Found this article about president elect(?) Barack Obama.

Barack Obama: The New First Golfer

Turns out, not only is he a golfer, but a lefty golfer!  The stars and moons have aligned to finally bring us a leader who can sympathize with the “right” handed folks of the world!  Praise Allah! (ok, ok, I know, very poor taste, but hey, I couldn’t resist..teehee)

It’s a pretty good article (kinda wordy) but it chronicles his coming to golf and his progress along the way.  His wife Michelle is the one who recommended he give it a try, she was tired of him always coming hole sore and beat up from the basketball games.

They say that on the golf course, presidents reveal a thing or two about themselves and Mr. Obama was no different.

Throughout his public life, particularly during the most intense moments of his historic presidential campaign, Obama demonstrated grace under pressure. When things went well, he never became too impressed with himself; when things went wrong, he never sank too low. Obama balances a confident unflappability with a blunt self-assessment of his shortcomings; the combination has served him well in politics and in sport.

Obama approaches the game in the same way that he conducts his politics — maniacally methodical, aggressively competitive and devoutly risk-averse.

He never takes any shortcuts, not even on the course.  One of his playing partners commented that when he’d shoot an 11 on a hole, on the scorecard he’d write an 11.  Guess no one ever explained to him the finer points of equitable stroke control. 🙂

Mr. Obama doesn’t get frustrated out there as all of us golfers do. We take our frustrations out on that little white ball, but he doesn’t. And that’s his attitude about everything in life: If I want to do something, I have to learn how to do it and not give up on it.

I believe he, like the rest of us, suffers his fair share of frustrations on the course, but he is a politician, so he’s had plenty of time to work on controlling his emotions. 🙂

As of the time the article was written, he’s boasting a 24 handicap, shooting in the low 90’s.

You’ll be happy to know, prior to being the next president, he was adamant about turning the cell phones off whilst on the course, as president, I’m afraid that’s going to be a luxury he’ll have to dispense of, as sad as it may be.

Barack Obama will be the 8th U.S President who is left handed, he is preceded by

• Bill Clinton 42nd
• George Bush Sr. 41st
• Ronald Regan 40th
• Gerald Ford 38th
• Harry S. Truman 33rd
• Herbert Hoover 31st
• James A. Garfield 20th

There would’ve been a president who was a lefty prior to the James A. Garfield, but as you might recall, they used to burn lefties at the stake back in those days! hehe..

Here’s a not so good video I found of the president elect at the driving range

Sure his swing could use some work, but hey, who am I to judge the soon to be most powerful man in the world?? 🙂

Enjoy!

-Dave

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