WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0has spent much of his two-week vacation in Florida golfing. But when he gets back to the White House, there’s a military golf course that he’s never played that he’s eyeing for a\u00a0major construction project.<\/p>\n
Long a favored getaway for presidents seeking a few hours\u2019 solace from the stress of running the free world, the Courses at Andrews \u2014 inside the secure confines of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the White House \u2014 are known as the \u201cpresident’s golf course.” Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Joe Biden have spent time there, and Barack\u00a0Obama played it more frequently\u00a0than any president, roughly 110 times in eight years.<\/p>\n
Trump has always preferred the\u00a0golf courses his family owns\u00a0\u2014 spending about one of every four days of his second term at one of them. But he’s now enlisted golf champion\u00a0Jack Nicklaus\u00a0as the architect to overhaul the Courses at Andrews.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing that an individual has time to take a couple hours away from the world crises. And they\u2019re people like everybody else,\u201d said Michael Thomas, the former general manager of the course, who has golfed with many of the presidents visiting Andrews over the years.<\/p>\n
Andrews, better known as the home of\u00a0Air Force One, has two 18-hole courses and a 9-hole one. Its facilities have undergone renovations in the past, including in 2018, when Congress approved funding to replace aging presidential aircraft and to build a new hangar and support facilities. That project was close enough to the courses that they had to be altered then, too.<\/p>\n
Trump\u00a0toured the base by helicopter\u00a0before Thanksgiving with Nicklaus, who has designed top courses the world over. The president called Andrews \u201ca great place, that\u2019s been destroyed over the years, through lack of maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other golfers, though, describe Andrews\u2019 grounds as in good shape, despite some dry patches. Online reviews praise the course’s mature trees, tricky roughs, and ponds and streams that serve as water hazards. The courses are mostly flat, but afford views of the surrounding base.<\/p>\n
\u2018They all like to drive the cart\u2019<\/p>\n
The first president to golf at Andrews was Ford in 1974. Thomas began working there a couple years later, and was general manager from 1981 until he retired in 2019.<\/p>\n
He said the Secret Service over the years used as many as 28 golf carts \u2014 as well as the president’s usual 30-car motorcade \u2014 to keep the perimeter secure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a Cecil B. DeMille production every time,\u201d said Thomas, who had the opportunity to play rounds with four different presidents, and with Biden when he was vice president.<\/p>\n
He said the commanders in chief generally enjoyed their time out on the course in their own unique ways, but \u201cthey all like to drive the cart because they never get an opportunity to drive.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like getting your driver\u2019s license all over again,” Thomas laughed.<\/p>\n
Trump\u00a0golfs most weekends, and as of Friday, has spent an estimated 93 days of his second term doing so, according to an Associated Press analysis of his schedules.<\/p>\n
That tally includes days when Trump was playing courses his family owns in Virginia, around 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the White House, and near his Florida estate\u00a0Mar-a-Lago, where he’s spending the winter holidays. It also includes 10 days Trump spent staying at his golf club in\u00a0Bedminster, New Jersey, where his schedule allowed time for rounds of golf.<\/p>\n
Trump has visited Andrews in the past, but the White House and base have no record of him playing the courses.<\/p>\n
Another of Trump construction projects<\/p>\n
Andrews\u2019 military history dates to the Civil War, when Union troops used a church near Camp Springs, Maryland, as sleeping quarters. Its golf course opened in 1960.<\/p>\n
The White House said the renovation will be the most significant in the history of Andrews. The courses and clubhouse need improvements due to age and wear, it said, and there are discussions about including a multifunctional event center as part of the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump is a champion-level golfer with an extraordinary eye for detail and design,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement. “His vision to renovate and beautify Joint Base Andrews’ golf courses will bring much-needed improvements that service members and their families will be able to enjoy for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plans are in the very early stages, and the cost of \u2014 and funding for \u2014 the project haven’t been determined, the White House said. Trump has said only that it will require \u201cvery little money.”<\/p>\n
The Andrews improvements join a bevy of Trump construction projects, including\u00a0demolishing the White House\u2019s East Wing\u00a0for a\u00a0sprawling ballroom\u00a0now expected to cost\u00a0$400 million, redoing the\u00a0bathroom attached to the Lincoln bedroom\u00a0and replacing the Rose Garden\u2019s lawn with a Mar-a-Lago-like patio area.<\/p>\n
Outside the White House, Trump has led building projects at the Kennedy Center and wants to erect a\u00a0Paris-style arch\u00a0near the Lincoln Memorial, and has said he wants to\u00a0rebuild Dulles International Airport\u00a0in northern Virginia.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, meanwhile, the Trump administration\u00a0ended a lease agreement\u00a0with a non-profit for three public golf courses in Washington \u2014 which could allow the president to further shape golfing in the nation’s capital. The White House, however, said that move isn’t related to the plans for Andrews.<\/p>\n
Presidential perks of golfing at Andrews<\/p>\n
When the president is golfing, Andrews officials block off nine holes at a time so no one plays in front of him, allowing for extra security while also ensuring consistent speed-of-play, Thomas said.<\/p>\n
That’s relatively easily done given that the courses aren’t open to the public. They’re usually reserved for active or retired members of the military and their families, as well as some Defense Department-linked federal employees.<\/p>\n
Thomas remembers playing a round with the older President Bush, a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee known for fast play, while first lady Barbara Bush walked with Millie, the first couple\u2019s English Springer Spaniel. George W. Bush also played fast, Thomas said, and got additional exercise by frequently riding his mountain bike before golfing.<\/p>\n
When he wasn’t golfing at Andrews, Obama tried to recreate at least part of the experience back home. He had a White House golf simulator installed after then-first lady Michelle Obama asked Thomas how they might acquire a model that the president had seen advertised on the Golf Channel. Thomas gave her a contact at the network.<\/p>\n
Obama famously cut short a round at Andrews after nine holes in 2011 to hustle back to the White House for what turned out to be a top-secret review of final preparations for a Navy SEAL raid on the compound of\u00a0Osama bin Laden.<\/p>\n
But, while Thomas was golfing with presidents, he said he never witnessed play interrupted by an important call or any major emergency that forced them off the course mid-hole. There also were never any rain-outs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there was rain coming, they\u2019d get the weather forecast before we would,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThey would cancel quick on that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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