Obama golfs 150th round
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President Obama’s approval ratings may be stuck in a sand trap, but that has not deterred him from sticking to his weekly round of golf. After teeing off on Saturday at the private course in Florida where the film “Caddy Shack” was filmed, Mr. Obama hit the milestone number of 150 golf rounds in less than five years in the White House.
The Secret Service loaded Mr. Obama’s golf clubs bag emblazoned with the presidential seal into the motorcade Saturday morning to head to the private Grande Oaks Golf Club. Sporting a blue polo shirt with tan slacks and a cap, he spent five hours on the private course with former NBA star Alonzo Mourning, friend Cyrus Walker and former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
Mr. Obama wasn’t much of a duffer before he ran for president. His regularity on the green started on April 26, 2009. He played 27 times that first year in office, seven of which were during his vacations on Martha’s Vineyard and Hawaii.
During his second year as president, Mr. Obama played a little more — 30 rounds. He included a woman for only the second time when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius joined on Oct. 10, 2010.
Perhaps time on the links gave them time to discuss all the people they knew would lose their insurance when Obamacare was implemented. Ms. Sebelius also joined the president on the golf course on May 18 this year.
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President Barack Obama, center, shakes hands with former NBA basketball player Alonzo … more >
After 57 rounds in 19 months, Mr. Obama’s golf game improved. At the private Mid Pacific Country Club in Kailua, Hawaii on Dec. 28, 2010, the club’s golf pro, Mark Sousa, remarked to reporters that the president’s “swing looks a lot better this year.”
The president played even more in his third year in office — a total of 34 rounds. Throughout his presidency, he has most frequently used military golf courses at Andrews Air Force Base and Fort Belvoir.
White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson, who Golf Digest reported has an eight handicap, plays with the president almost every week. The only times Mr. Nicholson is not on the course with the commander in chief is during the Christmas vacations in Hawaii.
Vice President Joe Biden, who had a handicap of only 6.3 in 2011, according to Golf Digest, has only been invited to tag along with his boss six times in the last five years. (The golf magazine estimated Mr. Obama’s handicap at 17 two years ago. It has undoubtedly improved since.)
Other politicians who have played with Mr. Obama during his presidency include House Speaker John Boehner, President Bill Clinton (twice), New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Virginia governor-elect Terry McAuliffe.
Mr. Obama put aside his weekly golf outings for several periods while running for re-election in 2012. His annual total fell to 19 rounds, seven of which were in the two months after he won a second term.
Never having to run for office again has given Mr. Obama a free pass to spend every weekend on the golf course. So far in 2013, he has already passed his 2011 record with a total of 39 rounds of golf, as of today. This includes his whopping 27 holes played in one day at The Courses at Andrews Air Force Base on Sept. 14.
Mr. Obama’s supporters get enraged whenever I tweet or write about my tracking his golf games. They defend him by either saying everyone needs a break or comparing the golf outings to President George W. Bush’s time at his Texas ranch.
However, Mr. Bush stopped playing golf in Aug. 2003 out of respect for the families of servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Obama has shown no such feeling of inappropriateness.
Even if you compare number of rounds up to that point in the first term, Mr. Obama had played three times the number of times as Mr. Bush — 76 to 29 rounds.
The difference in cutting brush in Texas and Mr. Obama’s form of relaxation is that golf is an elitist pastime that few can afford in expense or time, especially in this prolonged economic downturn.
Mr. Obama is fully aware of the optics of his favorite hobby since he always stops the weekly foursome when he is engaged in a budget battle with Congress or nearing an election. Once those moments pass, he goes right back to his nine iron.