Who Jack Nicklaus named as the US President who was the best at golf

Follow us on Google Discover

John F. Kennedy was the President of the United States when Jack Nicklaus won his first major championship at the 1962 US Open.

Nicklaus went on to have the greatest golf career of all-time, with the Golden Bear winning another 17 major titles – with his final victory coming at The Masters nearly a quarter of a century later.

Along the way, he has had the opportunity to play golf with a number of Presidents.

Jack Nicklaus once named the President who was the best golfer

Many of those who have been in the White House have been golfers. Dwight D. Eisenhower had a tree on the 17th hole at Augusta National named after him having wanted it removed in 1956 after hitting it so many times.

Eisenhower also had a putting green installed at the White House. Richard Nixon got rid of it, before George H.W. Bush brought it back during his tenure.

And of course, everyone knows how important golf is to Donald Trump, with the Republican owning a number of courses across the globe.

Nicklaus endorsed Trump ahead of the 2020 Presidential election. And it seems that he is also a big admirer of the 79-year-old’s golf game.

Speaking to Bloomberg in 2019, Nicklaus was asked who the best golfer was out of all of the Presidents he has played with over the years.

“Well, the ones I’ve played with, actually Trump is probably the best player,” he said. “Trump plays pretty well. He plays a little bit like I do. He doesn’t really ever finish many holes. But he can hit the ball, and he goes out and plays and just enjoys it. But he’s won several club championships. He can play.”

“Gerald Ford, I must have played 50 rounds with Ford. I used to play with him at the AT&T [Pebble Beach Pro-Am] every year,” he added. “And Ford was a 13 handicap, but he played to a 13 handicap. Clinton, I never knew what Clinton might do. He might play to a 10 or he might play to a 30. But he had a nice golf swing. All these guys enjoyed playing golf. I don’t think any one of them really were very serious about the game. But they all enjoyed playing, and it’s good for the game of golf to have the president of the United States say, you know, this is my game.”

Donald Trump’s golf handicap

According to the SCGA, Trump is the President with the lowest recorded handicap, reaching 2.8. And it seems that he is still winning club championships on a fairly consistent basis.

At the other end of the scale, the likes of Lyndon B. Johnson, Calvin Coolidge, and Woodrow Wilson were either poor golfers or, in Coolidge’s case, did not particularly care for the game.

In fairness, you can understand why a President may struggle to maintain a solid golf game when they are the leader of the world’s biggest superpower.