Impact: Dwight D. Eisenhower and a nod to Presidents Day

By Alex Holmes

*"If I don't improve, I'm going to pass a law that no one can ask me my golf score."

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower*

The 34th President of the United States didn't pick up the game until he was in his 40s, but made up for lost time. According to his presidential itinerary, Eisenhower recorded more than 1,000 days of golf over his two-term tenure in the Oval Office.

Eisenhower famously was a member at Augusta National Golf Club, where his request in 1956 to have a tall Loblolly Pine down the left side of the 17th hole was denied by club chairman and co-founder Clifford Roberts. Eventually dubbed the Eisenhower Tree, it remained a staple of the course's design until last week, when an ice storm damaged it so badly that the club had it removed.

Photo: AP Images (1947)