Bush’s Pro Helps Avoid Golf Crisis : Recreation: The President’s favorite partner on the links describes Bush’s game as fast and friendly.

It’s late afternoon and President Bush is in a jam. So he turns to one of his most trusted advisers. “What do you think, Kenny?” he asks. “Is it going to break?”

Kenny Raynor leans over and sizes up the problem. “No,” he says. “Straight on.” Bush nods and faces the challenge--a 30-foot putt up a slight incline. He strokes the ball directly toward the hole but it stops inches short.

“Ahhhhh!” Bush groans.

“Nice shot, partner!” Raynor exclaims.

With a thunderous drive, a zeal for life and a soft-spoken way of delivering plenty of advice, banter and encouragement--Kenny Raynor, 38, is the President’s golf pro.

“I help the President with his R and R (rest and relaxation). He’s a very good golfer, a competitor, but we’re primarily out here to have good time. Enjoy the camaraderie. Share a few laughs. That’s the bottom line.”

Raynor plays a few dozen rounds of golf a year with Bush, nearly always at the Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport, Me., a few miles from the Bush family’s summer home. Raynor has been the club’s pro since 1979.

Nearly every time Bush goes to Kennebunkport--which is almost monthly in the spring, summer and fall--Raynor is among the first people he calls.

“Sometimes I hear from him while he is on Air Force One, heading up here,” Raynor said. “He’s checking in, shifting gears.”

Take one presidential day last August.

“He had a briefing at the Pentagon, gave a speech to the military, flew up here, jumped out of his helicopter, ran up to the first tee and knocked the ball right down the middle of the fairway.”

“Not many people can do that.”

What else amazes Raynor about Bush on the links?

“Well, the President of the United States has the same passion all golfers do--finding a lost ball. He can’t leave a ball that is visible along the river bank.”

“He’ll climb right down there, get it, and say, ‘Hey, look at this! Free ammo!’ ”

Raynor says that Bush, 66, shoots in the middle to high 80s, but that the hallmark of his game is speed--a style of playing affectionately dubbed “Bush’s aerobic golf.” Some call it “polo golf.”

The President, who drives his own golf cart, regularly completes a round in less than 2 hours. This summer, playing with his oldest son, George W., and Raynor, he set a personal record--one hour and 42 minutes.

“I think that’s a little fast,” said Raynor. “Obviously, I would never promote that to America.”

On the course, Bush is a kibitzer, constantly challenging opponents and himself.

“He’ll say something like, ‘Here we are on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach’ or ‘This one is for (wife) Bar,’ and then hit a perfect drive or dribble it 20 feet.”

On this day, Raynor is seated on the wooden porch of the rustic clubhouse, overlooking the Kennebunk River where he and Bush have enjoyed countless hours of fishing.

“One of the hardest things in the world out here is to remember he is the President of the United States,” said Raynor.

Why?

“Because he’s such a regular guy. So much warmth. Personality. He says hello to everyone. Signs score cards.”

“We’ll be playing and suddenly, in the middle of the ninth hole, he’ll stop to take a call (on his cellular phone) on some matter, and then just as quickly return to the game.”

Bush took some heat this summer for golfing almost every day of a 25-day vacation in Maine while, halfway around the world, U.S. troops dug in in the Middle East. Critics said it didn’t look right. They complained that he should have spent the time focusing his energy on the crisis in the Persian Gulf.

“I think it bothered him a little bit. Because he does care. He is a dedicated person,” said Raynor. “He was just taking a little R and R on what turned out to be a working vacation.”

Raynor said he rarely discusses the rigors of the presidency with Bush. “But this bothered me, too, seeing him receive such criticism. I told him that the American people were behind him.”

The golf pro is a big fan of the President.

“He treats me like an adopted son. We have a very special relationship.” But Raynor never calls him “George” and only rarely “Mr. President.”

“I normally call him ‘Mr. Bush.’ On the course, in the heat of battle, I might call him ‘partner.’ ”

Raynor gives an upbeat assessment of Bush’s game, putting him at between a 12 and 13 handicap. He says the best part of his game is the drive and fairway woods. “He can hit it as far as anyone, 240 to 250 yards.”

Since Bush’s rise to the White House, the club has sold “presidential” golf balls and shirts, all bearing the emblem of an eagle.

“That’s my way of celebrating that we have the President as a member here,” said Raynor. “But I don’t want to exceed bounds. I don’t want to have a ‘George Bush’ pro shop.”

What Raynor really enjoys is watching Bush swing a club. “He’s a great ambassador to the game. It’s great for the game to see a golfing President.”