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Interesting Golf Stories

Since nothing much is really happening during the Holy Week and 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. But a funny thing happened to
me and my Filipino host on our way to the golf course. Since we were rushing to an 8 a.m.
tee-off, we were pulled over by a highway patrol officer for speeding. My friend asked me
not to tell this story but he conceded to let me write about it provided I don’t mention his
name - so I granted him the courtesy. Upon stopping the car, he immediately gave his license
and said, “Me speaka no English.” He repeated, “Me speaka no English.” So the exasperated
officer just simply said, “OK, I’ll let you go this time.” But my friend got busted when he
replied, “Thank you, Officer.” Right there and then he got a ticket.
By the time we finished our golf game at this exclusive club, almost the entire place
knew the story about his speeding ticket. It seemed like the biggest joke of the club that day.
One of those playing with us was a retired Secret Service agent formerly on Ronald Reagan’s
security detail. He sure had plenty of 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 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. 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. 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
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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.
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 Malacanang 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 loved 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.

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