Which President Played The Most Golf (Top 10)

 

Presidents like to play golf.

There is no question that being a president and a golfer go hand in hand.

Part of this probably has to do with presidents and the amount of networking that they must do as part of their job.

When a president has to deal with negotiations or simply needs a break from the pressures of the office, a golf course can be a great place to spend their time.

The places that presidents have played and the level of golfer they are have varied considerably through the years.

If you always have wondered whether or not your favorite president shares your passion for the sport, we have all the information you need.

Let’s take a look at the top ten presidents that played the most golf.

 

Which President Played The Most Golf (Top 10)

 

1. Woodrow Wilson

 

The President that played the most golf was Woodrow Wilson.

Although he still managed to get his job done as a president, Wilson was able to find time for more than 1200 rounds of golf during his presidency.

Wilson loved to play golf, and although he was not a great player, he still enjoyed being on the golf course.

Most people assume that after 1200 rounds of golf in just a few years, you would be a tremendous golfer.

However, this was not the case with Wilson.

He spent time on the course but never really managed to get any better.

Unfortunately, one of the issues that ended up costing Wilson his golf game was the stroke that he had.

After his stroke, playing golf was no longer a possibility, and this was obviously quite upsetting for someone that loves the sport as much as he did.

Some people questioned whether Wilson was spending a bit too much time on the golf course.

In fact, there are stories about how Wilson went to play golf the day he declared war with Germany.

Some people that were closest to him said that golf was the only thing that allowed Wilson to manage the pressure of his job and his responsibility.

Today, if a president did this, there would be quite a bit of trouble, and people would be seriously upset.

However, when you look at things like self-care and the fact that the president is, after all, a human, the game of golf may not be so bad after all.

Wilson won’t win the prize for being the best golfer among former presidents, but he certainly loved the game.

It would be interesting to see what modern day equipment could do for a player like Woodrow Wilson, that had a higher handicap.

 

2. John F Kennedy

 

John F Kennedy was the 35th president, and although he didn’t play a lot of golf while in the White House, he played plenty of golf before that.

One thing that we can say for certain about JFK is that his swing was the best of any president that has ever served.

It’s hard to find footage of JFK’s golf swing, but when we look back at the footage that is available, the action at impact is really good.

In fact, if JFK played as much golf as Woodrow Wilson, chances are he would be playing professionally.

JFK did not want to play too much golf while he was president because he was worried about his image.

However, before he made it to the White House, he played quite a bit of golf and was a good player.

Of course, he had some advantages by being a little younger and having some natural athletic ability.

For those that were lucky enough to play golf with JFK, his ball striking would be something that you would likely remember for a lifetime.

 

3. Barack Obama

 

Barack Obama is an avid golfer.

He played more than 300 rounds of golf during his time in the office.

During the time of Barack Obama being president, people started to get very critical about presidents spending just a bit too much time on the golf course.

Obama managed his time well and still completed his duties, but he enjoyed playing golf with both friends and political associates.

To this day, Obama still likes to play golf and will do so quite often now that he is no longer the president.

Although his handicap was always close to a 20 or so, he still enjoyed the time he spent on the golf course.

As you will see with number four on our list, sometimes when presidents have low handicaps, there are even more problems with what the American public thinks about the game of golf and presidents.

 

4. Donald Trump

 

Donald Trump loves golf.

In fact, he even owns several golf courses.

As far as having a connection to the game of golf, Donald Trump may be the most involved of any president.

Trump had his handicap as low as around an eleven at a few points.

Donald Trump plays a lot of golf, but the exact number of times that Trump played is difficult to determine.

When you own a golf course it is easy to run out and play a few holes without too many people knowing.

Trump spends a lot of time golfing, and he is not shy about it.

People enjoy playing with Trump, and he has played with celebrities, business associates, and political connections.

Overall, Donald Trump can strike a ball fairly well.

As he is getting older, he has lost a good bit of distance, but he still has a good swing and can hit the center of a fairway.

In the past, Trump was likely even a little better than he is now, but he has plenty of experience and the capability to hold his own on the golf course.

If you play any of the Trump golf courses, chances are you may be able to see Trump on the golf course at some point.

He plays his own courses quite often and is always around; maybe you will get paired with him if you are lucky enough to play a Trump golf course.

 

5. Dwight Eisenhower

 

Dwight Eisenhower was a big-time golfer.

Some of this had to do with the time that he was in the office and what was going on in the world of golf.

Some of it has to do with the fact that Eisenhower just loved to play.

Dwight Eisenhower was even inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame because of the way that he grew the game of golf.

For true golf fans, the one part of the White House that seems most appealing is likely the putting green.

Eisenhower was the one responsible for installing this at the White House.

In fact, other presidents after him should be thankful that he was this involved in the game of golf and knew how important it was to get those few extra putts in each day.

Eisenhower did not grow up playing golf, but he got hooked when he turned 35 years old.

This was when he realized he might like to try golf, and then he quickly realized that he had some natural abilities.

Within one year of playing the game, Eisenhower was able to break 80.

If you know much about the game of golf, you can understand how rare it is to break 80 within the first year of playing the game.

Eisenhower was president for eight years, and during these years, there were some major changes in the game of golf.

For a long time, golf was thought of as a sport that was only for rich people.

When Eisenhower and Palmer were both growing the game, golf changed to be something that every person could play.

This has remained the same for years and is why we see golf the way we see it today.

Without these two men in history, it’s hard to say that golf would be what it is today.

 

6. George H. W. Bush

 

George HW Bush played quite a bit of golf, yet he did not want to spend much time on the golf course.

As much as the Bush family is tied into the game of golf, he had a real problem with slow play.

When you think about a president and the time that they have to complete the necessary work around the oval office, a six-hour round of golf is certainly not acceptable.

George HW Bush had an early introduction to the game because of his family connections to the USGA.

However, when he grew up and started playing golf on his own, he would often quit if the pace of play was not fast enough.

Although George HW Bush did not play the most amount of rounds of any president, he certainly liked the game, as long as he could move at a quick pace.

We can’t say we blame him.

Slow play can be extremely frustrating, regardless of your handicap!

 

7. Bill Clinton

 

Bill Clinton was an avid golfer.

When he started as president Bill Clinton was a golfer that played just a few times per month.

However, as he spent more time in the office, he picked up a few more rounds and started playing with celebrities, sports stars, and other politicians.

Clinton was not the best of golfers, and there were some complaints about his ability to keep score on the golf course.

It’s hard to say unless we played golf with him ourselves, but there were some indications that Clinton forgot about some golf shots here and there.

The president even joined one of the Trump golf courses for a short time, although he is no longer a member there.

Clinton was a fairly athletic president that could also run.

GOlf was not his only sport and not the only way that he took some time away from the White House.

However, if you look back through some of the photos of Clinton and who he played golf with through the years, he obviously spent quite a bit of time on the golf course.

 

8. Richard Nixon

 

Nixon is another golfer that started playing a little later in life.

He did not come up the ranks as a junior golfer and instead started playing when Eisenhower was in office.

The thing that is interesting about Nixon is that he picked up the game rather quickly.

There are some stories about Nixon having a hard time socially on the golf course.

He was able to play just fine but not able to play and have social interactions.

This could have been because of the fact that he was really a beginner when he was in the office, or it could have been who he was as a person.

As we all know, there are plenty of different types of golfers out there, and some can handle themselves on the golf course better than others.

 

9. Gerald Ford

 

Gerald Ford was a famous golfer, but not for the best reasons.

In fact, Gerald Ford is known for hitting a spectator with a golf ball when he was playing in a tournament.

This is an unfortunate story, but everything worked out fine with the person that got hit in the head with Ford’s shot.

The thing that is most remembered about Gerald Ford is the inaccuracy of the golf shots that he hit.

Ford had a hard time hitting the ball straight, and this is something that we can all relate to.

If hitting the ball straight is the only reason for staying on the golf course, there would be no golfers left!

 

10. William Taft

 

Taft was the president that followed after Woodrow Wilson.

If you are trying to fill the shoes of a former president that played 1200 rounds of golf, it can be a little daunting.

However, William Taft decided that he could play golf, just not nearly as much as Woodrow Wilson was able to play.

Taft was a rather large man and had a hard time playing sports.

Golf is a sport that you can play with almost any athletic ability.

We have learned through time that being in excellent physical condition can help you become a much better golfer.

However, William Taft showed us that anyone can have fun on the golf course.

Taft was dealing with quite a few people that were used to handling business on the golf course.

Luckily he was able to keep up with this and could hold his own on the golf course.

Although Taft may not have been a great player, he still got to play the game.

 

Does President Joe Biden Play Golf?

 

Joe Biden does play golf, but not that often.

Clinton, Obama, and Trump played much more golf than Biden plays.

He has a membership at Wilmington Country Club and also at Fieldstone Golf Club.

If you have two memberships, chances are you like the game of golf quite a bit.

Biden was known to be a very good golfer before becoming president; however, since he has been in office, he is playing considerably less.

Playing less golf is going to certainly impact the handicap that Joe Biden keeps, so we can’t be sure how accurate it is at this point.

Biden is very careful about his image with the American people, and he said that he would be honest and forthright about every round of golf that he has played.

This seems to be the case so far, although if we were the President, it would be hard to hang the clubs up for four or eight years.

The golfers in the country certainly assume that a certain amount of golf will be played by more presidents.

 

Conclusion

We hope you now feel like you know a bit more about the presidents of the United States and how much golf they have played.

There is plenty of stats and information about presidents, and one of them is the number of rounds that are played.

If a president plays more rounds, then they are often tracked more closely.

Golfers that play just a few rounds of golf will probably not be bothered.

Golf takes time, and people have mixed feelings about presidents that take the time to play golf.

As big golf fans, it’s hard for us to see a golfer that loves the game give it up completely.

We all have lives to manage and jobs to do but fitting in a bit of golf is good for the mind and body.