Former US president Barack Obama has been invited to join an exclusive, predominantly Jewish country club where he likes to play golf.

Some members had wanted him excluded because of his policies on Israel, according to The Washington Post.

Barry Forman, president of Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, a suburb of Washington in Maryland, emailed members on Monday explaining that after many hours considering the matter and the views of members, the executive committee had decided to invite Obama to join.

He wrote: "Political views have never been part of our membership criteria, and our members have always reflected a range of opinions on issues of the day.

"In the current, deeply polarised political environment, it is all the more important that Woodmont be a place where people of varying views and beliefs can enjoy fellowship and recreation in a relaxed environment." 

Obama will be invited to join under "special membership" rules.

Forman said these were intended as a means of welcoming "very senior level government officials" as Woodmont members.

He will not have to pay the $80,000 joining fee, but will have to pay other standard fees.

Obama plans to spend the next two and a half years in the Washington area, when he might wish to take advantage of the club's beautiful facilities.

However, there was opposition to his being invited to join because of some of his administration's policies on Israel.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu was among those who made their anger clear after the US failed to veto the UN Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Woodmont was founded in the 20th century by Jewish people who had been denied membership of other clubs. "That legacy made the flap over admitting Obama, the nation's first African American president, all the more embarrassing to some members," explained The Washington Post.