Obama Methodical, Risk-Averse on Green

Golfing buddies impressed with Obama's sang-froid
By Victoria Floethe,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 19, 2009 6:10 PM CST

Barack Obama, an avid golfer who usually shoots in the mid-90s and avoids short cuts, took up the sport when wife Michelle worried about basketball injuries. Obama’s golfing buddies describe his game for Golf Digest:

  • Competitive: “He was a beginner, and sometimes he had to take the whupping. But he never liked it,” said Sen. James Clayborne Jr.
  • Unflappable: "If he duffs one dead into the woods, there's no cursing. The most excited we get on the golf course is a fist bump," said Marvin Nicholson, a newly appointed Obama assistant.

  • Risk averse: "He played percentage golf, always keeping the ball under control," recalls Ian Manners, a former in-law.
  • Lucky: "If he went into the trees, it seems like the ball would always bounce out, 50 yards farther up the fairway. I joked with him that if he was as lucky at politics as he was at golf, he'd be president some day," said Manners.



(More Barack Obama stories.)

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