Presidential golf stories

I’m now on my way to New York and Washington, D,C. for a couple of meetings with our principals, I decided to take a break in the West Coast and play some golf since nothing much is happening during the Holy Week. I was invited to a golf game by a Filipino friend and one of those playing with us was a retired Secret Service agent formerly on Ronald Reagan’s security detail. He gave us a lot of interesting stories about presidential golf games.

He said that nowadays the Secret Service can’t be as lax with Dubya’s security when he plays, especially after 9/11. Unlike Ronald Reagan when he played at the famous Augusta National Golf Club in October 1983 with Nicolas Brady, former Secretary of State George P. Schultz, and former Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan. As they were about to start at the 16th hole, Uzi-wielding Secret Service agents rushed in and told them that they had to leave the course right away. Apparently, an armed man took some hostages in the pro shop while the foursome was on the back nine. Our Secret Service friend told us that Reagan, who happened to be playing a good round of golf that day, wanted to finish the game but was overruled by the chief of his detail. Without further discussion, the Secret Service agents hustled the President, then the other three into an armored limousine that whisked them off to the Eisenhower Cottage off the 10th hole for safety. The idyllic Augusta course was quickly transformed into a hot zone of paramilitary chaos. Low-flying helicopters, filled with men armed with semiautomatic weapons and binoculars, buzzed the course.

In fact, according to the Secret Service agent, Don Van Natta, Jr. wrote First Off the Tee describing the history and trivia of presidential golf. The account on Reagan was in the book. The most enthusiastic White House golfer of all time was Eisenhower. But according to the book – of the 14 American presidents who played golf – JFK’s estimated average score of 80 easily qualifies him as the most talented of the golfing presidents. It continued, "More than anything, JFK despised losing. He was as competitive as any president, on and off the golf course. Unlike Clinton, his legitimate score was not enhanced by mulligans and gimme putts. According to the book, JFK possessed an effortless, graceful swing despite his painful back. From the tee, he crushed the ball, driving it straight and true and as long as 275 yards and he owned a deadly touch on the greens. For the purposes of betting, he used what his friends called the Kennedy "con." JFK’s greatest weapon was his conniving, competitive mind. From before the first tee to moments before the final putt, JFK used a running commentary to exploit any of playing partners’ weaknesses. He often persuaded playing partners to give him a generous handicap or fat odds." "As golf is a mind game, he was incredible against any kind of competitor. Through a complex system of betting, which only he understood fully, JFK won most of his matches before the first ball was even hit. Just keeping track of the bets gave his opponents little time to concentrate on their game. The President was simply a master psychologist," explained his Press Secretary Pierre Salinger.

The book interestingly mentioned that "Members of the press, many of whom adored Kennedy, enabled the President to keep his passion for women – and, to a lesser extent, golf – hidden from the public. According to Richard Nixon (an authority on secrets), the game amounted to nothing less than one of Jack Kennedy’s many "secret vices." Kennedy, a fan of Ian Fleming’s spy novels, loved keeping secrets (almost as much as he loved hearing them). Rumors about women dogged JFK throughout his political career. In the first days of his administration, some reporters were given the cover story that he was having a weekday game at the Burning Tree Golf Club when he was actually in some undisclosed tryst. Despite his Press Secretary’s insistence that JFK was playing, Reporters continued to wonder, and whisper, about other games JFK was undoubtedly playing." They asked relentlessly, "Was JFK really playing golf?" or "Was golf just a cover story?" "The less said, the better," Salinger said, referring to the golf, not the women. It was observed that the Kennedy Administration is going to do for sex what the previous one did for golf."

George W. Bush loves to play golf, especially, when he is in the Cape Arundel Club at Kennebunkport, Maine or near his ranch in Texas. As a matter of fact, when he was in Manila the other year the original plan was for him to stay 36 hours and play golf with GMA at the Malacañang golf course. But that was quickly scrapped by the Secret Service when the trip was cut down to 8 hours.

Philippine presidents, too, like Marcos, FVR, and GMA enjoyed playing golf. Like Clinton, FVR played with an unlit cigar in his mouth. Bill Clinton, who aped the habit from JFK – his political idol – thought that this would make him play as flawlessly as JFK. One must admit that GMA is a hard-working president traveling all over the country and that doesn’t give her much time to play nowadays. When she was Vice-President, we were able to play with her a lot more often. Golf is a good game for heads of states or CEOs because it gives them four hours to relax and when possible they get to know other people better. Golfing is one of the most effective ways to connect and get to know the character of a person: his temper, his competitiveness, or if he is a cheater. To me that’s what golf is all about.

* * *

E-mail: [email protected]