Obama Could Benefit From Golf Lessons, Author Says

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2010— -- President Obama teed off with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this weekend during his vacation at Martha's Vineyard. While the president has been known to shoot hoops with the best in the NBA, he is apparently more comfortable on the courts than on the greens.

ABC News spoke with sportswriter John Feinstein, author of "Moment of Glory: The Year Underdogs Ruled Golf," about Obama's swing at the Vineyard Golf Club in Massachusetts.

The results are mixed but Feinstein has hope for the president.

"The president has what I'd call a very 'un-practiced,' swing; a good teacher would make a number of changes right away," Feinstein said. "He's very upright, kind of stiff-legged, which makes his swing look stilted. He also looked like he came out of his swing ... also a sign of someone who doesn't play much, moving his body forward as he came through the ball."

Obama plays golf frequently in Washington, D.C., but has admitted that he is "terrible."

"I have been playing golf lately and I don't like my golf swing," Obama said in an interview with a Russian television network a year ago. "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."

Feinstein said the president could benefit from golf lessons.

"He looks to me like someone who, if he decided to take lessons and practice a lot, could be a reasonably good player," he said. "He's also lucky that, as a lefty, he gets to play lefty. A lot of kids growing up when he did -- my generation -- were forced to play righty because there were so few lefty clubs."

The White House said the president and Bloomberg spoke about plans for short- and long-term economic growth before hitting the golf course with lawyer Vernon Jordan and White House trip director Marvin Nicholson.

Obama Welcomes the Respite

Despite rain and wind, Obama managed to hit the links at least five times on his 10-day family vacation in Martha's Vineyard last week.

So why does the president keep teeing up despite his weak game? It allows him to get "out of the container," the president has said.

"It is the only time that, for six hours, first of all, that I'm outside," he said in an interview with CBS News last year. "And second of all, where you almost feel normal, in the sense that you're not in a bubble."

ABC News' Ryan Creed and Karen Travers contributed to this report.