Capital Golfing Ideas in Washington, D.C.

	Smooth, Rolling Raspberry Falls

The U.S. presidency comes with certain perks -- veto power, posh air travel and playing privileges on almost any golf course you could want. Once you've been elected, odds are someone in your Rolodex can pull some strings.

For recent golfing occupants of the Oval Office, Congressional Country Club has been a popular choice.

The plush, intensely private Maryland club sits a quick skip from the corridors of power along the Potomac, and its fairways have been favored by presidents ranging from Ike to Ford. George W. Bush has been known to chop it up there. And William Jefferson Clinton, who rarely said no to a Big Mac or a mulligan, frequently made his way around the tight, tree-lined layout, recording some famously (and dubiously) low scores.

But what about the rest of us? For those without an in at a private club, not to mention a motorcade to clear the Beltway traffic, or Secret Service agents to search for errant shots, Washington, D.C.-area golf presents a different sort of challenge: Where, exactly, should we play?

The question occurred to me a few weeks back when a family vacation took me to the nation's capital, and I found myself with a few hours to kill (OK, full disclosure: I'd blown off my wife, kids and the Air and Space Museum).

The district was caught in a summer swelter, with temperatures soaring into the triple digits and humidity verging on the inhumane -- imagine Mars, with granite monuments.

Reston National

On a friend's recommendation, I got up early that morning to beat the heat and traffic, and headed west toward Dulles Airport along a toll road of the same name.

Reston, Va., isn't technically a city; it feels very much like the well-groomed suburb it was planned to be. Densely arranged housing has left room for open spaces such as bike paths, playgrounds, soccer fields and parks.