Courtesy of Omni Homestead Resort
As the Presidents Cup approaches, we are reminded of the connection between the sport we love and our nation’s highest power.
The bond is deep.
William Taft was the pioneer of golf in the Oval Office. Elected president in 1908, Taft played so much that his predecessor and political mentor, Theodore Roosevelt, encouraged his protégé to put aside his golf stick.
Taft refused.
One of Taft’s favorite places was his historic vacation home in Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains, which originally started as the homestead and is now known as the Omni Homestead Resort. Many of Taft’s successors followed in his footsteps. Over the past century, 24 U.S. presidents have stayed at the Omni Homestead, including Presidents Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton and both Bush’s.
VIPs from other disciplines are regular visitors, too. Of all the celebrities, few have a more prominent presence here than local man Sam Snead. Born near Ashwood, Virginia, Snead began caddying at the resort at age 7, later serving as an assistant pro and then head pro in 1934.
At the time, Omni Homestead was well established as one of the premier golf courses in the country. The original course, called the Old Course, opened in 1891 and later redesigned by Donald Ross, and is said to have the longest continuously operating first tee in the United States.
The course also has a younger sibling, the Cascade Course, which dates back to the Golden Age and was designed by William Flynn in the early 1920s and has hosted eight USGA national championships, including the U.S. Women’s Open.
Last year, Cascade celebrated its 100th anniversary. But around the resort, much of the old is new, thanks to a recently completed $150 million renovation that included modernizing and restoring everything from the guest rooms and famous Great Hall to the on-site thermal pool baths. But new history is often being made, too. In 2025, the Cascade Course will host the 2025 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, followed by the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2029.
Last month, another headline-grabbing incident occurred on the property when maintenance workers trimming trees on the Old Course made a startling discovery: An old-fashioned, dimpled, rubber-covered golf ball, likely from the early 1900s, had been embedded in the splintered trunk of a splintered oak.
The ball’s origins have yet to be determined, but it may have once belonged to a president.
“If you use your imagination, anything is possible,” Omni golf director Mark Frye told GOLF.com. “President Taft could have hit this ball.”
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