Obama strolls, golfs on first day of vacation

President Barack Obama began the first day of his traditional Hawaiian vacation Saturday with a sunrise stroll on the beach, followed by his holiday habit of a round on the links.

Despite arriving in the islands after midnight, Obama “made sure to begin his vacation with his traditional sunrise stroll on Kailua Beach,” a blog of the president’s vacation on the White House’s website said.

About 12:22 p.m., Obama left his vacation rental in Kailua for Marine Corps Base Hawaii, where he played a “leisurely round of golf” with White House staffers Joe Paulsen and Mike Brush and Punahou School friend Bobby Titcomb, according to a media pool report.

Obama left the base shortly before 5 p.m. and retired to his Kailua rental for the night.

Shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday, Air Force 1 touched down at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, more than an hour after originally scheduled.

The late hour precluded the president’s usual routine of exchanging greetings with state officials and shaking hands with soldiers and their families.

Instead, Obama offered just a quick wave as he deplaned side by side with daughter Sasha followed closely by wife Michelle and elder daughter Malia, on his way to the awaiting motorcade.

Before leaving Washington, D.C., on Friday, the president reflected on the events of the past year.

“Since taking this office, I have never been more optimistic about a year ahead than I am right now,” Obama told reporters at his year-end news conference before heading on vacation. “In 2016, I am going to leave it all on the field.”

The Obamas stopped in California en route from Washington, D.C., to meet with the families of 14 people slain in the Dec. 2 shootings in San Bernardino. The president has no public appearances scheduled for his 16-day stay in Hawaii.