Golf lobby urges Rubio to drop the Obama golfing jokes

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
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Golfers apparently have it so hard these days that a pro-golf lobby group called “WeAreGolf” is urging Senator Marco Rubio to refrain from discussing President Obama’s “passion for golf” in the future.

“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.)

The concerns apparently stem from Rubio’s speech during the GOP convention in Tampa last month.

“Our problem with President Obama isn’t that he’s a bad person,” Rubio said. “By all accounts, he too is a good husband and a good father and — thanks to lots of practice — a good golfer. Our problem is not that he’s a bad person. Our problem is that he’s a bad president.”

(By all accounts, the president is an avid golfer. He played his 100th round of golf as president this June.)

According to their website, “WeAreGolf” is a coalition led by the Club Managers Association of America, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, the National Golf Course Owners Association, and The PGA of America. (SEE ALSO: Two women busted for ‘exposing their sexual organs’ on golf course)

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.”

No word yet from Rubio as to whether or not this letter will interfere with his future golf references, or if he will just play through.

Matt K. Lewis