As we get close to President’s Day, I began to wonder how many presidents were golfers and how would they rank amongst each other.
So, with the intentions of embarking on an arduous journey of research and collecting data, I went online and with the click of a few buttons found the following list thanks to Golf Digest!
Without further ado, the ranking of golfing presidents:
1. John F. Kennedy
2. Dwight D. Eisenhower
3. Gerald R. Ford
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt
5. George H. W. Bush
6. George W. Bush
7. Bill Clinton
8. Barack Obama
9. Ronald Reagan
10. Warren G. Harding
11. William Howard Taft
12. Woodrow Wilson
13. Richard M. Nixon
14. Lyndon B. Johnson
15. Calvin Coolidge
Who would of thought that with such a short term, unfortunately, JFK would be leading the pack? Supposedly he had a handicap somewhere between 7-10! Ike picked-up the game at 37 and played over 800 rounds in his career. His handicap hovered somewhere in the 14-17 range.
Ford was a passionate golfer who consistently shot in the 80 ‘s. He was also known for his errant shots that would hit spectators. After a round at the Bob Hope Classic he jokingly said: “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.”
FDR was quite an accomplished golfer until stricken with polio. However, one of his greatest contributions to golf was the construction of 250 municipal courses that made the game accessible to hundreds of thousands.
A definite must-read for those interested in golfing presidents should check out: “First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush” written by Don Van Atta Jr. Van Atta, a New York Times reporter, humorously approaches the subject and reveals some interesting things such as Bill Clinton ‘s “Billigans.” Van Atta shot a round with the Ex-prez after his term, discovering how, through the use of “Billigans,” he was able to break 80. Go figure, of all the presidents that would cheat…
