Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear with 18 major championship wins, reflected on the players he admired and the presidents he played alongside in a conversation with Bloomberg’s The David Rubenstein Show. The interview covered his dream partners in a twosome and the rounds he shared with leaders of the United States over the years.

Rubenstein asked Nicklaus who he would choose as a partner if he could pick any golfer. Nicklaus said, “Well I think let’s pick Tiger today.” He then looked back at the icons he never shared a tee with. “But through the years I never got to play with Bobby Jones even though I know him and knew him and really really really loved the man. I would love to play with Jones and I would have loved to. Played quite a bit of golf with Hogan. Hogan was fantastic.”

The discussion moved from the legends of the sport to the presidents Nicklaus played with on the course. Rubenstein said, “You’ve also played a lot of presidents of the United States.” Nicklaus replied, “I’ve played with a few.” He asked, “And which one’s the best in playing golf.”

Nicklaus answered, “Well the ones I’ve played with actually Trump is probably the best player. Trump plays pretty well. He you know he he plays a little bit like I do. He doesn’t really ever finish many holes but he can hit the ball and he just goes out and plays it and just enjoys it. And he’s won several club championships and he can play.”

Nicklaus also described rounds with Gerald Ford over many years. He said, “Gerald Ford I played about 50 rounds with Ford. I used to play with him at the AT&T every year and Ford was about a 13 handicap but he played to a 13 handicap.” On Bill Clinton, he said, “Clinton I never knew what Clinton might do. Clinton would he might play to a 10 he might play to a 30. But he had a nice golf swing and he enjoyed it. All these guys enjoyed playing golf.”

Nicklaus closed the section with the point that enjoyment mattered more than the scorecard. “I don’t think any one of them really were very serious about the game but they all enjoyed playing it and I think that it’s good for the game in golf to have the president of the United States say, you know this is my game.”

Last month, on November 22, 2025, President Trump announced that Jack Nicklaus would lead work to restore two golf courses at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Trump and Nicklaus met at the base for an aerial tour of the courses, where Trump remarked that the facilities had suffered from years of limited maintenance and required significant revitalization.

Written by

Aditi Singh

Edited by

Joyita Das