Tuesday, October 27, 2009

What does Obama's golf game say?


Of all the witty things that have been said and written about golf over the years, there is one that is true above all:
Golf doesn't build character, it reveals it.

A colleague, but a better golfing partner, sent along this clip yesterday. It has to do with President Obama's fondness for the game, and the fact that in the first nine months of his new job, he has already played as many rounds of golf as the latest President Bush did during his first 34 months in office.

As this significant finding seeps across the Internet, expect it to spark the predictable nonsensical furor that has always been associated with presidents and golf. In this case, how could the man be playing this stupid game when the economy is in the toilet, we are fighting two wars, health care is broken beyond recognition, and to this day, there are STILL starving children in China?!

Frankly, who cares how much golf the guy plays. What we should be concerned about is what kind of player he is, and how he conducts himself on the golf course. This would really allow us to get to know the man behind the podium better.

Consider what we know of past presidents and their golf games...

Let's start with Dwight D. Eisenhower because he was the sitting president when I was born.
See how honest I am? What do you think that says about how I conduct myself on the golf course, eh?
OK, I'll shut up. Moving right along...

Eisenhower was the Babe Ruth of presidential golfers. During his eight years in office, Ike played over 800 rounds of golf. For the math-challenged, that is is over 100 rounds per year! This is a staggering number, no doubt, until you consider that America was just coming off of World War II and the Korean War. Americans needed to inhale some fresh air and take a well-deserved break in the 1950s, and our president helped lead by example on the links.

John F. Kennedy: Kennedy is said to have possessed the most elegant, athletic and graceful swing of all of our presidents. Elegant, athletic and graceful will land you lookers like Jacqueline Onassis -- and any other number of babes, no? He was also said to be a fierce competitor on the links, a trait which might, in part, explain how he became our youngest president elected to office. Er, besides daddy, Joe's, money, that is.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Didn't play much, and when he did, was said to be an awful player. It is not clear whether he sought help for his swing, but we do know he did not seek or accept his party's nomination to run for the presidency in 1968.

Richard M. Nixon: Was not the most athletic guy, and took the game up late in life. He was also not averse to the occasional one or nine mulligans over the course of a round. In a book by Don Van Natta Jr. on this very subject, he writes that Nixon was often caught on tape saying, "Oh, that didn't count," after knocking a tee ball well to the, er, left. His problems with tapes and the left were only beginning...

Gerald Ford: Next to Ike, nobody played the game as much as Ford. Ford is notorious for hitting spectators off the tee in pro-ams, but was actually a very good golfer. He had one of the great quotes on that sore subject: "I would like to deny all allegations by Bob Hope that during my last game of golf, I hit an eagle, a birdie, an elk and a moose."
Ford's honesty and candor made him the perfect guy to follow Nixon, eh?

Jimmy Carter: Did not play the game, so we'll turn this around: What did his presidency say about what kind of golfer he would have been? Well, he most likely would have been too far left off the tee, conceded too many putts to his opponents, and been late for his tee times because he was stuck in line waiting for gas.

Ronald Reagan: Well...Has been labeled a casual golfer, and in the '70s described the game as, 'a sissy, rich man's sport.' Of course, that came from the same guy who rode horses. Reagan's strength was most likely the ability to put bad shots and rounds out of his head. During his 1992 questioning about the Iran-Contra Scandal, he was also asked about the state of his game, to both questions he answered, "I don't remember the details at all."

George H.W. Bush: Played so quickly that he often described his time on the course as 'aerobic golf.' Seldom did one of his rounds last longer than three hours. With a battle ax like Barbara waiting for him at home, is it any wonder his pattern was to get on and off something as quickly as possible? Of course, his presidency was a quick one, too, as he served only four years.

Bill Clinton: Clinton loves the game and played 'a round' whenever he could. Seldom kept an honest scorecard, and was a notorious cheater on the golf course. Said he didn't see length as a prerequisite for a good game. OK, OK, seriously, this is like shooting fish in a barrel. You fill in the rest...

George W. Bush: Like daddy is a very quick player. Is said to be good off the tee but couldn't be bothered with pondering the nuances of the short game. Is not detail-oriented on the course. So he basically shot first and asked questions later.

Which brings us to our current president...

Van Natta Jr. has a piece on Obama's game in the latest issue of Golf Digest. In it he writes that, "Obama approaches the game in the same way that he conducts his politics -- maniacally methodical, aggressively competitive and devoutly risk-averse."

Oh, and he is also the first president to play the game from the left side.
I'm telling you, you can't make this stuff up.

3 comments:

  1. Personally, I don't see many reasons to like the guy so far, but it's hard to totally hate a guy who spends a fair amount of time on the links.

    Devoutly risk-averse? Are we talking about his golf game or his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan?

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  2. Maybe we are talking about NOT acting like the last guy who was the president from his party.

    -DC

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  3. This is a great article, I love where you took it. When you break it down like this, I can definitely get into politics and history.

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