John F. Kennedy Canvas and Leather Golf Bag

“Show me a man with a great golf game, and I’ll show you a man who has been neglecting something”
John F. Kennedy

JFK’s Canvas and Leather Golf Bag

This canvas and leather golf bag, once owned by the thirty-fifth president of the United States, dates back to an era where golfers were just getting used to calling irons by numbers instead of “niblicks” or “mashies” and the heads of woods were smaller than waffle irons.

Accompanying the bag are copies of a photo and signed letter from Mary Barelli Gallagher, who first served John F. Kennedy when he was a senator and later First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy as her personal secretary.

The letter reads: “This golf bag was given to me by Mrs. Kennedy in June, 1963. For several years, it had been stored at Merchants Transfer & Storage and was delivered to The White House on an afternoon when Mrs. Kennedy was in the process of clearing out items she no longer wanted. I have a photo that shows me carrying the golf bag, which is holding a set of the President’s crutches, given to me at the same time. In the photo, I am walking from the Diplomatic Reception Room, South Portico of The White House, to the car for transporting these items to my home. The golf bag is constructed of a sturdy, tan fabric with leather trim and, on the outside spine directly above the leather handle, carries a round, brass medallion with a putting green and flag design in the center, and a circular engraving that reads: “Fred Haas & Associates – Chicago”. This is to serve as proof of authenticity regarding the above item. Since receiving this, it has remained in my possession at my home in Alexandria, Virginia. I was formerly secretary to Senator John F. Kennedy (1953-1956) and Personal Secretary to Mrs. John F. Kennedy (1956-1964). In 1969, “My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy” was published by David McKay, N.Y., relating to my twelve years with The Kennedys.”

Per his book First Off the Tee, Don Van Natta Jr. chronicles the history of presidents on the links. JFK didn’t want the country to know of his passion for golf simply because Eisenhower was so well known for his golf obsession, which included a special cabin built for him on Augusta. He writes “JFK and his aides made a lot of hay out of Ike’s golf playing. They called him the Duffer in Chief… They kept [JFK’s] game in the closet. In fact, Americans didn’t really realize JFK loved golf until several months after he was in office. They let the cat out of the bag only because there were all these rumors about JFK and other extracurricular activities. He was sneaking off doing other things and [spokesman] Pierre Salinger had to tell people, ‘No, no, no. He’s playing golf.’ That was better than the alternative.”

Don Van Natta Jr., also writes: “Despite a bad back, Kennedy possessed a graceful, effortless swing, which allowed him to easily rank as the best player among the fourteen presidential golfers…(But) as he ran for president in 1960, Kennedy was actually aware that some Americans had become disenchanted with Dwight D. Eisenhower’s methodical devotion to golf. Kennedy was almost maniacal about his refusal to allow photographers snap his picture while holding a putter or driver.”

“Shortly before the 1960 Democratic Convention, Kennedy nearly shot a hole-in-one at a California golf course. While aide ‘Red’ Fay, Jr. yelled ‘Go In! Go In!’ the ball stopped six inches short of the hole. JFK looked stricken with terror! He yelled at Fay, ‘You’re yelling for that damn ball to go in and I’m watching a promising political career coming to an end. If that ball had gone into that hole, in less than an hour the word would be out to the nation that another golfer was trying to get into the White House.'” (First Off the Tee, New York: PublicAffairs, 2003, page 15). Van Natta goes on to write, “…no one looked more comfortable and relaxed on the course than John F. Kennedy. It was not an act; he was relaxed because he knew he could play. Kennedy glided from hole to hole, making impossible shots look easy, flashing that winning smile…”

“When he became president, he practiced in secret on the White House grounds during foggy early mornings, and White House security aide ‘Muggsy’ O’Leary shagged balls. When Kennedy could escape the photographers he would sneak off to indulge in his love of the game. During one of these excursions he played with Gov. Abe Ribicoff of Connecticut, who was rumored to be a probable cabinet appointment. Ribicoff, quite a duffer himself, out shot the President for nine holes, 38 to 42. However, he graciously reported that Kennedy had bested him. When word got back to JFK, he sent a playful telegram to Ribicoff: ‘President deeply disturbed at report of your golf score, insists that anyone connection with his administration be clean as a hound’s tooth. Write if you get work.’ A few weeks later Ribicoff was nominated as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.” (page 40).

Golfing with JFK

JFK was probably the most skilled golfer that has yet occupied the White House; this despite a constant struggle with back pain. He’d even been a member of Harvard’s golf team, but because Democrats had made so much hay out of the issue of Eisenhower’s golf obsession, JFK went out of his way to avoid being seen on the course too often. And besides, it’s hardly an everyman game, making it more appropriate for presidents than candidates.

But golf was clearly something JFK enjoyed. At one point Jackie had given him a golf course for his birthday, which isn’t quite as extravagant as it sounds when you learn that it consisted of a mowed pasture at their weekend retreat at Glen Ora (near Middleburg, in the countryside of Northern Virginia) with four-inch grass on much of the pasture with four low-mowed corners where the grass was mowed to two-inches that served double-duty as the holes and the tees. It even had a swamp, dubbed the “water hole.” There was also a small, makeshift course at Camp David that Eisenhower had had installed so that he could get his golfing fix there.

“He is competitive as hell, with a natural swing, but erratic through lack of steady play.”So what’s it like to play golf with the president? I certainly can’t speak from personal experience—and don’t anticipate that changing anytime soon, and not just because I’m not much of a golfer myself—but I was particularly struck by Ben Bradlee’s characteristically vivid account of playing golf with his friend, JFK. Calling it a “harrowing experience,” he wrote in his contemporaneous notes of a September 1963 round at Newport Country Club:

In the first place, if you play golf with a president you are apt to play at some fancy country club whose code of dress requires clothes that I do not have in my wardrobe . . . like golf shoes, for openers. As a result I hit off the first tee in old sneakers, and I feel like three down before I hit a shot. In the second place, if you play golf with a president you are dead sure to be watched by a crowd of people who either play golf better than you do and therefore you know they’re going to laugh when you shank the ball, or who line the roads and shout to be recognized by your partner. In any case, that’s another two down. In the third place, there are Secret Service men all around you, carrying guns in dummy golf bags, and that doesn’t do anything for your game. And finally, if you play golf with this president, his patience is so limited that you can never stop to look for a lost ball, and that doesn’t suit my game at all.

But Kennedy is fun to play golf with, once you get out of sight of the sightseers, primarily because he doesn’t take the game seriously and keeps up a running conversation. If he shanks one into the drink, he could let go with a broad-A “bahstard,” but he would be teeing up his next shot instantly. With his opponent comfortably home in two and facing a tough approach, he might say “No profile needed here, just courage,” a self-deprecating reference to his book Profiles in Courage. When he was losing, he would play the old warrior at the end of a brilliant career, asking only that his faithful caddy point him in the right direction, and let instinct take over. He could play TV golf commentator as he hits the ball, saying “With barely a glance at the packed gallery, he whips out a four iron and slaps it dead to the pin.” He is competitive as hell, with a natural swing, but erratic through lack of steady play.

About the Canvas Golf Bag
It is marked with medallion reading “Fred Haas & Associates.”

The bag measures 35 in. tall and it is in good condition overall with wear from use. LOA from John Reznikoff.

Provenance
The golf bag offered here, unlike another sold with a set of clubs at auction for a high six-figure price several years ago, shows years of loving use. The tan canvas is soiled, the leather trim appropriately worn. The documentation for the bag is impeccable: It was given to Mary Barelli Gallagher by Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy in the White House in June of 1963, when she was doing some spirited “spring cleaning.”

The bag had been in storage for several years, so was doubtless used by Kennedy during his senatorial years. Gallagher served as JFK’s personal secretary from 1953 to 1956, and as Mrs. Kennedy’s from 1956-1964. In 1969, she published My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy (New York: D. McKay Co.)

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