Golf & Politics

Washington's Top 150 Golfers

Golf Digest Political Ranking

Related Links

Compiled By Lisa Furlong

Illustration by Lou Beach

June 2011

Golfers have to applaud—don't we?—when in contentious times the president, vice president and House speaker share a love for golf. President Barack Obama has been criticized (and defended) for playing more than 60 rounds of golf during the first half of his four-year term, yet VP Joe Biden and Speaker John Boehner probably play even more.

Obama (17-handicap) finds time for golf with friends while vacationing and with aides at the Army Navy Country Club courses in Arlington, Va. Boehner is more apt to be spotted with supporters of his Freedom Project PAC at venues such as Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Fla., and Bighorn in Palm Desert, Calif., both of which attracted bipartisan groups of lobbyists earlier this year to play with Boehner (7.9 Index) and other participating members of Congress.

It was at Tiburón that T-Mobile VP Tony Russo (plus-2.3), our No. 1 in Golf Digest's third ranking of the best and most avid golfers in Washington, D.C., played in a foursome that included No. 4 Alex Urrea (0.7), who lobbies in Washington from his home in Pittsburgh, where he's a board member at The Club at Nevillewood. Urrea says he beat our returning No. 1 that day, but Russo recalls a less-competitive round in which he was testing drivers. "I wasn't thinking of it as a match," Russo says.

Regardless, we relied first on USGA Handicap Indexes but also on estimates from reliable sources to compile this ranking of Washington's elected officials, White House staffers and senior-level lobbyists.

Russo plays frequently with Biden (6.3) and says he has never seen his former boss hit the ball better than he has this year. Perhaps he's been practicing in his back yard.

Although it's too early to discuss a match between 2012 presidential opponents, Obama would have a hard time taking down former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a self-professed 12, on the golf course. Although Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour doesn't play, his son Reeves, a lobbyist with BGR Group (1.1), is the top newcomer to our list. The younger Barbour made two holes-in-one in a round during a 2009 Ryder Cup-format match at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, his Gainesville, Va., home course. Barbour is also leading boss Ed Rogers (4.6), group chairman of BGR Group, in their regular indoor chipping and putting competition that uses office furniture as targets.

Only because he was frustrated by 6½-hour rounds at public courses did Barbour join a club, a decision many on our list have not made, thus accounting for their estimated handicaps. A few play at RTJ Golf Club (Rogers among them) and some, like Russo, belong to Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., or Boehner's D.C.-area course, Burning Tree. But most play at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md., and the old Lowes Island, now Trump National Golf Club, Washington, D.C., in Sterling, Va., the choice of FBI Director Bob Mueller (13.6).

Top-ranked among elected officials--after considering reports from multiple sources and a shortage of posted rounds by him or his closest contenders--is Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), a widely acknowledged 2-handicapper. (Udall was the leading proponent of the novel bipartisan seating arrangement at this year's State of the Union address.) He earns the honor over Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.). Yarmuth, the former publisher of Kentucky Golfer, has a +0.4 Index but says he's closer to a 3. Corker, who told us in 2008 he'd have a hard time playing to his then-4.7 Index, has improved to a 2.1—as noteworthy as Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) improving from a 14 in 2008 to a 7.5.

Although the U.S. Congress' freshman class of 2010 includes a wave of doctors, there are few golfers among them. The notable exception is ophthalmologist and Tea Party favorite Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has an 11.6 Index at his hometown Bowling Green Country Club. Best of the newbies is Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), a former federal prosecutor and circuit solicitor who previously played to a plus-1 but now says he's a 4.

As we've learned with many Golf Digest rankings, not all golfers are willing to share handicap information for public consumption. Even when golf is an admitted passion of the most visible politicians in Washington, some prefer to keep their games to themselves. — Lisa Furlong

Don't expect any of these Washington, D.C. elite to be playing in the 111th U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club, but there's no question most of them will be on a Beltway golf course once or twice in June. After a careful look into the skills of the top power brokers in D.C., here's our ranking of the best and most avid golfers among members of Congress, federal officials and White House staffers. We've also included dozens of senior-level lobbyists who play the game.

NOTES: Handicaps were determined in a number of ways: the U.S. Golf Association's Golf Handicap and Information network, state associations, the politicians, lobbyists, friends and playing partners. Handicaps without a decimal point are estimates.

	Republican
	Democrat

Washington's Top 150
#	NAME	TITLE	INDEX
1.	Tony Russo	VP, Federal Legislative Affairs, T-Mobile	+2.3
2.	Bob Okun	VP, NBC Universal, Washington	+0.2
3.	Fred Eames	Partner, Hunton & Williams	0.2
4.	Alex Urrea	President, CSA Strategies	0.7
5.	Chris Lamond	Partner, Thorn Run Partners	1.0
6.	Reeves Barbour	VP, BGR Group	1.1
7.	Linda Divall	Pres./CEO, American Viewpoint	1.2
8.	Michael Williams	Senior Director, Greenberg Traurig	1.6
9.	Arthur Mason	Executive VP, Cassidy & Associates	1.7
10.	David Katz	Special Asst., Dept. of Energy	1.8
11.	Mark Udall	Rep.-Colo.	2
12.	Bob Corker	Sen.-Tennessee	2.1
13.	Chris Cox	Senior Principal, Navigators Global	2.8
14.	John Yarmuth	Rep.-Kentucky	3
15.	Eric Rizzo	AVP, Govt. Affairs, Farmers Insurance	3.2
16.	Don Nickles	Chairman/CEO, The Nickles Group	3.4
17.	Geoff Gonella	Pres., Cornerstone Govt. Affairs	3.6
18.	Dan Tate Sr.	Founder, Dan Tate LLC	3.8
19.	Trey Gowdy	Rep.-South Carolina	4
20.	Joe Baca	Rep.-California	4.2
T-21.	Brent Blackwelder	President Emeritus, Friends of the Earth	4.6
T-21.	Ed Rogers	Group Chairman, BGR Group	4.6
T-23.	Robert Dibblee	SVP, Govt. Relations, Natl. Assn. Real Estate Investment Trusts	5.3
T-23.	John Haddow	Partner, Upstream Consulting	5.3
T-23.	John Sununu	Senior Policy Advisor, Akin Gump	5.3
26.	Evan Tracey	COO/Founder, Campaign Media Analysis Group	5.4
27.	Christopher Chapel	VP, Govt. Relations, Nextera Energy	5.5
28.	Kent Wells	VP, Federal Relations, AT&T	6.1
29.	Joe Biden	Vice President	6.3
30.	Bryan Anderson	VP, Governmental Affairs, Southern Company	6.7
31.	Stewart Verdery	Partner/Founder, Monument Policy Group	6.8
T-32.	Ben Finkenbinder	Assoc. Director of Press Advance, White House	7
T-32.	Robert Fisher	VP, Fed. Govt. Relations, Verizon	7.0
34.	Jim McCool	Dir., Fed. Legislative Affairs, Southern Company	7.1
T-35.	Gary Lytle	Co-Founder, Clark Lytle & Geduldig	7.2
T-35.	Steve Watson	VP, Govt. & External Affairs, Loews Corp.	7.2
37.	Saxby Chambliss	Sen.-Georgia	7.4
38.	Richard Burr	Sen.-North Carolina	7.5
T-39.	Trey Hardin	Sr. VP, Vox Global	7.6
T-39.	Jim Langdon Jr.	Sr. Exec. Partner, Akin Gump	7.6
T-39.	Dave McCurdy	Pres./CEO, American Gas Assn.	7.6
T-39.	Jim Renacci	Rep.-Ohio	7.6
T-43.	John Boehner	Rep.-Ohio, Speaker of the House	7.9
T-43.	Jean Statler	Co-Founder, Statler Nagle LLC	7.9
T-45.	Marvin Nicholson	White House Trip Dir.	8
T-45.	Mike Simpson	Rep.-Idaho	8
47.	Mike Oxley	Of Counsel, Baker Hostetler	8.2
48.	Joe Stanton	Senior VP, Govt. Affairs, Natl. Assn. of Home Builders	8.4
49.	Scott Pastrick	Pres./CEO, Prime Policy Group	8.5
50.	John Tanner	Vice Chairman, Prime Policy Group	8.7