Barack Obama and John Boehner go head to head on the golf course

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The late US president Lyndon Johnson once said that a key lesson for golfing politicians was never to beat the president.

Barack Obama and John Boehner go head to head on the golf course

President Barack Obama and John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives will tee off together today in a rare show of bipartisan goodwill

But when John Boehner takes to the greens on Saturday the Republican Speaker of the House will probably have to ignore that sage advice.

In the first known game between a Speaker and a president, Mr Boehner will take on Barack Obama in a game that is intriguing Washington's political classes far more than the US Open taking place up the road in Maryland.

The winner is almost foregone conclusion: Mr Boehner's handicap is eight, though it has been as low as five. Mr Obama's is described as 17, though political golfers in the know view that as generous.

The Speaker was placed 43rd in a Golf Digest survey of the capital's best golfers, while Mr Obama limped in at 108th.

The two are at loggerheads over taxes, spending cuts, Libya and a host of other issues, and have a courteous but cool public relationship.

But they do have one thing in common - the habit of ignoring Winston Churchill's view that golf is a good walk spoiled.

The president plays almost every weekend, usually on the utilitarian fairways of Andrews Air Force base in Maryland, and takes his clubs on the road for annual holidays in Martha's Vineyard or Hawaii.

Mr Boehner, from humble beginnings in Ohio, is said to have a taste for the finer golf courses the Washington area has to offer.

The high powered presidential foursome will be rounded off by Vice President Joe Biden, who plays off a 6.3 handicap, and Ohio's Republican Governor John Kasich.

Mr Boehner's observation earlier this year that he would have the beating of the president led to an invitation from the White House which is designed to mend fences and, cynics claim, to provide a useful photo opportunity for a president facing a difficult re-election in November 2012.

Democrats in Congress have long urged the president to appreciate the benefits of being more sociable with Republicans, but he has made little such effort and has insisted on playing golf with a close circle of friends and White House staff members.

Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said that while politics and in particular negotiations on the federal budget would be a subtext to today's round, detailed on-course talks were unlikely.

But, he added: "Spending a number of hours together in that kind of environment can only help improve the chances of bipartisan cooperation. It certainly can't hurt, unless someone wins really big."

Bill Clinton, George W Bush, his father George Bush, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy, reputedly the best White House golfer, all played the game regularly.

Mr Clinton even once conceived a free trade deal with Singapore during a floodlit, post-midnight round of golf in Brunei with the city-state's prime minister.

The current president has played as often as any, saying the game affords him a precious opportunity to enjoy the open air and escape the cameras. Today will prove an exception to that rule.