Sixteen of the last 19 United States presidents played golf. Former President Donald Trump, of course, is well-known as an avid golfer and current President Joe Biden plays the game, too.
The list goes back to William Howard Taft, who was president from 1909 to 1913. According to the Washington Post, Taft was admittedly “addicted to golf,” playing so much during the 1908 presidential campaign that his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, urged him to quit playing altogether.
More than 100 years later, Trump spent $50,000 of his own money to upgrade the golf simulator inside the personal quarters at the White House.
Almost all presidents who served between Taft and Trump played the game but there were three who didn’t. Scroll down the see the answer to that question, but meanwhile, take a look at those presidents who did play golf.
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft plays golf
President from 1909-1913
William McKinley made the first presidential putt in 1897, but William Howard Taft was the first U.S. President to really take up the game of golf.
“I know that there is nothing more democratic than golf,” Taft once wrote. “There is nothing which furnishes a greater test of character and self-restraint, nothing which puts one more on an equality with one’s fellows, or, I may say, puts one lower than one’s fellows, than the game of golf.”
Woodrow Wilson
President Woodrow Wilson playing golf. Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
President from 1913-1921
It was estimated that Woodrow Wilson played more than 1,000 rounds of golf during his eight years in office, according to presidentialgolftracker.com.
Wilson even reportedly played in the snow, using golf balls that were painted black. As much as he played, he rarely ever broke 100.
He credited the game as being major stress reliever during World War I.
Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding playing golf.
President from 1921-1923
Warren G. Harding loved the game…
