Barack Obama, NZ leader John Key go golfing January 4, 2014 - 12:57AM Golfing buddies: Barack Obama and John Key on the course in Hawaii. Honolulu: US President Barack Obama has met New Zealand Prime Minister John Key for a game of golf in Hawaii. The two leaders teed off on a sunny and breezy morning at a course at a military base on Oahu, the Hawaiian island where Mr Obama is renting a holiday home. Mr Key owns a home in Hawaii. The golf outing put Key in rarefied company. Mr Obama is an avid golfer, but prefers to limit his playing partners to a close circle of friends and advisers. Among those who have also scored invitations to play with him in the past are former President Bill Clinton and House Speaker John Boehner. Rounding out the foursome on Thursday were Max Key, the Prime Minister's teenage son, and Marvin Nicholson, Mr Obama's personal aide. Media access to Obama's rounds is typically restricted, though reporters and photographers were allowed to watch the two leaders briefly on Thursday. The foursome pulled up to the green on the second hole in two golf carts, with the President and Prime Minister driving together. Mr Obama's first putt was short of the hole and his second landed just wide. Rather than putt a third time, he opted for a gimme shot, where all players agree to count a shot as made rather than take another stroke. After the younger Key sank his putt, Mr Obama gave him a high-five and joked, "He's doing it in front of the cameras, too."