Clintons Surprise is an article based on events that really happened back in June 2001 which involved the 3rd hole at Rudding Park Golf Club (Harrogate, England), a wedding party and William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States of America…but where does one start? I know…
I’m quite sad. Look at the facts. Double Maths and Physics at A-Level, read Applied Mathematics at University and have a fascination with Golf Course Scorecards…really need to get out (on the golf course) more!!
One of the very early Golfing Herald articles was titled Scorecard Semiotics where I examined a sample of golf course scorecards to present an argument that the supposed simple scorecard should be viewed as a design and semiotic icon. It has always been my intention to write further articles on this subject but has been parked whilst other themes, ideas and topics have been explored.
But then, out of nowhere, one of my beta readers and golfing comrades-in-arms sent me a massive bundle of scorecards from courses he has played so far in 2019 within the counties of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England thinking I could use them as a basis for another article. Slightly overwhelmed, I started to flick through them and then…I opened the card for Rudding Park Golf Club, Harrogate and the name of the 3rd hole, Clintons Surprise was just staring right back at me…and then I remembered an event that occurred nearly 20 years ago and today is the basis of this article.
Firstly, a brief background to the protagonists, namely the President and the Golf Club (I did not think it was appropriate to name the bride and the groom and instead reference the wedding party as a collective within the article).
William Jefferson Clinton
Bill Clinton is an American politician who was the Governor of Arkansas before becoming the 42nd President of the United States of America. He served two terms as President, from 20th January 1993 to 20th January 2001.
A keen golfer, he was playing off a handicap of 12 at the time of ‘Clintons Surprise’.
Rudding Park Golf Club
Rudding Park Golf Club is situated a couple of miles to the South East of the historic spa town of Harrogate, North Yorkshire England. Rudding Park boasts the Par 72 Hawtree course, measuring 6831 yards from the tips in a beautiful rural, parkland setting.
The course was named after it’s designer Dr Martin Grant Hawtree, whose international portfolio also includes modernising Royal Birkdale in 1993 (for golfing historians, his father Frederick W. Hawtree performed modifications at Royal Birkdale in the 1960s and his grandfather Frederick G. Hawtree was responsible for the current Royal Birkdale routing through the dunes!!).
In addition to the golf course, there is a Hotel and Grounds, well established as a stunning venue for weddings.
Clintons Surprise
After departing the Oval Office for the final time in early 2001, Bill Clinton was much in demand on the global stage as a speaker at conferences attended by world leaders, captains of industry, business executives, etc.
Whilst on a tour of Europe, he delivered a keynote speech on 8th June 2001 at the Yorkshire International Business Convention in Harrogate (it is more than a rumour that he was hired for an eye-watering $200,000).
After the convention, he returned to Rudding Park (where he was staying in the hotel which dates back to the early 19th century).
He then decided to play a few holes of golf at Rudding Park before supper and retiring for the evening. Even though Bill Clinton was no longer the US President, he was still accompanied by an entourage of security staff and advisors, requiring a total of six golf buggies!!
The green for the 3rd hole (Par 4, 463 yards, Stroke Index 1) nestles close to the Hotel complex. Clinton was then ‘spotted’ by the wedding party as he approached the green. Apparently they started to clap his shots and then, as one would expect, some good-humoured banter emanated from the wedding guests, including something like ‘You’re The Man’ (a saying which has sadly grown legs at Golf Tournaments around the world).
Bill Clinton accepted the jibes in the spirit in which they were intended. Then to the absolute surprise and delight of the bride, the groom and all of the wedding guests and to the absolute shock and horror of his security staff, he wandered off the 3rd green to join the wedding reception (still kitted out in his golfing attire)!! He ended up having his photo taken with the happy couple, a cameo role in the wedding video and signed the menu for the bride and groom.
Finally, I have to admit I have absolutely no idea or evidence of what the 3rd hole was called prior to the 8th June 2001 or when it was renamed ‘Clintons Surprise’…but does that really matter?
Over to You
I am confident there are many fantastic and possibly far fetched stories (true or fabricated) out there in the wider golfing world relating to the history of a golf hole name, so in the spirit of Clintons Surprise, it would be brilliant if you shared ‘what you know’ in the comments section below…thanks.
(After publishing Scorecard Semiotics and then Clintons Surprise, the scorecard trilogy was completed with Golf Hole Names, published in October 2019, where I nostalgically looked back at all of the golf courses I have played to date to create a fantasy/eclectic 18 hole golf course)
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