(From Kiki Ryan for Politico.com)

Most past presidents have had a sport of choice: Richard Nixon loved to bowl and installed the White House bowling alley; Bill Clinton played golf; John F. Kennedy liked touch football; George W. Bush was a mountain biker. And while basketball may be thought of as President Barack Obama’s main game, a look at the first 18 months of his presidency (and a little bit before) reveals that he’s quite the athlete-in-chief — his wife and kids are pretty sporty, too.

Here, POLITICO takes a look at the Obamas’ sporting life.

Basketball:

Obama, a power forward, often shoots hoops on the South Lawn of the White House, where he had a basketball court specially installed. He’s played with his staff, including former Duke basketball player Reggie Love, his daughters, and members of his administration — like the 6-foot-5-inch Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The family has taken in a number of basketball games as spectators, too. Obama was at the Verizon Center in January to catch the Duke-Georgetown game (he even visited announcers in the CBS booth). Shortly after moving into the White House, he caught his hometown team, the Chicago Bulls, play the Washington Wizards at the arena. More recently, Obama had a basketball double-header: he caught Washington’s WNBA team, the Mystics, at the Verizon Center with Sasha (who wore the team’s jersey) after playing a game of his own with an Army team at Fort McNair.

Obama’s love of the game is apparently contagious. While in Los Angeles in June, the first lady took her mother and daughters to watch the Lakers play in Game Six of the NBA Finals. (Sasha and Malia brought home a jersey signed by Lakers coach Phil Jackson for Father’s Day.)

And don’t forget Obama’s brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, the head coach at Oregon State University. The entire family watched the Beavers take on George Washington University in November.

Tennis:

Both FLOTUS and POTUS like to volley.

While appearing on “The Jay Leno Show” last October, Michelle told Leno that there’s nothing about Barack that bothers her, calling him “perfect.” Except for one thing: when he beats her at tennis. “He beats me quite often,” she said. “That gets to be pretty annoying.”

The competition between the couple most certainly comes out on vacation. Last month, while vacationing in Maine, the first family visited the Bar Harbor Club to hit the court. During their vacation last summer on Martha’s Vineyard, the family played on the private tennis court nestled into their rental property. In Hawaii last Christmas, the first couple played at the Kailua Racquet Club, too.

Daughters Sasha and Malia resisted tennis at first, Michelle Obama recently told Ladies’ Home Journal. “But now they’re starting to get better, and they actually like it,” she said.

When not playing with the family, Michelle has also played on several occasions with her chief of staff—and pal—Susan Sher. (And since we’re on the topic, her garden even contains tennis ball lettuces.)

Baseball:

Safe to say Obama’s arms are better at throwing up three-pointers than tossing out pitches. In April, President Obama threw the first pitch at Nationals Park “a little high and outside,” as he described it. Last summer, at the All-Star game, he also threw a ceremonial pitch: the ball barely made it to the plate.

Still, he’s a fan. Obama frequently wears Chicago White Sox gear—even when the Nationals are involved. He wore his Sox cap for his pitch in April; in June, he cheered on the South Side Chicago team, again wearing his cap, as they played the Nats.

Michelle Obama seems to like the sport too. She and Jill Biden joined Yogi Berra as he threw out the opening pitch at Game 1 of the World Series last year. FLOTUS has also visited Camden Yards in Baltimore, where she pitched and caught and hung out with kids at a “Let’s Move” event.

Golf:

Obama may not be as golf-crazed as some presidents, but as of last month, he’d played 41 rounds since taking office. During a two-month stretch earlier this year, he played golf eight out of nine weekends. While in Washington, he heads to the course at Andrews Air Force Base, often with White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson. And as with tennis, he uses his vacation time to play, too. He hit the green multiple times in Hawaii over Christmas and last summer in Martha’s Vineyard.

Soccer:

It’s fair to call Obama a soccer dad. He and Michelle are frequently spotted on the weekends cheering on both daughters, who play here in town.

Bowling:

Actually, let’s not go there. Who can forget Obama’s dismal game during the Pennsylvania primary, when he bowled a 37 with repeated gutter balls? That’s one sport Obama should drop.

(More Photos.)

(From Alana Semuels for the Los Angeles Times Online)

On the first sunny day of his Hawaiian vacation, President Obama hit the links Saturday, golfing at a Marine base course on the Mokapu Pennisula.

Framed by lush green mountains and a light blue sea, the course typically charges guests $38 for 18 holes. (There was no word whether the president was asked to cough up fees.)

The White House said Obama golfed with close friend Eric Whitaker and three buddies from Hawaii.

It was the president’s second visit to the military base Saturday — he and First Lady Michelle Obama worked out before sunrise, as they did on Christmas Day.

While Obama was known for his basketball prowess on the campaign trail, he’s gravitated to golf since becoming president. The Wall Street Journal reported in November that he’d played only seven known games of basketball since taking office, and 25 rounds of golf. The White House explained in response that golf got the president outside.

(By Colin Orcutt for The Obama Presidency Blog at City University of New York School of Journalism)

So we know that Obama is the “sports president.” He’s been to a Wizards game, aired a video to kick off Monday Night Football, taken in an Oregon State Beavers basketball game (wifey’s brother coaches the guys team there)–he even went to a George Washington University men’s basketball game (insert a Guantanamo joke here at your own discretion). He’s definitely a hoops and football fan (he hosted a Super Bowl party after his inauguration). But I don’t believe he’s been to any hockey or baseball games yet. And certainly not any golf.

But, if the president has any good sense, he’ll book his tickets now for the next tournament Tiger Woods is playing in, and then every one following.

Because thanks to Tiger Woods, Obama’s Afghanistan policy was pushed to the back up role in the news rotation for a lot of Americans last week, replaced instead with the latest gossipy developments about Woods’ extramarital affairs.

Andy Borowitz wrote a sarcastic post about this for Huffington Post’s humor section. And Frank Rich picked up on it in his most recent Op-Ed:

As long as our wars remain sacrifice-free, safely buried in the back pages behind Tiger Woods and reality television stunts, he’ll be able to pursue [the bet he made about Afghanistan].

The reality is, there has been plenty of discourse about Obama’s decision to surge 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan–a good many of the New York Times opinion writers have weighed in at this point–but we’re in an updated news model now. While the Afghanistan speech coverage and reaction may be out there, in this updated model, it’s not finding its way to me.

As any good Jeff Jarvis disciple will tell you, with the advent of Facebook, Twitter and the like, stories and news make their way to the reader. And so, less and less readers make their way to the stories. I personally haven’t checked my Google Reader in weeks; it used to be a daily occurrence (then again, so did sleep, so perhaps my normalcy level isn’t the best standard at this point).

Last week, one of the people I’m following on Twitter tweeted that excess of Tiger Woods updates he’d received from CNN led him to unsubscribe from their feed. I read no such complaints about Afghanistan social network traffic.

You could argue that it’s a reflection of the demographic that uses social networking perhaps, but I find that the demographic is expanding and argument is starting to show gray hairs.

What I think really happened is that Tiger Woods spared Obama some short-term scrutiny. I am not saying I either agree or disagree with his decision, but nothing happens in the presidency anymore that doesn’t garner at least a dull roar and a tea party. Whatever Obama had decided, there would have been loud voiced naysayers. Woods muted their effect.

And, since it will be hard to measure the results of Obama’s plan anytime soon, you could argue that by averting some of the public reaction, perhaps Woods improved Obama’s chance at a re-election bid. A bit of a stretch perhaps, but not entirely.

Either way, I firmly believe that some Obama staffers were at least a little happy with the timing of Woods’ accident. And if next week Woods is suddenly bestowed the title of “Distraction Czar,” (also known as the social secretary) remember, you heard it here first.

(From Elizabeth Williamson for The Wall Street Journal Online)

A Star on the Court, He’s Called a Hacker On the Course; Fans Miss the ‘Original Guy’

One day last summer, Gene Mulak, observing carnage in the sand trap, decided it was time to rescue the Leader of the Free World.

“Open the clubface more!” the golf pro yelled to President Barack Obama. A rank of bodyguards stiffened when they heard the shouting, but the commander-in-chief continued to hack away, sand flying, recalls Mr. Mulak, a resident professional at the Vineyard Golf Club in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

Mr. Obama waved off the guards and welcomed Mr. Mulak into the pit. The pro says he gave the president tips on his golf stance and his swing, both of which were conspiring against him. “He would have had trouble getting out of any bunker in the country,” concludes Mr. Mulak.

Which all serves to deepen a mystery that has surrounded the presidency: Why has Barack Obama forsaken basketball for the links?

On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama played a mean, frequent and public game of hoops. He played outdoors and in, with pols, pros, troops in Kuwait and university kids half his age. “For people our age, it was like watching Clinton on ‘The Arsenio Hall Show,’ playing the saxophone,” says Alex Podlogar, a 34-year-old sportswriter at the Sanford Herald in Sanford, N.C.

But as president, Mr. Obama has neglected the court. He has played only seven known games of basketball since taking office, compared with 25 rounds of golf, a sport he picked up about a decade ago when he was an Illinois state senator. That’s more golf than former President George W. Bush played in two terms, according to CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller, who tracks presidential trivia. (In 2003, Mr. Bush quit golf, saying he did so out of respect for the troops serving in Iraq. Since leaving office, he has returned to the sport, an aide says.)

And where Mr. Obama’s basketball game is showy and often televised, his golf is furtive and off-the-record. He plays with junior aides and discreet longtime friends. There’s no press allowed onto the course with him, no cameras — and few witnesses. A foursome of loyal staffers often plays out ahead of him, clearing the way and trying to ensure no one spies.

Official White House photo by Samantha Appleton
Fans say President Barack Obama has forsaken his stellar basketball game for a mediocre golf game, a sign that he’s gotten ’soft.’

The frequency and secrecy of the president’s golfing has infuriated some of his basketball fans. This love of the links can’t be for keeps, they moan, for he who plays secretly must surely play badly.

How badly? His score is a matter of “national security,” deflects David Axelrod, political adviser to the First Duffer. White House aides said playing golf gets the president outdoors more, but declined to comment further on why he appears to be favoring golf over hoops, or why members of the press haven’t been allowed to watch him tee off.

Postings by golf observers on the Web site Baller-in-Chief, which is primarily devoted to the president’s basketball game, posit a brutal answer: Mr. Obama has a golf handicap in the mid-20s, considered weak to average, and a cramped swing that’s not so pretty.

A recent anonymous posting on Golf.com comes from a golfer who claims to have caught some of the action: “I had the misfortune of being stuck in a group on the same course as the Prez and his buddies and watching them play one hole in the time it took our foursome to play 3 was painful. The only thing stopping us from telling them to pick it up was the incredibly large security detail he had with him.”

Some people dissing the president’s golf game have an agenda: They want him back on the basketball court.

“The fact that he isn’t playing [basketball]…is a metaphor for those people who think he’s gotten soft, backed off of his promises, sold out,” says Claude Johnson, Baller-in-Chief’s founder and owner of Black Fives Inc., a basketball merchandising firm in Greenwich, Conn. “When President Obama goes back to basketball, that will be a sign that we haven’t lost the original guy.”

Fifteen of the past 18 presidents have played golf, according to “First Off the Tee,” a history of presidential golf by Don Van Natta Jr. Dwight D. Eisenhower did so with military routine. John F. Kennedy was a graceful player known for lucky breaks. Bill Clinton fudged his score so often that some golfers call a mulligan — a penalty-free do-over for amateurs — a “Clinton” or “Billigan.”

Mr. Obama’s aides say the president, known for his discipline, doesn’t take mulligans and adheres to every rule on the course. When in Washington, Mr. Obama most often plays on one of two military courses, Fort Belvoir in Virginia and Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. At Andrews, the press is safely quarantined in a nearby food court.

The president isn’t all fun and games when he’s on the course. Before teeing off at the Vineyard Golf Club, for example, the noted orator couldn’t resist offering a snap address to 400 people penned in on the deck of the club house. Mr. Mulak, the golf pro, says Mr. Obama hits in one direction. “Barack generally hits his ball to the left,” he says.

Matt Lombard, a staffer in the pro shop at Mink Meadows Golf Club in Martha’s Vineyard, hoped to catch the president’s game during the Obama family vacation on the island in August. He says he was bringing golf balls down to the driving range when the Secret Service stopped him, dumped the bucket and tapped each ball with a small hammer.

Mr. Lombard was shut into the pro shop with a couple dozen other people, who saw the president tee off with a swing Mr. Lombard describes as: “Eh, not so much.” The group strained to see a presidential putt. “He took it as a gimme,” says Mr. Lombard, referring to the tradition of automatically counting the next stroke as in the hole if the ball is close enough. His conclusion: Mr. Obama “ought to play a little more basketball.”

Presidential golf ball

A day later, the president rushed through a bicycle ride with his family, then headed back to the Vineyard Golf Club, the island’s most challenging course. As Mr. Obama hacked through the grass, some 30 members of the White House press corps sat out of sight on a bus for five hours.

Mr. Mulak says he never learned Mr. Obama’s score that day, but figures he surely broke 100, an average score for a hacker on a tough course. “Solid shots — I wouldn’t say straight lasers at the pin,” he says.

Back in Washington, there are signs that the president’s basketball jones is returning.

A tennis court behind the White House has been restyled into a basketball court. Last month, Mr. Obama gave it a road test, inviting over some congressmen and cabinet members for a game.

It’s about time, says Mr. Podlogar, the North Carolina sportswriter. “Let me put it in language you might be better able to understand, Mr. President,” he wrote recently in his newspaper: “Basketball? Yes, you can. Golf? No, you can’t.”

WSJ’s Elizabeth Williamson discusses how fans of President Obama’s basketball game are lobbying to get him back on the court and off the golf course.

(From The Economist Online)

(From Emily Rauhala for Newser.com)

Obama has traded basketball for golf

(Newser) – The old Obama played hoops—and he did it quite well. So why do we keep seeing him on golf courses? Since he took office, the one-time “Baller-in-Chief” has played basketball about seven times, compared to 25 rounds of golf. The White House has remained mum on what’s behind the change, and won’t say why the televised games on the court have turned into secretive, no-press-allowed sessions on the course—but that hasn’t stopped critics from analyzing, and bashing, his game.

“Let me put it in language you might be better able to understand, Mr. President,” a sports columnist wrote recently: “Basketball? Yes, you can. Golf? No, you can’t.” Political adviser David Axelrod told the Wall Street Journal Obama’s score was a matter of “national security.” And, a pro shop worker that saw him play described the presidential swing as “Eh, not so much.” His advice?’ The president “ought to play a little more basketball.”

President Obama takes practices his game at Mink Meadows Golf Club in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

(From DemConWatchBlog.com)

If you’re a regular reader, you know I know better than to even attempt anything relating to sports, but I actually DO know the difference between basketball and golf. Mostly because of the clothing: my recollection is that basketball players have very long legs and very tight short shorts. Golfers wear plaid below their knees.

So, we know that candidate Obama played a lot of basketball on the campaign trail. That he had a mean game, he played with all sorts of different people, and he played publicly. Have you seen him playing recently? There was that one game of politicos, and a White House tennis court has been remade into a hoops court, but he doesn’t seem to have been playing. The Wall Street Journal says Obama has played seven basketball games since becoming president.

Yup, WSJ – this is one of the articles on their FRONT PAGE today. (Yet another reason I read USA Today. No nonsense.)

WSJ says that President Obama, like 15 of the last 18 presidents, has been playing golf. They say he’s played 25 times since taking office. And that NO ONE gets to watch. The WSJ spends the rest of the article dissing the President’s golf game, taking shots at President Clinton’s golf game, and goes on to lie about Shrub pretending to give up golf because of the soldiers serving in Iraq. I trust their sports reporting as much as I trust their other reporting: I found a bunch of pictures of Obama playing golf.

This a waste of dead trees: if the president wants to play golf, he’s an American, let him play. If he wants to play basketball, fantastic. It pleases me that the right wingnut press has chosen this as something to place on their front page. I’m glad this is what Rupert Murdoch is sending his minions out to investigate. I wonder if he’ll apply that “no error” thing to WSJ….they’re related to Fox Noise.

For me, I am just confused since in the photos, he’s playing basketball in long baggy pants, and he’s lacking plaid on the golf course….

(From David Saltonstall for the New York Daily News Online)

Egan-Chin/News
President Obama plays golf at Farm Neck Golf Club on Martha’s Vineyard on Monday.

OAK BLUFFS, Mass. – President Obama has been known to talk some trash on the basketball court, but on the golf course he leaves pride behind.

“I just want to say ahead of time that I am terrible,” the First Duffer told a crowd of onlookers Monday as he began his vacation on celebrity-studded Martha’s Vineyard with a round of golf. “Thank you.”

With that, Obama stepped up to the first tee at the Farm Neck Golf Club, took two casual practice swings, then clubbed his drive a solid 200 yards or more – and into the woods left of the fairway.

The crowd cheered anyway, and Obama – dressed in a black golf shirt, brown pants, a beige cap and two-tone golf shoes – acknowledged his gallery with a small bow.

“Look at that – no mulligan,” one woman exclaimed after Obama – said to be a stickler for the rules – declined to take a do-over.

Obama golfs regularly, but almost never in front of an audience. Experts on hand for Monday’s rare peek at his form declared themselves impressed – to a point.

“He has a naturally athletic golf swing, very well-coordinated,” said Farm Neck golf pro Michael Zoll, a PGA member who watched Obama warm up. “He does what few golfers do, and that is he trusts his wrists at the top of his backswing. And he generates a lot of club head speed not by trying to muscle the ball, but as a result of the natural timing he has.”

On the other hand . . .

“He did push the ball to the left,” noted Zoll, “and that came from his picking his club up, as opposed to swinging his arms more freely. . . . That kept the club face slightly open at impact.”

Left unknown was the President’s final score Monday in a round that included included UBS CEO Robert Wolf, Chicago pal Eric Whitaker and White House aide Marvin Nicholson. Once the foursome left the first tee, Secret Service agents kept the public and the press away.

Obama’s sporting day also included a round of tennis with First Lady Michelle Obama at the family’s rented 28-acre compound.

The President has no calls or meetings on his schedule at the moment, presidential spokesman Bill Burton said, but he is staying up-to-date with developments on the economy, health care and foreign policy.

Burton hit back at Republican critics who said Obama should forgo his week-long vacation when many Americans are struggling economically.

“As I recall, the previous President took quite a bit of vacation time himself, and I don’t think anyone bemoaned that,” Burton told reporters, referring to George W. Bush’s month-long summer getaways. “I think it’s important for the President, as with anybody, to take a little time, spend time with his family, and recharge his batteries.”

Obama’s plan for the week is not to have one, Burton said. “You know, he’s on vacation, so everything is a little bit loose,” Burton said. “You know, you wake up, you have some breakfast, you work out and then you decide, oh, what do I feel like doing today? He’s doing that just like anybody else.”

Egan-Chin/News
Obama plays a lot of golf, but doesn’t often play in front of an audience.

(From Huffington Post via Plum TV)

The Obamas touched down on Martha’s Vineyard soil Sunday afternoon, and Plum TV was there to capture President Barack Obama’s first golf swing on the Vineyard. It was a fine cut, followed by a fist pump and bow. Plum TV was also treated exclusive tour of the course by resident golf pro Mike Zoll and took a sneak peak into the gift bag Farm Neck will be presenting to the first family.

Golfing nearby were Larry David and Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck.

In June, the president told “The Early Show” that he enjoys golf because it makes him “almost feel normal … you’re out of the container … It’s as close as you’re going to get to being outside of this place.”

(From Michael Walker, Jr. for Golf.com)

(From Michael Scherer for Time Magazine Online)

Presidents, like normal people, tend to seek in others what they admire about themselves. Which brings us to the par-5 12th hole at Woodlawn golf course in Fort Belvoir, Va., on Father’s Day. Vice President Joe Biden, an 8 handicap, has leaked a 3-wood into the trees near the green. He stands amid the underbrush, talking with his match-play teammate, the President of the United States. (See pictures of presidents at the beach.)

Take a drop or risk the trees? A few inches off either way, and the ball will ricochet into the forest. The stakes aren’t high: Barack Obama, who has golfed almost every weekend since it got hot in Washington, plays a dollar a hole. But these leaders have more than money on the line. They are facing down their aides, men a fraction of their age. And no one wants to lose. (See pictures of the worst golf fashion.)

After a time, Obama steps away, and Biden reaches for his wedge. The ball miraculously splits the trunks and bounds onto the green, less than 20 feet from the pin. Amid the caravan of golf carts, including those of the Secret Service detail, a doctor and the ever present nuclear-code-toting military aide, there is an eruption of applause. “Calm under pressure,” Obama calls out, bequeathing to Biden his own most valued attribute. “That’s why he’s my Vice President.”

Since Dwight Eisenhower evicted the South Lawn squirrels tearing up his putting green, every President but Jimmy Carter has been a golfer. John Kennedy was known for low scores and a graceful swing. Ronald Reagan, whose scores were a state secret, putted down the aisle of Air Force One. Bill Clinton established a reputation for fudging his score — cheating, some said — in rounds with campaign donors while chewing an unlit cigar on the tee. George W. Bush played the way his father H.W. did, like a race against time, until the last years in office, when the son banned himself from the game because he didn’t want to send the “wrong signal” to the mothers of the Iraq-war dead. (Read “Ronald Reagan’s Golf Balls? Step Right Up!”)

Obama, who took up golf in his mid-30s as a relaxing alternative to basketball, did not find much time to play during the campaign. But now that his game is out of the closet, it is clear that he duffs in much the same way that he tries to govern. “You can really tell a person’s personality by the way he plays golf,” says Wellington Wilson, a longtime golf buddy. “He just goes with the flow. Not too high. Not too low.” (Read “How Good is Barack Obama at Golf?”)

Whereas Clinton was known to shout, curse and rehit balls until he liked his shot, Obama never cuts a corner in golf, say his companions. No mulligans. No five-foot gimme putts on the green. “I’ve never seen him get to the point where he just picks up,” says Marvin Nicholson, the White House trip director and a regular partner. “I’ve seen him write a 10 down. I’ve seen him write an 11 down.” (See the top 10 U.S. Open golf duels.)

But that doesn’t mean the President always behaves like a gentleman. As in basketball, Obama is a trash-talk enthusiast who tries to get into the heads of his opponents and sucker them into taking more difficult shots. “He is very strategic about his use of it,” says Eugene Kang, the 25-year-old White House special-projects coordinator, who played with the President at Andrews Air Force Base in late June. “It’s always fun to make the putt and give him a nice little look at the end.” (See pictures of Barack Obama’s college years.)

The jawing can get especially fierce when the opponent is press secretary Robert Gibbs, with whom Obama shares some golfing characteristics. “His game is severely handicapped, as is mine,” Gibbs says. (Estimates of the POTUS handicap, for which there is no official documentation, vary from 16 to 24.)

Most of the President’s longtime golfing buddies say the First Game is improving. After a brief flirtation with a new Nike driver, Obama has returned to his Titleist and is still struggling to master his new hybrid woods. He putts solidly and is working on his bunker shots, once an Achilles’ heel.

The President keeps the game in perspective. Most days Obama does not win or lose more than a few dollars. The Father’s Day outing ended with Biden and Obama each collecting $2, though Biden paid for the hot dogs after the front nine. Wilson, who has been playing with Obama since 1999, keeps all his Obama winnings in an envelope, which he has promised as a college fund for Sasha and Malia. As of early July, the envelope contained $2.25.

(From Jon Ward for The Washington Times Online)

President Obama is known for his unflappable cool, but those looking for signs of stress in the new commander-in-chief might find a clue in his changing sports preferences.

It was just last month that ESPN Magazine heralded a new day in Washington as a hoops town because of the country’s new president.

“Obama loves all things hoops,” Wright Thompson wrote, in a story that looked at the ways in which politicians and all stripes of power-seekers in Washington are tuning their games to try to get an invite to play with POTUS.

That may be, but if so, they’re most likely still waiting. After playing golf, again, yesterday, Obama has now hit the links 12 times during his six months in office, and gone off the White House grounds for a full run on the court only four times, according to the White House press corps statistician in chief, Mark Knoller of CBS News.

Now, Obama has had a new full court installed on the White House grounds, which has just been finished in the last week, Obama staffers told me. It is an outdoor court, so Obama may be back to balling soon.

But here’s a few reasons why the president may be gravitating towards the links rather than the hardwood or asphalt.

1. Golf is relaxing. The scenery is beautiful, the pace is nice and slow (unless you’re President George H.W. Bush). President George W. Bush was known to love mountain biking because it was one of the few times he could feel all alone, iPod earbuds in, nobody in front of him, just pedaling. Golf isn’t the same level of isolation, but you’re in a big physical space that the Secret Service can easily secure (Obama has played only on military bases) and so everybody’s chillaxin.

2. Golf is safer. There’s less risk of injury to the commander in chief swinging a golf club than there is crashing the boards for a rebound or going to the hoop.

3. Golf requires fewer people, and the president can play with just a few select people who he doesn’t have to worry about whether they want something from him or not. Obama has tended to play with a few of the same people. Yesterday, it was trip director Marvin Nicholson, young press shop staffer Ben Finkenbinder, and David Katz, a photographer for Obama’s campaign. None of those guys is going to be hitting up the president for a favor, and the president likely feels he can be himself around them and not put on airs.

4. Let’s be honest, if Obama wants to smoke or drink beer, golf is the perfect place. Photographers don’t see him for almost the entire round.

Of course, it might just be that Obama’s caught the golf bug. And when I mentioned his increasing golf habit to a White House staffer, the staffer mentioned that this pattern would likely be reversed in the winter, when there’s no golf to be played but the indoor gym still beckons.

——

UPDATE – 10:55 A.M.

I was told by a White House staffer that there’s been at least one full court game on the White House grounds outdoor court recently, and that with the court fully renovated (new lines and new baskets) the frequency of games is expected to increase.