So the president of the United States likes to play golf and is likely to continue doing so in his formal retirement years after Jan. 20, 2017. New York and Chicago newspapers have speculated that Barack Obama might end up in the Big Apple after his second term. The big question is where to set up shop so he can write his memoirs and get out from behind his desk for the occasional round of golf.

Chicago might seem the natural choice, because Barack Obama and his family officially hold residence there, in an elegant section of the South Side, near Washington Park. That puts him only nine miles northeast of Beverly Country Club (No. 98 on the Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list), a club that has something of an intimate relationship with the roughhouse mature of Chicagoland politics, especially its Democratic Party.

Perhaps a more relaxing place would be 29 miles due south, at Olympia Fields Country Club, which has the considerable virtue of two fine courses, the North (No. 51 Classic and home to the 2003 U.S. Open) and the South (No. 158 Classic). Besides, Olympia Fields has the largest (and arguably the most culturally diverse) locker room in the world at about 10,000 square feet – big enough for Obama’s Secret Service detail to set up shop.

It would be a longer trek through downtown traffic for Obama to play his golf at the tony North Side clubs. Men’s-only Bob O’Link Golf Club in Highland Park would be politically incorrect. Other quality clubs up there would tend to be pretty picky and unimpressed, especially with – a former president among the member applicants. As tempting as such places as Shoreacres in Lake Bluff (No. 20 Classic) or Skokie Country Club in Glencoe (No. 84 Classic), they tend to be quieter retreats staying out of the limelight and don’t need the attention of a former president. Other clubs in the area that I won’t bother naming might be all too eager at refusing to consider him for membership. So my guess is it’s the South Side or elsewhere.

The metropolitan New York area has much better golf, a wider array of quality courses and already is used to being in the spotlight when former presidents show up. But that doesn’t mean that Obama will feel at home resettling in New York. Even if he once went to college at Columbia, back in the days when he had no money for golf, it’s hard to establish your family anew when you still have a daughter in high school.

My bet is he remains in the D.C. area for at least a few years, probably returning to the ranks of law school professor and playing his golf at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. (No. 73 Classic) or Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Manassas, Va. (No. 65 Modern).

My own (unsolicited) advice, based upon what I see of his golf game – handicap in the high-teens, swing speed well under 100 mph, average drive in the 210-220-yard range – is that he’d be much better off at a links-oriented course where his modest fade and predominant ground game will do him better than a high-ball hitter’s power course like RTJ or Congressional. The D.C. area is sorely lacking in such layouts. New York is rich with them, most of them out on Long Island. From a strictly golf-oriented standpoint, I’d suggest that he go out there and find a club that is open, willing and tolerable of the disruption entailed when a former president tees it up.

Power has its privileges. But in this case, it comes with considerable disadvantage. My advice for serious golfers who really love the game is never make a run for the White House. There’s no getting away.