A pro-golf lobbying group asked Republicans to stop making jokes about President Obama's "passion" for the links.

In a letter to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, the group "WeAreGolf" said, "As we enter the final stretch of campaign season, we write to make a request we hope you will receive in the same spirit in which it is offered.

"Please reconsider your political strategy of criticizing President Obama's passion for golf."

Rubio was one of several GOP members who made fun of Obama's golf game during the recent Republican National Convention.

"Our problem with President Obama isn't that he's a bad person," Rubio said at the Tampa conclave. "By all accounts, he, too, is a good husband and a good father and -- thanks to lots of practice -- a good golfer."

Matt Lewis of The Daily Caller, who first reported on the letter, writes, "It's unclear how many other elected officials have received similar letters, but the (golf) group says they are 'asking all elected officials to abstain from political strategies and tactics that denigrate golf, directly or indirectly, because we think they're unnecessary and undermine the industry at large, not just the individual target.'"

WeAreGolf represents players' associations and golf course managers and owners. Group spokesman Dave Marin told The New York Times that similar letters have gone to other lawmakers, including Democrats.

"The golf industry is understandably sensitive to this line of politicking, because it reinforces misperceptions of the game that don't square with the facts," Marin told the Times. "And because those misperceptions, in turn, have led to unfair legislation and regulation."

Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said, "There's nothing wrong with golf -- but there is something wrong with Washington lobbyists who can't take a joke."