Obama: Duffer in Chief?

Aug. 14, 2009 — -- Air Force One touched down at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., just before 2 p.m. Sunday, June 7, carrying President Barack Obama home after a week-long trip overseas that included stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Germany and France.

Nobody would fault Obama for taking Sunday to catch up on sleep and unwind after the breakneck travel schedule.

But instead of vegging out on the couch, Obama returned to the White House for only about 90 minutes, then hopped in his motorcade and went right back to Andrews to get in nine holes of golf at one of the three courses on the base.

"We played well," said press aide Ben Finkenbinder, who was part of the president's golf group that day.

Since his inauguration, Obama has hit the links 12 times -- five rounds at Andrews Air Force and seven rounds at the course at Ft. Belvoir in Virginia, according to CBS News' Mark Knoller, the unofficial stat keeper at the White House.

After his trip to Russia, Italy and Ghana in early July, Obama returned after midnight on Sunday and was on the golf course by 1 p.m.

Obama golfed on Memorial Day after delivering remarks at Arlington National Cemetery. He got in a round before a BBQ at the White House on the Fourth of July.

Obama's love of basketball has been well-documented. But the president's fondness for golf may go unnoticed because he does it on the weekends and, like former President Bush's weekly mountain biking treks, Obama's golf rounds are conducted far away from photographers and reporters.

In an interview with CBS News in June, Obama declared himself "terrible" at golf.

Before his first trip to Russia, Obama sat down for an interview with a Russian television network and when asked "what don't you like about yourself?" he turned to his golf game.

"I have been playing golf lately, and I don't like my golf swing," he said.

With a laugh, he expressed his frustration with the sport.

"It's a game that I keep on thinking I should be good at, and somehow the ball goes this way and that way and never goes straight," he said.