As the former head of security for the PGA Tour, Danny Coulsen has helped protect Tiger Woods – and Donald Trump – when they hit the links.

Once, when Bill Clinton attended a golf tournament in Bogota, Colombia – a country that is a narcotics hub – he had to secure an entire apartment building near the course to make sure the only shooting was the kind on a scorecard.

So when the acting head of the Secret Service said Monday that agents had not swept Trump’s entire Florida golf course in advance because it was an unplanned ‘off the record’ golf outing, Coulsen was taken aback.

‘I think that’s ridiculous,’ the former high level FBI official told DailyMail.com in an interview.

‘Let’s start with threat. What is the threat? Donald Trump is a very vulnerable, very much threatened individual. He 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed [Qasem] Soleimani. People want to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 him, so you have to look at what the threat is, and then you secure it, regardless of “off the record,” on the record, or whatever he says.’

‘This ridiculous. They’re playing word games, and it’s kind of embarrassing,’ he said.

Danny Coulsen, who set up the FBI’s hostage task force and ran security for the PGA, accused the Secret Service of using ‘word games’ and described how it was possible to secure a golf course when the former president plays

He spoke as the agency was under increasing pressure over the second assassination attempt against Trump in a matter of weeks, and how a suspect with multiple police encounters on his rap sheet was able to set up a ‘sniper’s nest’ just outside the course and be in the area for nearly 12 hours, according to an FBI charging document.

At this early stage, it appears to be quick action by an agent and a stroke of luck that prevented a disaster.

Coulsen said that after running security for 350 pro golf events – after setting up the FBI’s first Hostage Rescue Team during a long career with the bureau – contacts in Secret Service often come to him to discuss strategy for securing golf venues.

‘Think about this: Try to do the security for Tiger Woods. So you can imagine the challenge,’ he said. Then he described his methods.

‘So we set up all security. We have the cops the right places. We would be sure that we posted areas that should be posted, secure wooded areas, high ground. I’d have rope.’

‘You basically have a rolling security perimeter, and that little package goes with you wherever it goes,’ he said.

Former Assistant FBI Director Danny Coulson (r) has helped organize security for PGA tournaments and protect multiple U.S. presidents

Coulsen helped protect Tiger Woods and other pros while handling security for 350 golf tournaments

Coulsen described efforts to protect former President Bill Clinton at a 2012 tournament in Bogota, Colombia

Critics have identified manpower and recruitment issues, but also wonder why the agency wasn’t able to search the course before Trump played. The feds have been providing protection at Mar-a-Lago and Trump’s golf club in West Palm beach for years when he is there

Trump tends to favor his own courses in Florida, Virginia, and New Jersey, which is a complicating factor, leaving little doubt about where he might play when he is in town. And his propensity to golf on the weekends is well known to casual news readers. Former President Barack Obama frequently golfed on the secure military facility at Joint Base Andrews, a choice that removes some of the threats.

‘Are there better courses than that? Yes, but there are some that are worse,’ he said.

‘I had Clinton at Palm Springs for the Bob Hope [Classic], and we had a weather issue,’ he recalled, ‘and I had to get him off the course.’

‘So you do the same thing here. You have to have a perimeter around him. You have to have stand-off. You have to have people protecting the woods. You have to have local cops that are on your radio frequencies.’

‘It’s a constant exercise, and frankly, that Secret Service agent saves his life. But also, one thing to consider here is that both of those shooters were totally incompetent fools,’ he added, referring to the past two attempts on Trump’s life.

Ryan Routh, the suspect at the golf course, ‘totally screwed up. He compromised his own position, and that aided the Secret Service agents to take advantage of that, and they saved his life.’

Coulsen wouldn’t give a number of how many agents were required to secure the 27-hole course. ‘Does it matter? He should get it.’

‘First of all, they should have dogs there. Those dogs should have been patrolling the areas that they couldn’t post.’

‘You don’t assign assets based on position. You assign assets based on risk. And he’s at the very highest of risk. So he should have had whatever he needed.’

After spending decades overseeing difficult probes including Iran-Contra while also gaming out hostage rescues and protecting long fairways, Coulsen is mindful of the special challenges securing golf links.

‘Golf courses are difficult to secure because they have woods. They have high ground around them. You have a lot of property – a couple 100 acres maybe more. And it’s not the easiest thing. It’s not like securing a basketball game. And your target is constantly in motion. It’s not an easy thing – but you can do it,’ he said.