First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush (Thorndike American History)

Accumulating fascinating anecdotes from his research into the golf games of the Presidents, and combining these with his own experience as a reporter, which includes more than two years spent covering President Clinton, he shows how a President's golf game reflects the inner man. Fourteen of the last seventeen Presidents were golfers to one degree or another, and no reader, whether a golfer or not, will be disappointed in the unique insights and revealing anecdotes the author gives us of Presidents at leisure. What makes this book different from so many others, is that Van Natta is a real writer, carefully choosing his quotations (including on-course remarks), narrating anecdotes so that they have real climaxes, and emphasizing details that are so telling that no reader will fail to see parallels between the man's golf and his Presidential administration.

Though Kennedy is adjudged the best player of the fourteen, with an "effortless swing," few citizens knew how addicted he was to the game, something he kept secret because, after Eisenhower's administration, golf was considered a political liability. (Ike left cleat marks in the floor leading from the Oval Office to the practice green outside his window.) Ike, Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt (who was a passionate golfer until he was stricken with polio at age 39), and Gerald Ford are considered the purists of the game, and none of them were ever caught lying about a score, using mulligans (extra shots off the tee), or tossing the ball out of the woods. Not surprisingly, Bill Clinton is considered among the White House's "most polished and prolific golf cheats." As one observer noted, "You don't have to subpoena Whitewater documents. Just watch him on the golf course." He elevated the mulligan to such a new level that it was referred to as a "billigan." Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Warren G. Harding, were also considered cheats.

With a final section devoted to the Bushes, father and son, Van Natta closes his analysis of Presidential golf games with particular panache, since the Bushes so often play together. The book is pure delight, providing a unique take on Presidents, who, on the golf course, face the same challenges as the rest of us, with some of them responding more gracefully to the challenges than others. Mary Whipple


Light History For Everyone   June 8, 2003
taking a rest
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Don Van Natta Jr. offers 14 mini-biographies of our Presidents in his work, ï First Off The Teeï , that are all engaging and fun to read. His book is well researched, documented, and could provide a catalyst for further study of these holders of the Oval Office. He does not suggest this is a serious study of political science or even character profiling of the men he writes about. Golf has played an interesting role with many of our chief executives since its introduction to the US. One president, Ulysses S. Grant, happily swung a club only outside of his country. Were this chief executive to have played on a regular basis at home, he easily would have taken the top spot as the most miserable golfer to ever occupy The White House.

The author traces the game from its start when it was a little known activity, to its growing stages when it became a political liability to play, to when a President on a golf course is no longer a negative but expected, as the game has grown in popularity. The author credits players like Tiger Woods for dramatically expanding the games audience. He also documents one President who built hundreds of courses and likely would have been the finest Presidential player before disease took away his ability to even walk. The historical record is also corrected with the President who outplayed everyone including Eisenhower, and other Presidents who would play in the fog before they would risk a photograph being taken. One other President courted and played the game with the woman who would become his wife, and is believed to have assumed many presidential responsibilities when his health failed.

This is not a heavy-handed weight of a book to be lugged around and plowed through. It is readable, accessible, and has moments of laughter. All History need not be written with such ponderous prose so as to be a chore for many to read. I think many will pursue more traditional biographies of these Presidents after being introduced to them by Mr. Van Natta Jr.


Light History For Everyone   May 14, 2003
taking a rest
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Dick Van Natta Jr. offers 14 mini-biographies of our Presidents in his work, “First Off The Tee”, that are all engaging and fun to read. His book is well researched, documented, and could provide a catalyst for further study of these holders of the Oval Office. He does not suggest this is a serious study of political science or even character profiling of the men he writes about. Golf has played an interesting role with many of our chief executives since its introduction to the US. One president, Ulysses S. Grant, happily swung a club only outside of his country. Were this chief executive to have played on a regular basis at home, he easily would have taken the top spot as the most miserable golfer to ever occupy The White House.

The author traces the game from its start when it was a little known activity, to its growing stages when it became a political liability to play, to when a President on a golf course is no longer a negative but expected, as the game has grown in popularity. The author credits players like Tiger Woods for dramatically expanding the games audience. He also documents one President who built hundreds of courses and likely would have been the finest Presidential player before disease took away his ability to even walk. The historical record is also corrected with the President who outplayed everyone including Eisenhower, and other Presidents who would play in the fog before they would risk a photograph being taken. One other President courted and played the game with the woman who would become his wife, and is believed to have assumed many presidential responsibilities when his health failed.

This is not a heavy-handed weight of a book to be lugged around and plowed through. It is readable, accessible, and has moments of laughter. All History need not be written with such ponderous prose so as to be a chore for many to read. I think many will pursue more traditional biographies of these Presidents after being introduced to them by Mr. Van Natta Jr.