Editor’s Note

EDITOR’S NOTE FIFTY YEARS LATER: WATERGATE AND GOLFERS-IN-CHIEF

Fifty years ago, at around 2:30 a.m. on June 17, 1972, five men, one of whom was a former employee of the CIA, were arrested in what was described as “an enormous plot to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee” at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.

It was an election year, and, as the investigation into the breakin unfolded, a pattern of unlawful activities within President Richard Nixon’s administration was uncovered by the press. Together, these crimes would become known as the Watergate scandal and lead to Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974.

On his final morning in office, Nixon submitted a one-sentence Letter of Resignation and said an emotional goodbye to his staff then made a brief Farewell Address to an overflow crowd of White House staff and Cabinet members. He then famously joined Gerald Ford for a short walk across the South Lawn to a helicopter that would whisk him away into history.

While Nixon is the only president in U.S. history to resign from the presidency, he is also unlike most other modern presidents in that he rarely played golf. According to Don van Natta’s First Off the Tee, Dwight Eisenhower played more than 800 times during his two terms of office and had a putting green installed on the White House lawn.

A member of Augusta National Golf Club, Ike broke 80 on a dozen occasions and the Eisenhower Pine, once located on the 17th hole, was named after him. John F. Kennedy was a serious golfer but didn’t want to be seen playing because he wanted to contrast his image with Ike’s reputation of “golfing his way through the presidency.”

Ronald Reagan only played about a dozen times while in office, but he loved putting around the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One. But nowhere does golf run deeper than in the Bush family bloodline.

George H.W. Bush’s grandfather, George Herbert Walker, served as president of the USGA in 1920. A singledigit handicapper, he donated the Walker Cup, the trophy awarded to the winning team in the biennial matches between leading amateur golfers in the U.S. and Great Britain/Ireland. And George W. Bush’s grandfather, Senator Prescott Bush, was a scratch golfer and president of the USGA in 1935.

Bill Clinton, Van Natta says, “followed the rules for about a hole and a half. Then...started taking these do-over shots, gimme putts and, at the end of the 18 holes, it took him about 200 swings to score an 82.”

As for Barack Obama: Time magazine noted that he duffed in “much the same way that he tries to govern.” Wellington Wilson, Obama’s longtime golf buddy, was quoted as saying, “You can really tell a person’s personality by the way he plays golf. He just goes with the flow. Not too high. Not too low.”

And as for the playing stats of Donald Trump and Joe Biden: Trump reportedly spent 307 days, almost a full year, golfing during his four years in office and Biden reported played only ten times in 2021.

Enjoy your walk,

Suzy Evans, J.D., Ph.D.

CALIFORNIA GOLF + TRAVEL

PUBLISHER Eric Woods EDITOR Suzy Evans, J.D., Ph.D. ASSISTANT EDITOR Laird Hayes ART DIRECTOR Long Tran ASSOCIATE EDITORS Mike Stubbs, Ed Travis SENIOR WRITERS Randy Youngman, Jim Dover, Tom LaMarre CONTRIBUTORS Ian Leggatt, Ed Vyeda, Leonard Finkel, Tom Stankowski, Ken Lane PHOTOGRAPHERS Michael Weinstein, Tom Neas, Mark Susson, Channing Benjamin TRAVEL EDITOR Larry Feldman EQUIPMENT EDITOR Scott Kramer, Ed Travis WINE + GOLF John Finney, Matt Palaferri CONTRIBUTING INSTRUCTORS Eric Lohman, Kris Moe, Perry Parker, Ted Norby, Scott Heyn, John Ortega, John Burckle Accounting Jep Pickett California Golf + Travel is published by Golf Lab Media LLC 1224 Village Way, Ste. D, Santa Ana CA 92705 Phone: (714) 542-4653 website: www.CalGolfNews.com California Golf + Travel is published bimonthly and distributed to California golf courses, country clubs, practice facilities, golf retailers, hotels, and resorts Entire contents of this publication is copyrighted Golf Lab Media LLC 2021, all rights reserved and may not be reproduced in any manner in whole or in part without the written permission from the publisher. For subscriptions, go to calgolfnews.com and sign up online or send your name, address, phone number, and $20 to Golf Lab Media at the Above address. For advertising opportunities and editorial information: Please call (714) 542-4653 or email to info@calgolfnews.com

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