President Obama and Slow Play

[Carl Nichols]

This article in today's Washington Post mentions that yesterday morning, President Obama played 18 holes in 5 1/2 hours! 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/24/AR2010042402901.html?sub=AR

For those without access, here's the relevant passage:

He had hardly checked into the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa Friday afternoon before he was on the links for a quick nine holes, finishing after nightfall. Saturday morning, he was up at dawn for another round, this time a 5 1/2- hour full 18 holes.

Reporters were kept away from the action, though a handful were allowed to watch his final hole Friday night. The president took the wheel of a golf cart, steered it up near the green of the 10th hole and made several warm-up swings before putting.

The ball fell a bit short of the hole, but fellow golfers Marty Nesbitt, Eric Whittaker and Marvin Nicholson allowed him to take a gimme

[Ronald Montesano]

Well, he is the President, so who knows how many distractions and diversions there might have been.  Keep in mind that I could care less which political party he represents.  If he's a slow player, so be it.  I used to take umbrage at the almost-condescending attitude of the Bush family regarding their speed golf efforts.  My goodness, whether it be ultra fast or ultra slow, play it at a time when no one is inconvenienced by you.

[John Moore II]

Well, I'm sure they had to move an army of Secret Service agents and any other types of people on every hole to make sure it was secure and safe. So, there are quite a few other things that went into that round beyond just hitting golf shots.

[Carl Nichols]

Well, I'm sure they had to move an army of Secret Service agents and any other types of people on every hole to make sure it was secure and safe. So, there are quite a few other things that went into that round beyond just hitting golf shots.

I don't purport to have any idea whether the slow play might've been caused by this, but wouldn't that also have been true for the Bushes?

[Ronald Montesano]

Yes, but the Bush men made it a priority to fly around the course and the Secret Service guys adjusted to fit.  Maybe it's not the Obama priority, is all I can come up with.  WE know it doesn't send the proper message, but most readers of that article would not read between the lines as golfing aficionados do.

[JESII]

I'll bet a dollar it was a typo...the 5 should have been a 3. Just my guess. And I voted for the other guy...

[Jim_Kennedy]

How can you trust a reporter who would say that a player "....made several warm-up swings before putting."   

[Ronald Montesano]

Good point, JFK.

[Jud_T]

The ball fell a bit short of the hole, but fellow golfers Marty Nesbitt, Eric Whittaker and Marvin Nicholson allowed him to take a gimme

Sounds like another Upper Middle Class practice that should be taxed....

[Carl Nichols]

Yes, but the Bush men made it a priority to fly around the course and the Secret Service guys adjusted to fit.  Maybe it's not the Obama priority, is all I can come up with.  WE know it doesn't send the proper message, but most readers of that article would not read between the lines as golfing aficionados do.

That's basically my point -- the Service guys adjust to what the President wants, so it's unlikely that the slow play (assuming it's not a typo) was caused by them.  And I wasn't making a broader point about what the general electorate might read into the article -- my only point is that 5 1/2 hours (again, if true) is a really long round, especially if no one was in front of him (which I suspect was true).

[Ted Cahill]

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.

[Bill Gayne]

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. However, I do like to see Presidents at leisure. Five and half hours is absurd and shouldn't be tolerated. My recommendation would be to either pick up the pace or return to bowling alley.

[jeffwarne]

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. However, I do like to see Presidents at leisure. Five and half hours is absurd and shouldn't be tolerated. My recommendation would be to either pick up the pace or return to bowling alley.

So by playing early at 5 1/2 hours they were able to slow down the entire course for the day and therefore acheive "time redistribution"---so he had that going for him

[Bill Gayne]

LOL

[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? 

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I wish more people would spend half as much time trying to understand the business of government to even half the level we want to understand architecture. These OT posts might be a little better.

[Pete_Pittock]

Yes, GWB stopped playing golf after 9/11. But to set the facts straight, GWB said (in 2008) he stopped golfiing in August 2003 after the UN bombing in Baghdad, but he was seen and videoed playing golf in October 2003.

[jeffwarne]

I wish more people would spend half as much time trying to understand the business of government to even half the level we want to understand architecture. These OT posts might be a little better.

The business of government
there's an oxymoron in there somewhere

[Michael Blake]

Silly article.
Sillier thread.

Who cares?

[George_Bahto]

Slow Play by "him"

It took him months to figure out what dog to get

[Dan Herrmann]

Who knows, maybe he had lunch at the turn?

[noonan]

Liberals are typically not concerned with rules...example thread on etiquette.

[A.G._Crockett]

Liberals are typically not concerned with rules...example thread on etiquette.

Huh??

[Adam Clayman]

They said GB-41 played a form of speed golf. Hopping out a cart, before it stopped moving, and hitting the ball on the fly, almost Happy Gilmore style..

[John Moore II]

Liberals are typically not concerned with rules...example thread on etiquette.

Enlightening...Oh boy...Wow...Whatever.