The Washington Post, CBS Sports and other outlets are reporting today that President Obama was refused tee-times at several elite Westchester County, NY area golf clubs over the Labor Day weekend.
"Sources" told NBC4NewYork http://www.nbcnewyork.com/... that despite advance teams scouting days in advance, The Trump National, the Winged Foot and Willow Ridge Golf Clubs, among other unnamed venues, denied the Chief Executive privileged play so as not to 'tee off' their wealthy dues-paying clientele with a security shutdown on one of the busiest golf days of the year.
President Obama was in the area over the weekend for fundraisers and to attend the wedding in Westchester County of MSNBC host Alex Wagner and White House Chef Sam Kass.
NBC writes
The sources said the White House advance team was giving the clubs just a day or two notice to fill the president’s open Saturday morning in New York. Of several courses contacted in New York and Connecticut, a spokesman for Fairview Country Club in Greenwich said it would have accommodated the president if he had asked. That was the only club that said it would...
...Spokesmen and managers at Trump National in Briarcliff Manor, Willow Ridge in Harrison and Winged Foot in Mamaroneck declined to comment.
Representatives at other leading Westchester and Fairfield County golf courses denied having any information about the president wanting a tee time during his Labor Day visit.
According to
PageSix blog, some area fat cats were already miffed over traffic problems and closures related to Obama's presence in the area.
President Obama’s plan to schmooze Wall Street honchos at a Westchester fund-raiser Friday is grounding wealthy weekenders who planned to fly to the Hamptons or Nantucket for the Labor Day holiday.
The FAA has issued a no-fly warning that extends for most of Friday and all day Saturday through Sunday, grounding seaplanes to East Hampton, Montauk, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
The restricted airspace and traffic inconveniences may have set the tone for the refusal by Club Managers to extend a Presidential courtesy by bumping scheduled players from the greens.
Writes WaPo's The Fix
The owner of Million Air, a private jet company using the airport, told CBS before Labor Day weekend that this was all quite a bother for him: “This is, you know, one of the busiest holiday weekends of the year, and this is the weekend he has to do this?” Weaver said, adding, “It’s an inconvenience for a lot of people, and they’re not happy.”
President Obama can rest assured that he's alone in having been denied access to the rarified air of these elite clubs over the Labor Day holiday.
"Some club officials said Obama is not the first head of state who has been rejected: sources said representatives of the King of Morocco also tried and failed to secure a tee time at some of the same courses that Labor Day weekend."
The White House has so far declined to comment.
UPDATE Thursday 9/11: From Donald Trump via NBC4NewYork
Donald Trump, an outspoken critic of the president, responded to NBC 4 New York's report by tweeting Wednesday: "If Obama resigns from office NOW... I will give him free lifetime golf at any one of my courses!"