Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
In the week after we saw a new President take office at the White House I thought it would be fun to look back at the relationship between the Oval Office and the fairways.
Yes, Mr Obama is a golfer too! President Obama will become the 15th of the past 18 American presidents who has played golf. He doesn't play often, but he does take to the links when he has time. Golf, however, was not his idea. His game was, and always will be, basketball.
Golf wasn't even on his mind, but after doing a bit of research, it was his wife, Michelle, who was becoming concerned about the increasing frequency of his hard-court injuries - the sore wrists, black eyes and sprained fingers suffered during games in courts around Chicago.
"Why don't you take up something less dangerous?" Michelle asked her husband in early 1997. "Like golf?"
She didn't need to ask twice. Within days, Obama dragged a scuffed set of used clubs to the Jackson Park Golf Course, the historic Chicago public track. It had been nearly two decades since the newly elected Illinois state senator had played a few rounds in high school back in Hawaii.
Even during his early rounds with scores of 100-plus, Obama, a lefty, flashed a smooth swing and exhibited a consistently unruffled demeanour.
On the golf course, American presidents have always revealed a thing or two about themselves, and Obama is 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.
On the golf course during those ugly early rounds, his shots almost never worked out as he had planned. But friends say Obama never lost faith that he would, some day, improve - an attitude that has stood him in good stead for his political journey.
On the US President's inauguration day, that greatest exponent of our game, Tiger Woods spoke at the event. As Obama becomes the first African American President, it was fitting that the first African American golfer to win a Major championship was present and taking part in this event given the relationship between golf and the presidency over the years.
Obama is relatively new to golf, and I'm sure that the first thing on his agenda will not be to get his handicap down - there are far more pressing matters in the immediate future for the incoming President! As I mentioned earlier, he is the last in a long line of presidential golfers, ranging from the fanatics, to the part time players.
Below is the top 10, as I see it, 'President Golfers' in history, with Obama entering the countdown at number eight. By the end of his tenure I think that place may have risen somewhat.
1) John F Kennedy - Despite chronic back pain, averaged 80;
2) Dwight D Eisenhower - Had a green outside the Oval Office;
3 Gerald R Ford - Clumsy, but was a legitimate 80s-shooter;
4) Franklin D Roosevelt - At 39, polio robbed him of a powerful golf swing;
5) George H W Bush - Once got his handicap down to 11;
6) George W Bush - Outgoing president is a capable 15-handicapper;
7) Bill Clinton - Can break 90, especially using his 'Billigans';
8) Barack Obama - The lefty plays more hoops than golf;
9) Ronald Reagan - Didn't play often or well (best was low 90s);
10) Warren G Harding - Struggled to break 95.
