Obama joins DC-area private golf club with championship course
Former President Barack Obama has accepted an invitation to join Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland, which borders Washington D.C., a member confirmed to Fox News. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst )
Barack Obama, the golf-addicted former president, has settled on a new home course.
The Democrat has accepted an invitation to join Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland, which borders Washington D.C., a member confirmed to Fox News.
Club members received a letter from its president, John Williams, this week informing them of Obama’s decision, the member said.
Secret Service agents were recently seen scoping out the property, according to the member. Obama has played on the course before, including with ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser.
The initiation fee for an active full golf member at Columbia Country Club is $80,000, with annual dues of $6,300, according to a document posted online.
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The course is not far from the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington where the Obamas purchased an $8.1 million home after moving out of the White House earlier this year. The president has said the family intends to stay in Washington until his youngest daughter, Sasha, graduates from high school.
Washingtonian Magazine first reported Obama’s invitation to join Columbia Country Club.
“Since 1898, Columbia has been a special place and has earned a tremendous reputation for everything from its championship golf course to its first class dining facilities to an unparalleled social fabric,” the club’s website states. “Columbia is not easy to capture in words or pictures. Its magic is more about how the people make you feel.”
Obama routinely played golf throughout his presidency, including regularly at the course at Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington.
There’s been much speculation about which private course the president would join. He was thought to have been considering Woodmont Country Club, a predominantly Jewish club in Rockville, Maryland, but some members protested him joining the club over his stance towards Israel.
He has also joined the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia.
One Washington-area course Obama apparently did not consider: Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, where his successor often spends weekends.