(Associated Press)

President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush

George H.W. Bush, the nation’s 41st president, and his wife of 73-years, the former Barbara Pierce, both died in 2018.

Barbara Bush, who was also the mother of the nation’s 43rd president, died in April at the age of 92. Her husband, often simply known as “Bush 41,” died on Nov. 30 at the age of 94 in his Houston home.

The Bush family had a long-standing connection to golf for more than a century.

George H.W. Bush was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011 in the Lifetime Achievement category. His father and grandfather were former presidents of the U.S. Golf Association. George Herbert Walker, Bush’s maternal grandfather, created the Walker Cup, a biennial match between the top amateurs in the U.S. and U.K. Bush’s father, Prescott Bush, headed the USGA before being elected to the U.S. Senate and was a frequent golf companion of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s.

The 41st president amassed a number of golf awards in addition to his Hall of Fame induction: PGA of America’s 1997 Distinguished Service Award, the USGA’s 2008 Bob Jones Award and the PGA Tour’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. In 1996, he served as honorary chairman of the inaugural Presidents Cup, a biennial match pitting U.S. and International professionals.

“Golf has meant a lot to me,” George H.W. Bush said in 2007 upon receiving the Bobby Jones Award. “It means friendship, integrity and character. I grew up in a family that was lucky enough to have golf at the heart of it for a while. My father was a scratch player, and my mother was also a good golfer. It’s a very special game.”

The most lasting contribution from the former president to golf was his well-earned reputation for fast play.

“I’m always in a hurry,” the former president said in a brief conversation with Golfweek on Feb. 15, 1995. “The faster, the better. It’s my personality. I like to get a lot of things done during the day, so standing around on a golf course doesn’t suit me.”

Former President George H.W. Bush and Tiger Woods take a spin before the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club on July 4, 2007. (Hunter Martin/WireImage)

Golfers, including Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, shared thoughts about their time with the late president after his passing.

“He was fantastic to be around,” Woods said. “He was just one of the smartest people I’ve ever been around, and so down to earth.”

Woods played a round with the former Commander in Chief and said it was one of his trademark quick loops, probably under 2.5 hours, in line with his knack for fast play.

“It was basically club, ball, one look, gone,” Woods said

Bush put off attending college at the onset of World War II. He would become the youngest pilot in the Navy and was part of the same enlistment class out of Boston as the late Ted Williams in 1942. He would later serve as a congressman, CIA director, U.N. ambassador and vice president before his election to the presidency in 1988. Bush led the nation through the end of the Cold War after being elected as president before being defeated in 1992 by Bill Clinton.