Obama 'willing' to golf with Boehner

President Obama is willing to play golf with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to help improve their relationship, a top White House adviser said Saturday.

Outgoing White House senior adviser David Axelrod said that the chances are "good" that Obama and the newly-installed GOP Speaker would hit the links together.

"He understands that there are - there wouldn’t be two parties if we didn’t have differences … But he’s always believed that, even if you disagree on most things, you ought to work together on the things you can," Axelrod said on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital" in an episode airing over the weekend.

"And you can’t do that unless you develop a relationship of trust and cooperation, and he’s willing to do that, even to the point that he’d play golf with a guy who has a much lower handicap than he does," Axelrod added.

Obama's been an active golfer since becoming president, and Boehner's known to enjoy some time on the course, where he's reputed to have a relatively low handicap.

A trip to the golf course would be a way to improve the personal relationship between the president and the Speaker. While both maintain that their relationship with the other is "fine," neither are reputed to be especially close with one another, as President Clinton had been for sometime with his GOP adversary at the time, Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Boehner said that his relationship with Obama "hasn't changed much" since assuming his new position in the beginning of January. He hasn't seemed particular optimistic previously about the chances of playing with Obama, who typically plays with aides.

"We've talked about it.  We've talked about it a number of times.  It just hasn't happened yet," Boehner said of the prospects for a shared round of golf last fall on "60 Minutes."