First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush [Hardcover]

Don Van Natta Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2003

Golf is the favorite sport of America's presidents, and an award-winning New York Times reporter tells great stories that show why it's so much more than a game for them. . Some students of the presidency say that we can learn the most about the men who've occupied the Oval Office by studying their ideology. Others say political savvy or family background or regional influences are paramount. But Don Van Natta argues for another standard--by observing the way they play golf. Fourteen of the last seventeen presidents have been golfers, and Van Natta explores two questions: Why is the game of golf so attractive to the men who occupy the Oval Office? And what do their golf games reveal about their characters? Some presidents relied on golf to escape the burdens of office, while others brought those burdens with them. And few have been able to resist the perks of high office, bending the rules and freely taking mulligans. Is it really surprising to learn that the section called "Hail to the Cheats" features the golfing escapades of Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Warren Harding? Not content to rely solely on the history books, Van Natta takes the reader on a round of golf he recently played with Bill Clinton and draws on extensive interviews with the golfing ex-presidents about what the game means to them. For history buffs and golf aficionados alike, First Off the Tee is a cheerful romp and a unique way to share the links with America's duffers-in-chief.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Presidents who cheat at golf? What's next? A Washington correspondent for the New York Times, Van Natta has the inside scoop on presidential golfers both then and now: who has game, who doesn't and who should lay down his clubs in deference to those who appreciate fair play. From the best (John Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt) to the worst (Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan), to the cheaters (Bill Clinton and Lyndon Johnson), Van Natta shares insights about our nation's leaders and their passion for the game. Lyndon Johnson used golf to intimidate political opponents. Woodrow Wilson played every day, often during political crises. JFK feared the implications of public knowledge of his prowess. The public had not appreciated Eisenhnower's obsession, since golf was still seen as a "rich man's game," and not an appropriate activity for the "champion of the people." Van Natta's research is impressive and his writing style is engaging, but the text feels a bit like a one-trick pony. Filled with anecdotal bits and pieces, there is more of interest here to historians than to serious golfers.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Surprisingly, it was Woodrow Wilson, not Eisenhower, who played the most rounds of golf as president. Wilson was also the worst at the sport, although LBJ rivaled him for ineptitude. Whether for love of the game, or as a distraction from the pressures of office, all presidents since Taft (excepting Hoover, Truman, and Carter) have snuck off to the links of an afternoon. New York Times reporter Van Natta plays the humor angle to the hilt in handicapping the presidents, sorting them by skill and mendacity. In terms of the latter, Bill Clinton's claim of breaking 80 got Van Atta's attention, and playing a round with Bubba after his term, the writer discovered Clinton's method--liberal use of the "Billigan." The mere fact of indulging in a sport with lingering elitist connotations has political implications for presidential golf nuts, whose flouting of electoral good sense in pursuit of an uncontrollable tiny sphere adds up to a humanizing carnival of anecdotes, history, and character. Expect duffers to be reserving their time for Van Natta's comical chronicle. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 358 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (April 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586480081
• ISBN-13: 978-1586480080
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the real deal, May 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush (Hardcover)

This book is superb and here's why: Because no matter what the form -- novel, poetry, essays, history -- a successful piece of writing must tell you something new. As an avid reader of history and presidential biography, I subconsciously felt I had the 20th century's presidents nailed: Wilson was a tragically lofty prig, FDR a crippled Machiavelli, Nixon a man woefully uncomfortable in his own skin. But what Van Natta does, through golf of all things (and I'm no golf nut) is revitalize these men, bring them back alive through their comical passion for the little white ball. Wilson played EVERY day, rain, snow or shine? FDR designed dozens of golf courses? Taft blew off diplomatic appointments for his putter? Powered by Van Natta's adrenalized prose and exhaustive research, this finely-woven narrative gives an entirely fresh look at these men. And then it does more.
The book's most publicized gotcha! is Van Natta's round with a cheatin' Bill Clinton, which, naturally, serves the purpose of right-wingers everywhere. Less noticed, though, is the insight Van Natta provides in the most revealing portrayal of Clinton yet. By showing Clinton's loosey-goose attitude toward the rules -- and the way he charms those around him into helping out with the bending -- Van Natta offers not only a subtle metaphor for Slick Willie's mindset during the Lewinsky mess. He also shows us why Clinton's approval ratings remained high throughout that mess, why as he puts it, "it's impossible to dislike the guy" even as Clinton is cheating you to your face, why the American public liked him in spite of -- or maybe even because of -- his peccadillos. It's a rare thing to get all this out of a sports book, but then again, we are a differnt nation now, a place where only a fool pays his rightful share of taxes -- and Billigans rule.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who says you can't investigate and entertain, May 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush (Hardcover)

For years I have reached for the New York Times whenever I saw Don Van Natta's byline. As one of the nation's top investigative reporters, his stories were always incrediblly well written and chock full of insider information that most of the times his subjects would rather not reveal. He found out and reported facts but never forgot the importance of color and detail and good old fashioned story telling. First off the Tee combines these traits into a highly entertaining book that brings these Presidents and the pasttime they share with millions of Americans to life. I gave it to my husband for his birthday and he read it in a weekend but not until I had finished it. I work in politics and he loves golf and we both loved the book. You can't do better than that.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fore!, July 14, 2003

By 

K. Johnson (US/Asia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush (Hardcover)

Interesting angle. Using the sport and game
of golf as the foundation to add insights and discuss the Presidents who played it. Author Van Natta Jr. brought forth an original avenue to bring a topic that is commonly written about (presidents) to light. Golf, the ever-increasing mainstream sport to the American public, is no longer stereotyped (falsely) that it's an elitist sport to play. In "First Off The Tee," there are many interesting facts about the habits of some of the commanders-in-chiefs that hit the greens.

Bill Clinton took so many mulligan's the author called
them "Billigans." He scored himself in the low 80s, similar to his idol JFK, but he literally took over 200 swings. Clinton played loosely with the rules, at times bending them to conform to his ends. Can the phenomena of how a person plays golf be taken and applied to political and administrative behaviour? Psycho-social analysis? Perhaps a dissertation has started somewhere regarding this.

One President drank booze while golfing during prohibition. He also gambled on a every game.

John F. Kennedy was an avid golpher, and fairly decent one at that,
getting scores in the low 80s. But he did keep the fact that he
played the game secret from the public.

Gerald Ford played amateur tourneys and pinged the
bystanders in the crowd from time to time.

The author played with the likes of Clinton and George W.
Bush. G. W. Bush could play through 18 holes in an hour

and a half, while Clinton took six hours. (He liked
to talk a lot more.)

In the past, Presidents didnt' want to be
photographed on the greens. Today it's acceptable, and
perhaps even expected.

14 mini-biographies highlighting the lighter side of the Execs as men and the sport of golf. Very interesting.