By John Fitzpatrick July 1953

Washington, D.C., has been seized with a golfing fever like never before in history.

Thousands of government workers, from Vice President Nixon down to the lowliest office clerks, are rushing to learn the game. Golf interest and activity in the Capitol--as reflected by equipment sales, lessons, daily fee play and application for private club memberships--are at an all-time high. On a smaller scale, a similar golf boom is taking place all over the country.

Reason for this sudden surge of popularity for the royal and ancient game, of course is the tremendous publicity it has received as a result of President Eisenhower's great devotion to it. This not only has focused public attention on the links pastime, but has also brought home the therapeutic values of the sport.

Ike is the first President since Warren Harding to make golf his chief form of recreation and exercise. He practices or plays whenever he can sandwich the necessary time into a very crowded schedule. He's been observed practicing iron shots in the semi-privacy of the White House lawn. He has played at Washington's Burning Tree Country Club on a good many weekends and has even sneaked in a few weekday rounds. The President has also taken a couple of brief golfing holidays at the Augusta National Golf Club, in Georgia, since his inauguration.

Needless to say there has been some criticism of Eisenhower's golfing proclivities. Political opponents have inferred that he seems more interesting in breaking 90 on the golf course than in breaking the deadlock in Korea. There has even been an attempt on the part of certain radical elements to vilify Ike in the public mind by linking him with the "rich businessman's hobby." Such demagogues apparently haven't heard what has happened to golf in the past 30 years or so.

But the former five-star general doesn't seem to mind--or even notice--these flank attacks. He plays golf for vitally needed relaxation and exercise. To him it's a tonic--like reading, fishing, napping, TV-viewing or some other activity might be to another man. Ike uses golf to help combat the fatigue and strain of what has been referred to as a "man-killing" job. Friends say that he can arrive at a course completely fagged out, play a secluded round with one or two friends and end up fresh as a daisy.

William Howard Taft was the first golfing President, and an ardent one.

Not first golfing President

Other Presidents have found the same fun and therapy from the game. Some have been just as ardent players as Eisenhower and have spent as much or more time on the links.

Warren G. Harding played a great deal, both in Washington and on vacations. Before him, Woodrow Wilson played two or three times a week, even during the height of World War I.

William Howard Taft was the first really enthusiastic golfing President. He took the game up in the 90's when it was just getting a toehold in America and was a veteran by the time he reached the White House. He also is credited with giving the game a tremendous boost in popularity.

Eisenhower first became serious about golf while stationed in the Philippines during the 30's. He abandoned it before World War II, however, to favor a wrist lamed by bursitis. He didnít take it up again until 1946, and really became dependent upon it for relaxation while heading the complex NATO organization in Europe. He often swung a golf club while dictating in his high-ceilinged Paris office, just to keep limbered up.

Ike is a better than average player. His game is in the low 90's and high 80's, though he had a 79, shortly before the election, at the par 71 Blink Brook Club in Portchester, N.Y., and an 86 on his most recent trip to Augusta. His record low at the latter is an 84.

Like all week-end golfers, the President has had bad days when the score is apt to soar. It's probably touchiness about these lapses that accounts for his never wanting to divulge the score. It's just such a human lapses, however, that make him a glorified symbol--and consolation--to millions of other American duffers who also are in a constant battle with par--or their own personal version of it.

And like all week-end players, Ike nurtures hopes of playing even better. He works hard at his ambition, taking frequent lessons from Ed Dudley, pro at Augusta National. Dudley recently compared his star pupil's swing to that of Bing Crosby and added that Ike is a perfectionist about golf, as he is about so many things.