"We don't want to be given special treatment compared to other industries. We just want to play from the same set of tees."
/That's outgoing PGA of America head Joe Steranka speaking of the lobbying effort that took place Wednesday.
Yet reading Ryan Ballengee's account made me think no sane individual should have to cover National Golf Day in Washington D.C. when you read about what has to happen to schmooze lobbyist lackeys on Capitol Hill.
The day is organized around a two-pronged strategy of work and play.
In the foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building, the coalition built the golf equivalent of a McDonald's Play Place – a golf simulator, brief lessons from Michael Breed of "The Golf Fix" and a putting contest pitting the two parties against each other. Though California Democrat Joe Baca was among the first to wield the flat stick, the Republicans won the day.
Meanwhile, the game's envoys met behind closed doors to lobby for industry-friendly bills, such as tax cuts supported by representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) and a proposal by Ron Kind (D-WI) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL) to remove the golf exclusion from future disaster relief legislation.