with a lot of my friends, but I always loved to play alone. I still like to go out and just hit the ball.”
Rumour has it that other players might prefer him to play alone because of his liberal use of ‘Billigans’ - but the president went on to say the rumours are unfair. “My mulligans are way overrated. I normally don’t. I let everyone have one off the first tee, and then normally what I do when I’m playing with people is, I just play around and if somebody makes a terrible shot I say, ‘Well, take one,’ and then I give everybody else one. Otherwise there are never more than one a side.”
Clinton is left-handed but plays golf as a rightie, a sort of reverse Brian Harman. Revealing himself to be more powerful than Gerald Ford, he had the White House putting green reinstalled.
43rd President, from 2001-2009
9/11 in 2001, the subsequent Iraq War of 2003, and detentions at Guantanamo Bay cast long shadows over the presidency of George Bush junior, and not surprisingly his passion for golf was suppressed for most of his time in office.
He had called his game “mediocre”, but played quickly like his father and once recorded a 77 at Augusta National.
Bush once said, “Golf teaches you honesty. It teaches you discipline. It gives you a strong appreciation of nature. And personal responsibility, something that lacks in our society at times. I mean, it’s only your fault, you can’t blame anyone else when you shank it. Or pick the wrong club.”
After office, he established the Warrior Open to honour wounded servicemen and women.
44th President, from 2009-2017
From what we can see through the mists of secrecy, it seems a round with lefty Barack Obama would be golf as it should be - fun but competitive.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one occasional playing partner told The New York Times: “He needles you in the best sense of the word, He makes a bad shot, and he makes fun of himself. You make a bad shot, and he makes a joke with you. He just seems happy to be out there, so the poor play doesn’t bother him.”
Mr. Obama keeps an accurate score - no mulligans for him - and while in office preferred not to talk about politics on the course. He was prepared to play for money, but did not ask Secret Service agents with 20-20 vision to follow and look for his ball. “They are pretty far back,” one player said. “They give him his space.”
Another golfer who played with Obama told The Times that his game was a window into his character. “If you came down from Mars and saw his disposition on the golf course, you would think he would be a pretty good president. He’s honest, he keeps his composure through terrible adversity, he’s unruffled, he smiles, and he doesn’t quit.”
President Obama clocked 333 rounds during his eight years, playing off “an honest 13.” That’s pretty good going - plus he had a simulator in the White House. Not surprisingly he enjoyed several games with his Vice President…
46th President, from 2021-2025
Last year Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the first aged over 80 years and the second just four behind, took part in a fight for the White House which at times felt like a choice between two escapees from an old folks’ home for the confused.
The health of the President and the challenger became a subject of concern and, during a televised debate in June, golf took centre stage. As the world fretted about a brutal, expansionist Russia, climate change, economic woes including the soaring cost of living, the increasing power of China, the ongoing tragedies of Palestine and Israel, and so on, American voters suddenly found themselves considering which of the two old blokes was…the fitter and better golfer.
Trump reported he had not long since won two club championships, “not even seniors, two regular club championships. To do that,” he said, tapping his head, “you have to be quite smart and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way and I do it. He doesn’t do it. He can’t hit a ball 50 yards. He challenged me to a golf match – he can’t hit a ball 50 yards.”
Bewildered Biden tried to take out the big stick by challenging Trump to a long drive contest. “I got my handicap, when I was vice-president, down to a six,” he added. “Mmmm. Eight. And by the way, I told you before, I’m happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it?”
Trump then accused Biden of telling porkies. “That’s the biggest lie, that he’s a six handicap, of all. I’ve seen your swing. I know your swing. Let’s not act like children.”
Quite.
Less than a month later the below par Joe Biden was cut and made way for his VP Kamala Harris.
The caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball…they came up with a nickname for him: Pele
45th and 47th President, from 2017-2021 and 2025-
In 2019 American sports writer Rick Reilly published his book Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump. His mission was to get inside the mind of a politician who owns 17 golf properties around the world, including two in Scotland and one in Ireland - a politician with a handicap said to be 2.8.
If it is or has been 2.8 Reilly offered controversial evidence as to how it got so low, saying President Trump’s willingness to pull a foot wedge from his bag of tricks has been witnessed on several occasions.
“Trump doesn’t just cheat at golf,” Reilly stated. “He throws it, boots it, and moves it. He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs.
“At Winged Foot, where Trump is a member, the caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway they came up with a nickname for him: ‘Pele’.”
If President Trump does play off 2.8 then this may be why - he has a flat but decent swing and during his first four year term he golfed on 307 days. In 2019 he shelled out $50,000 to have a simulator installed in the White House, replacing the less sophisticated machine used by Barack Obama.
It’s likely President Trump’s handicap will rise during his second term. For starters he’ll turn 80, while the demands of waging a trade war, annexing Canada, buying or invading Greenland, reclaiming the Panama Canal, displacing millions of Palestinians from Gaza, selling out Ukraine - and anything else he dreams up - will be intense.
My message to the world?
FORE!