Former President Barack Obama is reportedly a member of a new country club in the D.C. suburbs, and the club has a major championship pedigree.
Barack Obama has been offered and accepted a membership at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md., according to Washingtonian Magazine, citing a member source. Club president John Williams sent a letter to membership confirming the new presidential member.
Obama played at Columbia Country Club while in office, including with ESPN analysts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who are members at the club. Columbia C.C.'s initiation fee is a reported $80,000, which is less than half of the rumored initiation fee at Congressional Country Club.
Columbia Country Club hosted the 1921 U.S. Open.
The Obamas live in the pricey Kalorama neighborhood of D.C., expressly saying they would remain in the area until their youngest daughter, Sasha, graduated from high school.
The subject of Obama's country club memberships has been scuttlebutt in D.C. since he left office. There was talk Obama was looking at joining Woodmont Country Club, a 36-hole club in Rockville which is said to be in need of a membership boost but is further out from D.C. than Columbia. Ultimately, members at Woodmont reportedly made a stink about Obama wanting to join, perhaps rooted in distaste for his policies toward Israel while in office. Woodmont ultimately did extend an invitation to join to Obama.
In May, Obama took a membership at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va., which hosted the 2015 Quicken Loans National on the PGA Tour. That could well be an honorary membership, as the club is some 45 minutes by car from D.C.
While President for eight years, Obama played golf an estimated 333 times.
