'WeAreGolf" Urging Politicians To Stop Criticizing Obama’s "Passion for golf"

The Daily Caller's Matt Lewis reports that pro-golf lobby group called “WeAreGolf” is urging Senator Marco Rubio to refrain from criticizing Barack Obama’s “passion for golf."

“As we enter the final stretch of campaign season,” the group writes, “we write to make a request we hope you will receive in the same spirit in which it is offered. Please reconsider your political strategy of criticizing President Obama’s passion for golf.” (Emphasis theirs.)

Lewis notes that the call is not just limited to Rubio.

It’s unclear how many other elected officials have received similar letters, but  the group says they are “asking all elected officials to abstain from political strategies and tactics that denigrate golf, directly or indirectly, because we think they’re unnecessary and undermine the industry at large, not just the individual target.”

WeAreGolf is led by the Club Managers Association of America, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, the PGA of America and the National Golf Course Owners Association.

Update on 2012-09-18 19:46 by Geoff

**From We Are Golf spokesman David Marin:

We Are Golf’s request for a political cease-fire when it comes to golf is not aimed at Sen. Rubio, who’s been a great supporter of the industry, but at all elected officials, Republicans and Democrats. Similar letters have previously gone to members of both political parties.

The golf is industry is understandably sensitive to this line of politicking, because it reinforces misperceptions of the game that don’t square with the facts – and because those misperceptions, in turn, have led to unfair legislation and regulation. How else to explain, for example, golf’s exclusion, along with massage parlors and liquor stores, from post-Katrina disaster tax relief?

We’re not asking for special treatment; just fair and equitable treatment. And part of that is respectfully asking for a bipartisan political détente.

We get the context, the political calculus. But we no longer want to sit idly by when golf is maligned, even indirectly, because we’ve seen what can happen when we do so, and the nearly 2 million Americans whose jobs depend on the golf industry are asking us to get involved on their behalf.

The Range That Lets You Hit Romney And Obama

Linda Chion Kenney visits Brandon, Florida's Ace Golf range where hackers can hit shots at huge head shots of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

The promotion was thought up by owner Bill Place, who even placed the photos based on his analysis of the candidates' positions.

"I guess some are shooting at them and some are shooting for them," Place said. "They can shoot in whatever direction they please. Some people like to shoot way off to the left and some people like to shoot in the right direction."

Either way, he added, "it gets people talking about the candidates."

As for Place, his allegiances are not hard to determine.

"I got to choose the pictures," he said. "I have to say that Romney's is probably a little more flattering. We put him a little right of center, which is where I thought [Bill] Clinton was, who I actually supported for president. I put Obama out in left field, where he belongs, in my view."

Kasich: "Joe Biden told me that he was a good golfer. And I’ve played golf with Joe Biden, I can tell you that’s not true."

Arlette Saenz on Ohio Governor John Kasich's jab at Vice President Joe Biden during the GOP convention, which I read about on Twitter and figured was said in classic golfer-to-golfer trash talk after the team of Kasich-Biden reportedly lost to Obama-Boehner. But the video is a bit creepy. He really is angry about Joe's game!

“Folks, let me tell you this – Joe Biden disputes a lot of those facts, but Joe Biden told me that he was a good golfer. And I’ve played golf with Joe Biden, I can tell you that’s not true, as well as all of the other things that he says,” Kasich said Tuesday at the Republican convention.

Rachel Weinter and Paul Kane note that Kasich's remarks also broke the agreed-upon parameters of last summer's golf summit  inspired by Golf Digest and carried out with class by all parties. Until now.

Still, Kasich’s comments appear to have broken the code of last year’s golf summit, for which all sides agreed not to discuss what happened on the course other than to say that the Obama-Biden team won its $2 bet. When Obama gave a joint address to Congress three months later, Boehner and Biden were caught on a live mic before the speech discussing the speaker’s sub-par round of golf during the August recess at a resort course in Nebraska. 

The video:

Obama's Record On Female Golfing Partners Questioned

David Crary of AP, summing up the Augusta National membership controversy this week, notes this about President Obama's suggestion of ANGC needing female members.

Even for Obama, who's both an avid golfer and staunch backer of women's rights, questions of gender equity have arisen. According to Mark Knoller of CBS News — who keeps close track of such matters — Obama has included women among his playing partners only twice in 93 rounds of golf since taking office.