Golf Question of the Week: Would Myrtle Beach Golf Have Revealed More Than the Presidential Debates?

It’s a shame, really. With two presidential debates recently hosted on the Grand Strand, the “Golf Capital of the World” would have been the ideal setting to put Jimmy Demaret’s theory to the test.

As Don Van Natta, Jr. explains in his book First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers and Cheaters from Taft to Bush:

“‘If the people wish to determine the best candidate (for president), put all the contenders on a golf course,’ the golf pro Jimmy Demaret once said. ‘The one who can take five or six bad holes in a row without blowing his stack is capable of handling the affairs of the nation.’”

In highlighting the fact that 14 American presidents have played the game, Van Natta notes that, in each case “(golf) revealed as much – and, in some cases, even more – about their personalities, their character, and even their presidencies as the words they chose, the bills they signed, or the legacies they imagined for themselves.”

So what if we'd been able to apply Demaret’s theory to the current slate of Oval Office hopefuls while they were here last month? Just think of what the nation could have learned by seeing these three in action on a Myrtle Beach golf course, and the fascinating dynamics that would have come into play:

• I have no knowledge of Hillary Clinton sharing any appreciation for the game whatsoever, but wouldn’t it have been something to see her navigate that six-hole sequence with her husband on the bag? How many “Billigans” would she have been advised to take?
• Barack Obama apparently became a student of the game during his ascent to political prominence, once explaining to a friend, “An awful lot happens on the golf course.” Hmmm.
• John McCain? The Arizona senator’s most recent visit to Myrtle Beach included this revelation of his disdain of the game. For a guy who despises golf so much, his reaction to a succession of “snowmen” might have been the most revealing of all.

Beyond the current hopefuls … If you could pick any current or former president with whom to play a round of golf, who would it be? Would you favor the famously lightning-paced rounds of President George W. Bush or his father? Would you enjoy your own first-hand account of the “80” on President Clinton’s scorecard, and the “97” you actually saw? Or would you go back in time to play a round with perhaps the White House’s most obsessed golfer, President Dwight D. Eisenhower? Let us know!