Obama and golf

In about 74 weeks in office, President Obama has gone golfing 39 times. A rate of about once every 1.9 weeks. Apparently it takes him around 5 hours to do a round of golf. Since the oil leak in the Gulf he has gone golfing seven times in nine weeks, a rate of once every 1.29 weeks.

Yet, no matter the image of Obama being out of touch, the biggest problem seems to be that he shuts down golf courses for huge amounts of time as he slowly plays through them. Possibly the Bushes played quickly so that they didn't inconvenience everyone else (see quote at the bottom).

President Barack Obama is facing the same dilemma several of his Republican predecessors faced during times of national crisis: whether to golf.
His love of the game is clear from his willingness to play over successive weekends, even in sweltering heat.
But he has come under criticism from Republicans — and some in the media — for playing the country-club sport while millions of gallons of oil spew into the Gulf of Mexico.
Obama has played at least seven times since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded on April 20, according to a compilation of media reports. He has reportedly golfed a total of 39 times since his inauguration, though some rounds came during vacations. . . .

Here is something from last year in the New York Times.

Bill Clinton was famous for the creative way he kept score. Both George Bushes would speed-golf through 18 holes as if they had to beat the clock, not the course.
And President Obama?
Long, slow rounds. A lot of time hunting for balls in the woods. All dished up with a dollop of trash-talking. . . .
He spent five hours on Monday afternoon playing 18 holes at the Farm Neck Golf Club here, two and a half hours on Tuesday playing nine holes at Mink Meadows Golf Club in Vineyard Haven, and several hours playing Thursday afternoon at the Vineyard Golf Club in Edgartown. . . .
“His golf games are long because he’s not very good,” said Don Van Natta Jr., a reporter for The New York Times who wrote “First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers and Cheaters From Taft to Bush” (PublicAffairs, 2003). . . .
Mr. Obama shoots in the 90s on a good day . . . .