Tales from the Trail

Most presidents have their hobbies. George W. Bush loved to clear brush on his Texas ranch, and to take long mountain bike rides. Bill Clinton played the saxophone. John Quincy Adams reportedly liked to skinny-dip in the Potomac River.

Barack Obama likes to play golf. And Republican challenger Mitt Romney doesn’t approve.

The Romney campaign on Wednesday launched a website, fortyfore.com, that takes a swing at Obama’s golf habit. The site says that Obama has played “1,584 holes since 2009″ — the equivalent of 88 rounds of golf as he nears the end of his third year in office. That would put Obama far short of House Speaker John Boehner, who reportedly works much harder on the links to maintain a single-digit handicap.

Romney’s fundraising site questions whether Obama should get “‘Fore’ More Years,” and invites Romney fans to donate $18 — or more — “to send President Obama on a permanent golfing vacation.”

“It’s time to have a president whose idea of being ‘hands on’ doesn’t mean getting a better grip on the golf club,” the website suggests.

On the day after Christmas, President Barack Obama had an early morning conference call with national security advisers about the Northwest plane incident, went to the gym with his wife Michelle, went back to his Kailua holiday home and then… it was tee time!

Obama and four friends, yes that’s right a group of FIVE, went for 18 holes on the Kaneohe Klipper course at a nearby Marine Corps base.

Now for non-golf aficionados (like me) a foursome is the customary maximum for a golf  game. So five would raise some eyebrows in golfing circles.