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What: “Presidential Golf”

Where: The Golf Channel, Saturday, 5 and 8 p.m.

The presidency and golf seem to go hand in hand and the Golf Channel chronicles that pairing in this one-hour special that was more than a year in the making. It will be shown on Inauguration Day.

Former presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush are interviewed. So are relatives and friends of other presidents, as well as professional golfers who have played with presidents.

There is rare footage of William Howard Taft, who had a substantial girth, playing golf. Dudley Taft, a nephew, tells how the president of the Washington Country Club once told Taft, after spotting him addressing the ball two yards in front of the tee markers, that the club’s rule was that all golfers had to hit from the markers. Dudley Taft quotes the former president as saying, “Listen, my good man, I’ll have you know I’m hitting two.”

A relative of Woodrow Wilson recalls Wilson’s definition of golf: “An ineffectual attempt to put an elusive ball in an obscure hole with implements ill-adapted to the purpose.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower, it’s estimated, played 800 rounds during his two terms in office. Grandson David Eisenhower, Ford and Arnold Palmer are among those who talk about Ike’s game.

Among those discussing John F. Kennedy’s are Ethel Kennedy, his sister-in-law. Also included is a film of Kennedy playing golf that he asked to be sent to Palmer for advice. Palmer says he knew of the film, but because of Kennedy’s back problems it was never sent.

Ford, a good golfer, talks about his reputation for hitting spectators.

Bush had a reputation for playing fast.

“You’d ask him how his game went, and he’d say, ‘We played in 2 hours 15 minutes, and that was for 18 holes,’ ” former vice president Dan Quayle says.

Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are also part of the special.

Golf figures to continue to play a role in the presidency. George Herbert Walker, the maternal grandfather of George Sr. and great grandfather of President-elect George W. Bush, was president of the U.S. Golf Assn. in 1920 and established the Walker Cup, a competition between the U.S. and Britain. Prescott Bush, the father of George Sr., was also president of the USGA at one time.