Trump wants to fix the President’s Golf Course. He hasn’t played there yet

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump spent most of his two-week vacation in Florida playing golf. But when he returns to the White House, there’s a military golf course he’s never played before, and he’s looking forward to a big construction project.

Long a favorite retreat for presidents looking for a few hours from the pressures of running the free world, the courses at Andrews, within the secure confines of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the White House, are known as “The President’s Golf Course.” Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Joe Biden have all spent time there, and Barack Obama has played it more frequently than any president, nearly 110 times in eight years.

Trump has long favored his family’s golf courses, spending nearly one out of every four days of his second term at one. But now he has enlisted champion golfer Jack Nicklaus as the architect to overhaul the courses at Andrews.

“It’s amazing that one has the time to step away from world crises for a few hours,” said Michael Thomas, the course’s former general manager, who has played golf with many of the presidents who have visited Andrews over the years. “And they are people like everyone else.”

Andrews, known as the home of Air Force One, has two 18-hole courses and one 9-hole course. Its facilities have undergone renovations in the past, including in 2018, when Congress approved funding to replace aging presidential aircraft and build a new hangar and support facilities. This project was close enough to the courses that it had to be changed at that time as well.

Trump toured the base by helicopter before Thanksgiving with Nicklaus, who has designed some of the best courses around the world. President Andrews described it as “a great place that has been destroyed over the years due to lack of maintenance.”

However, other golfers describe Andrews’ courses as being in good condition, despite some dry spots. Online reviews praise the course’s mature trees, challenging terrain, and ponds and streams that pose water hazards. The courses are mostly flat, but offer views of the surrounding base.

“They all love to drive the car.”

In this 2011 photo, President Barack Obama, right, talks with former President Bill Clinton while playing a round of golf at Andrews Air Force Base. Photo by Evan Vucci/AP Photo

The first head of golf at Andrews was Ford in 1974. Thomas started working there two years later and was general manager from 1981 until his retirement in 2019.

Over the years, he said, the Secret Service has used as many as 28 golf carts — in addition to the president’s usual motorcade of 30 cars — to keep the perimeter secure.

“It’s a Cecil B. DeMille production every time,” said Thomas, who has had the opportunity to play rounds with four different presidents, and with Biden when he was vice president.

He said the senior leaders generally enjoyed their time on the course in their own unique ways, but they all loved driving the cart because they never got the chance to drive.

“It’s like getting your driver’s license again,” Thomas laughed.

Trump golfs most weekends, and as of Jan. 1, had spent an estimated 92 days of his second term doing so, according to an Associated Press analysis of his schedules.

That number includes days when Trump played at the courts his family owns in Virginia, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the White House and near his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, where he spends the winter vacation. It also includes 10 days Trump spent at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where his schedule allowed for golf rounds.

Trump has visited Andrews in the past, but the White House and Al Qaeda have no record of him participating in the sessions.

Another of Trump’s construction projects

Andrews’ military history dates back to the Civil War, when Union troops used a church near Camp Springs, Maryland, as sleeping quarters. Its golf course opened in 1960.

The White House said the renovation would be the most significant in Andrews’ history. She added that the courses and clubhouse needed improvements due to age and wear, and there were discussions about including a multi-functional events center as part of the project.

“President Trump is a champion-level golfer with an exceptional eye for detail and design,” White House spokesman Davis Engel said in a statement. “His vision to renovate and beautify the golf courses at Joint Base Andrews will bring much-needed improvements that military service members and their families will be able to enjoy for generations to come.”

The White House said the plans are still in the very early stages, and the cost and financing of the project have not been determined. Trump merely said that it would require “very little money.”

Andrews’ improvements join a host of construction projects undertaken by Trump, including demolishing the East Wing of the White House to create a sprawling ballroom now expected to cost $400 million, restoring the bathroom attached to the Lincoln Bedroom and replacing the Rose Garden with a Mar-a-Lago-like courtyard area.

Outside the White House, Trump has led construction projects at the Kennedy Center and wants to erect a Parisian-style arch near the Lincoln Memorial, and has said he wants to rebuild Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration on Wednesday terminated a lease agreement with a nonprofit organization for three public golf courses in Washington, which could allow the president to further shape the sport of golf in the nation’s capital. However, the White House said the move was not related to Andrews’ plans.

Presidential perks of playing golf at Andrews

When the president plays golf, Andrews officials close nine holes at a time so no one plays in front of him, allowing for greater safety while also ensuring a consistent speed of play, Thomas said.

This is done relatively easily since the courses are not open to the public. It is usually reserved for active or retired members of the military and their families, as well as certain federal employees associated with the Department of Defense.

Thomas recalls playing a round with the older President Bush, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame known for his fast game, while First Lady Barbara Bush walked with Millie, the first couple’s English Springer Spaniel. George W. Bush also played fast, Thomas said, and would get extra exercise by riding his mountain bike frequently before playing golf.

When he wasn’t playing golf at Andrews, Obama tried to recreate at least part of the experience back home. He installed a golf simulator in the White House after then-first lady Michelle Obama asked Thomas how to get one that the president had seen advertised on the Golf Channel. Thomas had given her a contact on the network.

Famously, Obama cut short an Andrews tour after nine holes in 2011 to rush back to the White House for what turned out to be a top-secret review of final preparations for the US Navy raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.

But while Thomas played golf with the Chiefs, he said he never witnessed play being interrupted by an important call or any major emergency that forced them off the course in the middle of the hole. There was no rain at all.

“If there’s rain coming, they’ll get the weather forecast before we do,” Thomas said. “They’ll cancel it quickly.”