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 From the News Desk...Redefining executive golfby John ReitmanRestaurants are creating and naming dishes and cocktails for him. Merchants hoping to cash in on the craze are selling everything imaginable - from T-shirts to coffee mugs to action figures - that carries his likeness or message. The circus-like atmosphere that President Barack Obama’s vacation brought to Martha’s Vineyard this week leaked onto a pair of TurfNet member golf courses as the country’s chief executive squeezed in a couple of rounds while grabbing some needed R&R on the tiny Massachusetts island. Matt Crowther, CGCS at Mink Meadows Golf Club, won’t soon forget shaking hands with the president after Obama played the nine-hole semi-private facility on Tuesday, Aug. 25. “It was pretty cool,” said Crowther. “He told us the course was wonderful, but that he didn’t do it any justice. To have the president tell you he enjoyed your golf course means a lot.”  (For the record, Golf Digest ranks the top golfers inside the Washington, D.C., Beltway, and Obama carried a 16 index in his final year as an Illinois senator in 2008, according to the rankings – VP Joe Biden reportedly is an 8.)
Although 35 other elected officials reported a lower handicap than Obama last year, it still is difficult if not impossible to dismiss the president’s star quality – even when he steps onto a golf course. Regardless of your political stance, the president commands a presence and possesses the kind of popularity that one might associate more with an actor or rock star than an elected public official. (Remember reports of people fainting in his presence during last year’s campaign?) And it’s a big deal when he shows up at your golf course. Case in point, more than an hour after the president left Mink Meadows on Tuesday, a couple described by Crowther as “appearing very affluent” drove into the parking lot and asked: “We heard he is here. Is he still here?” When word got out that the president was coming to Mink Meadows, a group of about 25 people that included staff and members (and Crowther’s wife, Cheryl, and 17-year-old son, Josh) assembled on a porch off the clubhouse for a chance to see the president. A friend of the family brought along her prized possession, a bound copy of the president’s inauguration speech, for Obama to sign, which he did, by the way. Security, Crowther said, was intense. Bomb-sniffing dogs had the run of the property (but were kept off the grass for fear that pesticides and fertilizers either would be a danger to them or interfere with their sniffers), onlookers were scanned with security wands before the president arrived and again as he came up No. 9. Michael Alwardt, CGCS, and his crew were ousted Monday, Aug. 24 from their digs at Farm Neck Golf Club while the Secret Service used the maintenance facility as a staging area during as the president played golf there. Although Alwardt did not appreciate being kicked out of his office and his crew expelled from the shop, he and Crowther were dutifully impressed by the level of security that comes with a visit from the president. Former president Bill Clinton has played Farm Neck several times both during his days as president and as recently as last week. But the security surrounding the current president was without compare. “Way too much firepower is being toted around the course,” Alwardt said by e-mail. “(The Secret Service is) a fascinating bunch though. Bomb-sniffing dogs check out all the carts; nothing is left unchecked. They even lifted tee markers and looked under them. We entertained Clinton during his reign, but security now is way more intense.”  At both courses, Secret Service commandeered a host of golf cars – including Alwardt’s 11 utility vehicles – to patrol the course. Other golfers were permitted to play at both courses, but without carts, had to walk while Secret Service agents ensured a two-hole gap both in front of and behind the president’s foursome.
Crowther, who has been at Mink Meadows for 14 years, concurred with Alwardt’s perception of pre- and post-911 security. He said the security during a pre-911 visit by Clinton was nothing compared with Obama’s recent arrival that included dozens of Secret Service agents arriving two hours in advance of the president. And they came toting duffle bags stuffed apparently with enough firepower to protect the leader of the free world under myriad unthinkable circumstances. When someone receives – according to published news reports – an average of 30 death threats daily, you can never be too careful. “There were at least 50, maybe 75 (agents),” Crowther said. “And I don’t know how many are out there that we didn’t see. Some of their bags were so big they looked like golf club travel bags.” Security included agents stationed around the perimeter of the golf courses and all three access roads into the area were effectively sealed. Even construction contractors building houses in the area were denied access until the president had left. “We gave the Secret Service a tee sheet and list of members,” Crowther said. “If your name was not on that list, you weren’t getting in until he was gone.” Presidents playing golf are not new. In fact, Obama isn’t the most famous golf-playing president – yet, although his game appears to be on par with many of his predecessors. William Howard Taft, who served from 1909-13, is credited by many with being the first president to bring golf to the White House. Nearly every president since the end of World War II has used golf as an occasional getaway, most notably Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush. In fact, George Herbert Walker, grandfather to Bush 41 and great-grandfather to Bush 43, once was president of the USGA.  A latecomer to the game, Eisenhower reportedly played more than 800 rounds of golf in his eight years in the White House (1953-61). He was a member of Augusta National, and a loblolly pine he struck with regularity, a cabin and a pond there are named in his honor. He also frequented such fabled tracks as Cherry Hills and Cypress Point. However, his handicap was reported to very Obama-like, in the 14-18 range.
Nixon and Ford both were reported to possess a handicap as low as a 12, and George W. Bush a 15. Clinton developed reputation for bending the rules with excessive use of mulligans, charges he has called greatly exaggerated. “He was not very good,” Tony Girardi, CGCS at Rockrimmon Country Club in Stamford, Conn., said of Clinton recalling a day in 2001 when the former president played the course. “He looked like an 18 to 22 handicapper.” Like Obama at Mink Meadows, both Ford and Clinton are fondly remembered by other TurfNet members for their affable, approachable and generally pleasant manner on the golf course. Ford, who died in 2006, was a regular at Vail, Colo.-area courses like Eagle Springs Golf Club and the Country Club of the Rockies before health issues prevented him from playing. Bryan Morrison encountered Ford on several occasions, first as assistant at CC of the Rockies and later at Eagle Springs, where he is now superintendent. “He was always gracious, and he always said ‘hi,’ ” Morison said. “He always made time to tell you the golf course looked great. Whatever he would say in passing to us, you know, we’re behind the scenes, it meant a lot. “I enjoyed watching him play and then going back to whatever it was I was doing.” Wire service photos from Martha’s Vineyard show Obama’s security detail with automatic weapons drawn on the golf course. Security for Ford paled in comparison, Morison said. “Oh my gosh, no,” Morison said. “It was nothing like that, thankfully.” Ford, who served as a U.S. Representative from Michigan before becoming vice president and later president, also is remembered for bringing a great deal of goodwill to his second home. His efforts included a fundraiser golf tournament and concert to benefit Vail-area charities, Morison said. “I miss seeing him around,” he said. “I still think about him.” One of the things Rockrimmon’s Girardi remembers about the day eight years ago when Clinton played his course were the eight or so black Chevrolet Suburbans in the parking lot. “(Secret Service) never turned them off,” he said. “There was a heavy Secret Service presence. You were on lockdown. “There were no open weapons, and all the Secret Service were in plain clothes. They did carry a lot of duffle bags, though. I can tell you that. I can only imagine what it’s like now (for Obama). Those guys don’t have a life. People are watching every shot. Did he pick his nose? Did he move his ball? The poor guy can’t even play nine holes of golf.” Despite the craziness surrounding Rockrimmon during the Clinton visit, it was a moment Girardi will not soon forget. “I’m not going to glamorize it. It was memorable and exciting,” Girardi said. “It’s a rare occasion to get to shake a president’s hand. It’s a memorable situation. I think that’s the key word, ‘memorable.’ ” 
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