Donald Trump is encouraging President Obama to use the golf course to make deals with GOP leadership, noting the president has played more during his time in office than some golfing professionals.
{mosads}“The problem with the president, he’s played more than people on the PGA Tour,” Trump said in an interview with The Daily Caller on Wednesday. “He plays a lot. He’s like a touring professional in terms of the amount of play.”
Trump, who is an avid golfer and owns several courses around the world, said the president should try to take his work with him out on the links.
“Golf can be a great tool for making deals, but you can’t play with your friends, you have to play with people that you’re looking to — for instance, playing with [House Speaker] John Boehner [R-Ohio] and playing with [Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] and playing with people like that you need to make deals with,” Trump said. “It can be an amazing tool for getting things done and for making deals.
“If the president would use golf as a tool more than he does, I think it would be very positive,” the 2016 GOP front-runner continued.
Obama and Boehner played a round together in 2011, when they paired up to take down Vice President Joe Biden and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R). The Speaker later said he was unlikely to do so again because people get “bent out of shape.”
The president has played 248 rounds of golf during his time in office. His predecessor, former President George W. Bush, played 24 times — cutting back significantly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Dwight D. Eisenhower holds the record for a chief executive, reportedly playing more than 800 rounds during his eight-year presidency.