President Obama and Slow Play

[Mike Cirba]

Wow...the guy takes a day-and-a-half vacation and gets criticized.

Amazing.

I guess he hasn't been working hard enough to get this country off the edge of the cliff the last 8 years of conservative rule drove us to.   I believe his predecessor vacationed about 8 of his first nine months in office, if memory serves.

Just over a year ago the stock market stood at 6500, having lost over half it's value in a free-fall calamity.

Friday, only 15 months into his term, it's near double that, closing at 11,200.   Yet, his economic policies are called "Socialism" by the far-right wing radical nutjobs.

Give the guy a friggin' break.  

It's not like the Republicans had any answers that worked.

[Eric Pevoto]

Hold the phone, pardners...  I can't let a pace of play thread pass without mentioning that it's simply a management problem.  Clearly, this place is one taco short of a combo platter and has let it get waaaaaaaayyy out of hand.  Anybody know the rating/slope/yardage?

This article will be quoted/referenced in club newsletters nationwide.

[Ted Cahill]

Wow...the guy takes a day-and-a-half vacation and gets criticized.

Amazing.

I guess he hasn't been working hard enough to get this country off the edge of the cliff the last 8 years of conservative rule drove us to.   I believe his predecessor vacationed about 8 of his first nine months in office, if memory serves.

Just over a year ago the stock market stood at 6500, having lost over half it's value in a free-fall calamity.

Friday, only 15 months into his term, it's near double that, closing at 11,200.   Yet, his economic policies are called "Socialism" by the far-right wing radical nutjobs.

Give the guy a friggin' break.  
Amen

It's not like the Republicans had any answers that worked.
l

[Pete_Pittock]

Odd that the Washington Post forgot to mention the fact that his group was playing behind 41 Republican senators. Especially egregious was Sen Phil A Buster who waited on every hole until the green was clear before teeing off

[Mike Sweeney]

Obama appears to be the biggest golf junkie in the white house since Eisenhower.  I love that he squeezed in nine before sunset and then turned around and played 18 the next morning.  Sounds like most of us on a golf weekend.  I love it.

We were on Martha's Vineyard last summer the same week as Obama. We actually drove in to Farm Neck to get a tee time when he was playing. Security was lighter than I expected as we did not know he was there till later that night on TV. There was a daily recap in the The Vineyard Gazette of his travels including golf. When I complained to my wife that Obama was playing more golf than me, she gave some excuse like "he is the President....."

Anyway, it is interesting that there were a ton of pictures of him at Mink Meadows and Farm Neck the two semi-private clubs on the island, but I only saw one of him playing at the private Vineyard Club:



It was actually taken by The Vineyard Gazette so maybe they had an insider at the club.

[jeffwarne]

Wow...the guy takes a day-and-a-half vacation and gets criticized.

Actually, I think the criticisms were that he took a day and a half to play 27 holes , not that he took some time off

Amazing.

I guess he hasn't been working hard enough to get this country off the edge of the cliff the last 8 years of conservative rule drove us to.

  I believe his predecessor vacationed about 8 of his first nine months in office, if memory serves


Just over a year ago the stock market stood at 6500, having lost over half it's value in a free-fall calamity.

Friday, only 15 months into his term, it's near double that, closing at 11,200.   Yet, his economic policies are called "Socialism" by the far-right wing radical nutjobs.

Give the guy a friggin' break.  

It's not like the Republicans had any answers that worked.

[JNC Lyon]

I have been very opposed to Obama throughout his presidency.  However, I think that it is great that he is playing golf!  The guy needs to relax, and we all know that there is no better way to do that than spend the day on the golf course.  Furthermore, he sets a much better example for as a "First Golfer" than other Presidents did (such as Clinton the Cheater).  Let's hope Obama continues to play golf throughout his presidency.  It will give him some much-needed perspective.

[David_Elvins]

He's already played golf eight more times than GW Bush did in his eight years. GWB gave it up after 9/11. The image of troops serving in a war zone while the Commander in Chief played was not appropriate to GWB.

I understand GWB's point and admire it.

Bill,

To put it into a bit of context, Bush's decision was a politcal one to counter the attacks on the amount of holidays he was taking.  He (rightly or wrongly) copped a lot of bad press for stuff such as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3p9y_OEAdc

[Dan Herrmann]

Eric,
Pretty easy golf course:  Course rating: 69.5, Slope: 125 (from the tips).

[Mike Sweeney]

He (rightly or wrongly) copped a lot of bad press for stuff such as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3p9y_OEAdc

As an American I am slightly embarressed, as a golfer, I am slightly impressed. 

I get the feeling Obama does not want his swing on tape, but I have to say that I was impressed that he had some game against Clark Kellogg:

(Fast forward to 3:30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9JAtl3Jm3k

[Carl Johnson]

Eric,
Pretty easy golf course:  Course rating: 69.5, Slope: 125 (from the tips).

Dan, when was the last time you played the course?  If you have not been back since Kris Spence's renovations five or so years ago, you might be surprised.  I played it last summer.  I could not justify a 5.5 hr. round if the course was open in front of you, but personally I don't think it's as easy as the rating and slope that have been assigned to it suggest, particularly for a player of Obama's apparent skill level.

[Carl Nichols]

Here's my serious take.  (1)  It's nice to have a president, Dem or Gop, play golf.  It publicizes the sport.  Let's not politicize it.  (2) How many of you have played the course?  I played it last summer.  It's a restored Ross course, and not particularly easy.  More important, it's not properly teed for a player of Obama's ability (which is about like mine).  That surprised me because it is a "resort course."  If any of you have different thoughts about the GPI course, and their teeing grounds and how they set the tees, please share.  (3)  Was the President's cart restricted to paths?  [My answer: probably not (he's the President), but still, it's a question.]  (4) If you were president, a Dem or a Gop, would you like to "get a break" on the length of time it takes you to play while on vacation?  (5)  Someone else already asked this: How do we really know how long the actual playing took? 

(1) I agree.  But why are you leaping to the conclusion that pointing out that he played a 5 1/2 hour round is somehow political?  I would criticize anyone for a 5 1/2 round.

(2) Ok, but certainly doesn't justify that long a round.

(3) I don't know, but still doesn't justify that long a round.

(4) Absolutely.  I think all Presidents should be entitled to take breaks, including on the golf course. 

(5) I don't, and noted as much earlier.  But reporters don't usually screw up basic facts like that. 

[Terry Lavin]

I've known the president for ten years or so and I am a supporter, so the righties can move back to a Melvyn thread on etiquette if that offends them, but I find it ridiculous that anybody would be surprised that it could take that amount of time for his group to get around the golf course.  I've played with politicians, actors and other celebrities and it ALWAYS takes longer, because everybody is much chattier than normal and the politician, actor or celebrity almost always has to spend some substantial time being nice to members of the public.  AND it takes most casual golfers at least five hours to play a round.  Sad but true.  Finally, I don't remember a lot of chatter about Bush playing golf when he found time to play during his five week vacations at the ranch.  If memory serves, he had a national security briefing one morning in which he was told the information about the FBI agent who was alarmed by muslims wanting to learn how to land (not fly) jumbo jets and other chatter about bin Laden wanting to fly planes into skyscrapers.  He told the messengers: "Okay, now you've covered your asses."  Then he played golf.

[George Pazin]

Wow...the guy takes a day-and-a-half vacation and gets criticized.

Amazing.

I guess he hasn't been working hard enough to get this country off the edge of the cliff the last 8 years of conservative rule drove us to.   I believe his predecessor vacationed about 8 of his first nine months in office, if memory serves.

Just over a year ago the stock market stood at 6500, having lost over half it's value in a free-fall calamity.

Friday, only 15 months into his term, it's near double that, closing at 11,200.   Yet, his economic policies are called "Socialism" by the far-right wing radical nutjobs.

Give the guy a friggin' break.  

It's not like the Republicans had any answers that worked.

Thanks, Mike, I needed a good laugh!

[Carl Nichols]

I've known the president for ten years or so and I am a supporter, so the righties can move back to a Melvyn thread on etiquette if that offends them, but I find it ridiculous that anybody would be surprised that it could take that amount of time for his group to get around the golf course.  I've played with politicians, actors and other celebrities and it ALWAYS takes longer, because everybody is much chattier than normal and the politician, actor or celebrity almost always has to spend some substantial time being nice to members of the public.  AND it takes most casual golfers at least five hours to play a round.  Sad but true.  Finally, I don't remember a lot of chatter about Bush playing golf when he found time to play during his five week vacations at the ranch.  If memory serves, he had a national security briefing one morning in which he was told the information about the FBI agent who was alarmed by muslims wanting to learn how to land (not fly) jumbo jets and other chatter about bin Laden wanting to fly planes into skyscrapers.  He told the messengers: "Okay, now you've covered your asses."  Then he played golf.

You can simultaneously not be surprised at the plodding but still be critical of it.  Not because he played golf (which he is clearly entitled to do, and which I don't see *anyone* on this thread criticizing), but because it just shouldn't take that long to play. 

[Jud_T]

Wow...the guy takes a day-and-a-half vacation and gets criticized.

Amazing.

I guess he hasn't been working hard enough to get this country off the edge of the cliff the last 8 years of conservative rule drove us to.   I believe his predecessor vacationed about 8 of his first nine months in office, if memory serves.

Just over a year ago the stock market stood at 6500, having lost over half it's value in a free-fall calamity.

Friday, only 15 months into his term, it's near double that, closing at 11,200.   Yet, his economic policies are called "Socialism" by the far-right wing radical nutjobs.

Give the guy a friggin' break.  

It's not like the Republicans had any answers that worked.

Can we please leave our personal biases out of it? I just ate and frankly both parties make me want to lose my lunch....

[Terry Lavin]

I've just done some fact checking and determined that I was wrong.  Bush didn't go golfing after getting the bin Laden alert.

He went fishing.

[Brian Freeman]

All I can say is anyone who can spend 5 1/2 hours to play 18 holes has too much free time on their hands.  That applies to everyone, not just the POTUS.  Especially with carts.

Glad to see Obama giving the game some exposure though, I think any PR is good PR from that standpoint.

[Bill_McBride]

I had no idea Bush knew ahead of time about potential terrorist attacks and as is implicit in Terry's report shrugged them off. And to top it off he did this while playing golf. Ahhh...another black eye for golf.

Taking a long time to play golf is acceptable to me. I know my wife and youngest child took about 4.5 hours, not great for a threesome, but we did our best to move along. It seems GCA has become like an Islamic militant website issuing fatwas for every preceived wrong. All these rants about slow play, and other matters sound a little like this:

"A US Muslim group has issued an internet warning to creators of the satirical animated TV show South Park over a depiction of the Prophet Mohammad in a bear outfit."

Maybe every GCA fatwa can be used this way:

"GolfClubAtlas has issued an internet warning to golfers of slow play. We have to warn the Moran family that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for playing golf in over 3.5 hours," said a post on GCA.com" All praise be to Ran, the Lord of all that exists."

"Golf Club Atlas fatwas!"  Great post, Kelly, now keep moving along please!   

[Cliff Hamm]

There is no excuse for a 5.5 hour round...At the same time for those that might doubt Mr. Lavin:

Ron Suskind, George W. Bush and the Aug. 6, 2001, PDB
Bush to briefer: "All right. You've covered your ass, now."
By Tim Grieve

    *

Ron Suskind's "The One Percent Doctrine" is out this week, and the Washington Post's Barton Gellman says it's full of "jaw-dropping stories" about the Bush administration's war on terror.

Or lack thereof.

We've known for years now that George W. Bush received a presidential daily briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, in which he was warned: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." We've known for almost as long that Bush went fishing afterward.

What we didn't know is what happened in between the briefing and the fishing, and now Suskind is here to tell us. Bush listened to the briefing, Suskind says, then told the CIA briefer: "All right. You've covered your ass, now."

[Dan Herrmann]

Carl,
I've never been there.  I was making an assumption based on the C.R. and slope.

We're not talking Pine Valley type difficulty here

[Carl Johnson]

Carl,
I've never been there.  I was making an assumption based on the C.R. and slope.

We're not talking Pine Valley type difficulty here

I've never played Pine Valley, but have to agree: definitely not Pine Valley.

[Carl Johnson]

Here's my serious take.  (1)  It's nice to have a president, Dem or Gop, play golf.  It publicizes the sport.  Let's not politicize it.  (2) How many of you have played the course?  I played it last summer.  It's a restored Ross course, and not particularly easy.  More important, it's not properly teed for a player of Obama's ability (which is about like mine).  That surprised me because it is a "resort course."  If any of you have different thoughts about the GPI course, and their teeing grounds and how they set the tees, please share.  (3)  Was the President's cart restricted to paths?  [My answer: probably not (he's the President), but still, it's a question.]  (4) If you were president, a Dem or a Gop, would you like to "get a break" on the length of time it takes you to play while on vacation?  (5)  Someone else already asked this: How do we really know how long the actual playing took? 

(1) I agree.  But why are you leaping to the conclusion that pointing out that he played a 5 1/2 hour round is somehow political?  I would criticize anyone for a 5 1/2 round.  Point well taken.  I'm not going to go back and try to justify my inference, but some of the other comments seemed to suggest that to me.  Maybe as a liberal Democrat I'm too sensitive.

(2) Ok, but certainly doesn't justify that long a round.  Agreed, absent hold-ups in front, which I seriously doubt would have happened to Obama.  Thought I'd made that clear, but in looking back, I guess I hadn't.

(3) I don't know, but still doesn't justify that long a round.  Agreed, again, but it would have an impact.  At GPI the impact would be more than usual.  We had a lot of rain the night before in N.C. and cart path restrictions can happen under those circumstances.

(4) Absolutely.  I think all Presidents should be entitled to take breaks, including on the golf course.  Right on.  

(5) I don't, and noted as much earlier.  But reporters don't usually screw up basic facts like that.  Huge disagreement here.  Be it the liberal press, the conservative press, or the "I'm-just-trying-to-make-a-living-reporter" press,  I'd have to write a book.  But since that's too far OT, I'll pass and just ask you to indulge me.

[Cliff Hamm]

Kelly...while my politics are toward the left my dislike for both parties only grows with age.  They are both scum and simply do not represent the interests of the majority of people.

[Kevin Lynch]

Odd that the Washington Post forgot to mention the fact that his group was playing behind 41 Republican senators. Especially egregious was Sen Phil A Buster who waited on every hole until the green was clear before teeing off

Actually, from what I heard, 5 1/2 hours was pretty impressive, because after 16 holes, Senator Buster insisted that they "start over from the beginning."