President Obama was visiting New York on Labor Day weekend to attend the wedding of MSNBC host Alex Wagner and White House chef Sam Kass at Blue Hill Farm. He had been booked for an overnight stay in Westchester prior to the wedding.
On August 28, the White House changed plans and announced that Obama would return to Washington on Friday of the Labor Day weekend instead of hanging out in New York.
The reason could be attributed to the fact that Obama's request for tee time was denied. The top golf courses that refused to accommodate the commander-in-chief included Willow Ridge, the Winged Foot, and The Trump National Golf Club.
The clubs explained that Obama's tee time came at a short one day or two days notice. Moreover, a presidential tee time would mean that club members who pay huge membership fees annually would have to be shut out. At Winged Foot, non-members can play as long they are invited guests of members of the club. Obviously, the tee time from the White House to accommodate the president was a huge deal breaker.
In New York, golf is a serious business. This becomes more serious during holidays when holiday profits are anticipated. Some New York club memberships can even exceed $100,000 and Labor Day weekend is considered as the clubs' busy time of the year.
Donald Trump, upon learning of the incident, tweeted: "If Obama resigns from office now, thereby doing a great service to the country, I will give him free lifetime golf at any of the my courses!"
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stated that Obama's decision to go back to D.C. would enable the president to "sleep in his own bed, do a little work tomorrow, spend some time with his family and then travel back to New York tomorrow evening to attend a private event."
According to news sources, Obama is not the first head of state that has been turned down for tee time. Apparently, representatives of the King of Morocco tried to secure a tee time but failed to do so at some of the similar above mentioned courses during the Labor Day weekend.
"We are not making any comments about that," said over the phone by a woman from The Trump National Golf Club.
A worker from Winged Foot declined to give a comment while a representative from Willow Ridge wasn't readily available to talk.
Dan Gerstein, a political analyst, commented that Obama's low approval rating could have caused the president's tee time to be turned down.
"I think he has lost that star quality he had in his first two years in office and in that 2008 campaign," said Gerstein.