Don’t turn to political pundits to predict what kind of president Barack Obama will be. Better clues can be found in his golf swing. So what do photographs of Mr Obama playing golf in Hawaii tell us as his presidency tees off?

A lot actually. First he is an athlete. The slim waist shows that he is not a four-course dinner man. His legs are those of a man who goes to the gym. Mr Obama is known to love his golf, above even basketball, but he is unlikely to be able to play as often as Eisenhower, who reportedly played 1,000 times during his tenure in the White House.

Mr Obama’s handicap is 16, better than Eisenhower’s 18, and his swing — his technique — is surprisingly good. A golf teacher might assess him as promising, if needing work.

The President-elect is a lefty. Left-handers in golf are like women in politics: unusual, but not rare. They come at things from a different angle. He also keeps his watch on (see the left-hand picture) when he plays, as does Phil Mickelson, the world No 3, another lefty. The explanation might be simple: he has forgotten to take it off. But more likely, such an intelligent and studious man thinks about his golf and uses his watch as a point of reference. “If I can see the face of my watch at this point in my backswing, I know I’m doing something right.”

So it is fair to conclude that a man who thinks about the intricacies of a golf swing, (and few games require so much thinking) will be a thinker as a president. It might also demonstrate one who remembers the words of Louis XVIII: “L’exactitude est la politesse des rois” “punctuality is the politeness of kings” (and presidents.)

There is something else telling in the photographs. Look how straight his left hand remains in the few feet after impact (the right-hand picture). No hint of a collapse at impact. He has punched his weight, hit the shot crisply. You could speculate that this means the President-elect is a man who won’t suddenly change course at the 11th hour, but will see things through to the end. His is a swing that should hold up under pressure.

Mr Obama’s finish to his tee shot, however, is not so good. It looks rather curtailed and, from the way his body begins to bend to the right, perhaps his ball is going left. That could mean trouble — the trees, the rough, even a political sandtrap.

What we haven’t seen, of course, might be the most important of all: his putting stroke. Nothing, reveals the state of a golfer’s inner nerves so much as putting. Hold your nerve when faced with a curling downhill three-footer to win the money in a Saturday morning fourball and you have a chance of staring down your political opponents. In other words, a good putter is a man who can hold his nerve; also a good quality in a president.

A formal interview reveals a person’s qualifications, a round of golf reveals their character. An Illinois state senator recalled this of Mr Obama after playing a round with him: “His frustration at not being able to compete with me did not lead him to quit or throw his clubs in the water.” So more evidence of “No Drama Obama”.

Cheat at golf and you will cheat in politics, the thinking goes. Honour the rules of the game and you will probably honour the rules of government. Another golfing buddie remarked that “when he’d shoot an 11 on a hole, I’d say, ‘Boss, what did you shoot?’ and he’d say, ‘I had an 11’. And that’s what he’d write on his scorecard.”

Balance is important for a golfer. Is it any less so for a politician? Mr Obama clearly has balance. Look at him on the practice ground at Kailua golf club Oahu, Hawaii (centre picture). He has taken a bag of balls and is hitting them gently with what looks like a 7 or 8 iron as part of a warm-up routine. No sign of a man hurling himself at the ball as if his life depended on it. He looks like a man who does not want to rush at things, a golf ball or a greater target.

Mr Obama, who played golf several times over Christmas, once wore cargo shorts to play. In many golf clubs such shorts are forbidden. A burst of criticism was levelled at him and the next time that he played he was wearing conventional, just-above-the-knee shorts, the sort that are seen in every golf club in the summer months.

This tells you a lot about the political antennae of the man. He wears inappropriate clothes one day, golfers disapprove the next, he responds the day after that. That is Barack Obama, a politician to his fingertips — or at least to his shorts.