Bloomberg Obsessed With Golf...

...but not very good at it, despite lots of study, practice, expense
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 18, 2009 11:30 AM CDT
Bloomberg Obsessed With Golf...
Michael Bloomberg tests his golfing skills at the UBS Golf Challenge, on a replica of the famed TPC Sawgrass 17th Hole, at Rockefeller Center in New York, Thursday, May, 3, 2007.   (AP Photo/Tishman Speyer, Stuart Ramson)

Michael Bloomberg doesn’t like most sports, but he’s become consumed with that most clichéd of pursuits for rich 70-year-olds: golf. And he approaches the sport with the same success-at-all-costs doggedness with which he got himself elected mayor of New York, the New York Times reports. He hired professional golfers to train him, joined four exclusive clubs, bought a digital simulator to measure his swing, and practiced tirelessly. But none of it’s working.

“He was confused by it,” says one longtime friend. “He felt that if he tried hard, gave it the appropriate attention… he would improve rapidly.” He didn’t. Oh, he’s improved from his early days, when he routinely shot over 100, but a pro he ain’t. At 5-foot-8, he can drive the ball straight, but not far. Still, occasional golf buddy Donald Trump is kind: “If he had more time to play, he’d be a terror.” (More Michael Bloomberg stories.)

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