New President Bush Bio Opens With An Old Golf Story

As George (41) Bush's presidential legacy continues to grow in stature and Rummy's feathers are ruffled (not to mention 43's) over the new biography authored by esteemed historian Jon Meacham, it turns out golf is a nice part of the much-anticipated tome.

While I'm not sure pollsters would buy Jerry Tarde's assertion that President Bush is the "most beloved living president who played the game," we golfers adore anyone who made pace of play a priority and whose family has long been front and center in American golf.

Tarde says the book opens with a golf story about Samuel Prescott Bush standing on top of the Hotel Traymore in Atlantic City. Nucky Thompson was apparently not around, however.

"A prominent Midwestern industrialist, Bush was at the Jersey Shore in the early summer of 1915 to take part in what was described as ‘the highest golf driving contest ever held in the history of the great Scotch game,’ ” Meacham writes. “Facing the Atlantic, in a long-sleeved dress shirt and formal trousers, Bush, driver in hand, took his stance and swung smoothly. He connected just the way he wanted to—cleanly and perfectly.

The ball rose rapidly, a tiny spinning meteor. Bush’s shot streaked out over the sea, soaring over the white-capped waves before disappearing deep in the distance, the sound of its splash lost in the wind and turf.

“Bush won, of course. Though his opponents did what they could, they failed to surpass Bush’s dramatic drive. It was not the most serious of competitions, but that did not matter. The New York Times reported Bush’s triumph. A contest was a contest.”