Golf has a long history in the White House — but for Trump, it's more than a pastime

Presidential golf traditions have evolved from Woodrow Wilson playing in the snow to Trump conducting business on the course, showing how different leaders have used the game as both escape and extension of the Oval Office.

Tevi Troy is a senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute and a former senior White House aide. He is the author of five books on the presidency, including "The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry." 

Trump’s mixing golf and work differs from some of his predecessors, who thought it was important to have separation between their official duties and their time on the links. William Howard Taft loved the game, but his predecessor Teddy Roosevelt warned Taft against being photographed in his golf duds, as it might cause Americans to think he was not taking his work seriously. As Roosevelt, who was himself partial to tennis, warned, "I never let friends advertise my tennis, and never let a photograph of me in tennis costume appear."