This thread gives me the opportunity to herald that I was privileged to have hosted President Clinton on two occasions, 16 days apart, when he was just out of office in the summer of 2001. Across these two visits, I enjoyed almost 8 hours of face-to-face access and engagement with the President. He was affable, generous, told amusing stories about politics and golf and permitted all present to treat him regularly and personally.
President Clinton was a proclaimed "9" HCP at this time, and was truly, like any other "9 HCP" I've ever known...many good and decent shots, some clunkers...would probably be a 13 under tournament conditions, could be a 5 if he had time to work on it...earnestly in pursuit of breaking 80 in most rounds. He did take three mulligans on driving holes, so his 81 was faulty in the first of the two rounds, but if you knew the context of a President's golf (just appreciates getting to swing a bit without other troubles), even his ardent critics oughtn't begrudge.
An interesting note is that he came to both rounds armed with a half-gallon Ziploc bag of the most unpresidential cigars you have ever seen. They were oblong, with peeling, coal black leaves, no label band, and blew thick ash and gray smoke anywhere he lit up which was at least four times. I'm sure they were amazing to his palette, but all I could think of was these things diddling Ms. Lewinsky.
The second round, 16 days later, was a Monday outing for the USO and is worth noting for two reasons that happened right at the end. The first of those was that he holed out a 178 yard 7-wood for an eagle "2" on Rockrimmon's 435 yard 18th hole. Unlike the first round, which was played on a member's day where 100 members and staff ringed the 18th green to watch the President finish their course, this was a shotgun during a non-member outing; there was no one but two Secret Service agents with their backs to the green and the 18th green is just uphill enough, so you can't tell the precise location of the ball from back in the fairway....
We didn't know he had made an eagle until we got up there. And at first, the foursome and the two caddies spread out looking along the rough, the apron or a bunker to see its position. I was the only one cheeky enough (remember at this point, I had enjoyed 8 hours over two rounds, tagging along shot by shot with the President's group, I felt we were "close"
) to look in the cup, wherein I discovered his Titleist and bade him come.
He was as happy as one is with their first ace, and soon the group closed shoulders in congratulations of him, wherein he wept presidential tears of joy on my shoulder. (I kid you not). He went on to recall that as a teenager in Arkansas, he was playing by himself on a 9-hole course with a driveable finishing hole, blind over a hill, gave it a good whack and after looking, found it in the cup. But because he was playing alone, he never spoke of the feat which he deemed was suspicious; "that some older guys hanging on the clubhouse porch, put the ball in the cup as a gaslight gag on a kid." So he was as thrilled to do it, as to have us all witness it.
Shortly after, when he and the group departed for the locker and dinner program, me and my staff were cleaning up the carts and getting ready for the rest of the shotgun to finish. I realized that in all the excitement, he left the record of the deed, the scorecard, on the hub of the steering wheel. I snapped it out and whizzed down to the locker room and handed it to a Secret Service agent at the door, explaining. Before I got very far back down the hallway, he came out the swinging door, holding the card, and shouted after me, "Oh geez Vinnie, thank you man. I don't know what I would do if I forgot this."
He then met me half-way down the hallway, gave me a big handshake and a hug and gave me such warm thanks for all the stuff we had done and been to him over the last two weeks.
At that point, I had ginger ale in my head and I must have floated home that night.
cheers
vk