Golf, the American President’s favourite sport
Presidents don’t just sit in their office and give speeches all day. They have past times too, and golf appears to be a favourite of American presidents. This June, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden got together to enjoy some golf at Woodlawn
golf course in Virginia. Coincidentally, it was Father’s day as well. Obama, who has played golf almost every weekend since the sun started shining in Washington D.C, usually likes to play a dollar a hole.
Biden tried to make a good shot carefully since if the ball had gone a few more inches, it would have gone into the forest. Obviously, these two leaders just played golf for fun and relaxation. Even though they played for fun, they had much more than cash
on the line. Competing with their aides who are a portion of their age, they wanted to preserve their wisdom and grab a victory.
Sometime later in the game, Obama stepped back and Biden went for his wedge. Amazingly, the ball bounded onto the green after splitting the trunks and landed less than 20 feet from the pin. In the middle of a number of golf carts, which included a doctor,
secret service and of course the military, a burst of applause was heard. On Biden’s achievement, Obama said that Biden is calm under pressure and that’s why he’s is the vice president.
The current president seems to be very fanatic about the game. By April, he had been out on the golf course for the 32nd time since he was elected. This was eight times more than the former president George W. Bush. Just recently Mayor Michael
Bloomberg and the President met up on Martha’s Vineyard to play golf and discuss nothing else but the American economy.
Obama took up the sport during his mid thirties, as a soothing replacement to basketball. He didn’t get much time to play during the campaign, but now that his game is out in the open, it is pretty obvious the president loves golf. Some say he plays golf
similar to as he governs.
"You can really tell a person's personality by the way he plays golf," says Wellington Wilson, a long-time golf buddy. "He just goes with the flow. Not too high. Not too low."
President Clinton was known to yell and curse, as he hit balls until they rolled the way he liked them. President Obama, on the other hand, never cuts a corner in golf, say his friends. Marvin Nicholson, who is the white house trip director, says that he
has never seen Obama get to the point where he just picks up. Nicholson said he has seen the president write a 10-down and write an 11-down.
Ever since Dwight Eisenhower took up golfing as past time sport, every president except Jimmy Carter has been a passionate player of golf. John F Kennedy was very famous for a poised swing and low scores. George W. Bush played just like his father did.
Bush stopped playing in the last years of his presidency, since he didn’t want to send a ‘wrong message’ to the families of those soldiers who died in Iraq war. Ronald Reagan had scores that were a state secret; he used to putt down the aisle of Air Force
One. The scandalous president Bill Clinton had a reputation for even messing with his golf scores. He is known for playing rounds with campaign donors, as he chewed an unlit cigar on the course.
Being the first African-American president, Barrack Obama has earned a lot of respect and will definitely be remembered in history. Up till now, he is proving to be good president and is a significant addition to the leaders of the world. His passion for
the sport of golf makes him all the more noble and praiseworthy by Americans and people elsewhere around the world.
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