Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

is closely associated with the sport of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

. As a real estate developer, Trump began acquiring and constructing

golf courses A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

in 1999. By the time of his

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

as United States President in 2016, he owned 17 golf courses worldwide through his

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

the Trump Organization The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. Around 250 of these entities use the Trump name. The organization was founded in 1927 by Donald Trump's paternal grandmothe ...

. Courses owned by Trump have been selected to host various PGA and LPGA events, including the 2022

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

(although the PGA terminated this in the aftermath of the 2021 United States Capitol attack).PGA strips major golf championship from Donald Trump's Bedminster course
by Tom Lutz, at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''; published January 11, 2021; retrieved January 11, 2021 A spokesman for the Trump Organization said that "This is a breach of a binding contract and they have no right to terminate the agreement". Following his election, Trump broke precedent with recent presidents and chose not to

divest In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment. Divestiture is a ...

from his business holdings, including his golf courses. Although not illegal, this led to criticism from ethics lawyers and journalists for potential

conflicts of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, finance, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, t ...

. At least three lawsuits ('' D.C. and Maryland v. Trump'', '' Blumenthal v. Trump'' and ''

CREW v. Trump ''Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Trump'' was a case brought before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washingt ...

'') have been filed claiming that foreign payments at Trump golf courses and hotels violate the Emoluments Clause of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

Background

Trump, according to Jack Nicklaus, "loves the game of golf more than he loves money". According to '' Golf Digest'', his handicap is as low as 2.8. Trump began playing golf during his college years at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. In the introduction to his 2005 book ''The Best Golf Advice I Ever Received'', Trump wrote, "for me and millions of people—men, women, young and old around the world—golf is more than a game. It is a passion." The Donald & Mark Wahlberg

In 1999, Trump opened his first golf course: the Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach in Florida. Land for the US$45 million course was acquired through a lawsuit against Palm Beach County, Florida, after Trump's purchase of the

Mar-a-Lago Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House ...

resort. By 2007, Trump owned 4 courses around the US. Following the

financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

, Trump began purchasing existing golf courses and re-designing them. Golf courses owned by Trump hosted the LPGA Tour finale from 2001 to 2008, as well as the 2009 US Junior Amateur and US Junior Girls Championships. In 2014, the Professional Golfers' Association of America announced a multi-year partnership with

. The PGA of America selected Trump golf courses to host the 2017

Senior PGA Championship The Senior PGA Championship, established in 1937, is the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf. It is administered by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and is recognized as a major championship by both PGA ...

and the 2022

. In June 2015, Trump announced his candidacy in the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

with a controversial speech which led to companies such as

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

cutting ties with the businessman. While speaking on illegal immigration, Trump claimed that Mexico is "sending people that have lots of problems... they're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people," drawing criticism from immigration and

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

advocacy groups. The LPGA, PGA of America,

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

, and

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

issued a joint statement, saying that while the organizations "do not usually comment on presidential politics, Mr. Trump's comments are inconsistent with our strong commitment to an inclusive and welcoming environment in the game of golf." The PGA of America also decided to relocate the 2015 PGA Grand Slam of Golf—an exhibition match which had been scheduled to take place at Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles. Other upcoming events at Trump courses were not affected. In 2018,

PGA Tour Latinoamérica PGA Tour Latinoamérica is a third level professional golf tour formed in 2012 and operated by the PGA Tour. It was formed in concert with the now defunct Tour de las Américas. Executives from the Tour de las Américas became employees of the new ...

held its Shell Tour Championship at

Trump National Doral Miami Trump National Doral Miami is a golf resort in Doral in South Florida in the United States. It was founded by real estate pioneer Alfred Kaskel in 1962, with the name "Doral" coming from an amalgamation of the first names of Kaskel and his wife, ...

's Golden Palm course after plans were announced to demolish the Melreese Country Club in Miami, which had held the event, for a football stadium.

Golf courses owned

As of December 2016, Trump owned golf courses in the United States and abroad. Over nearly two decades (as he reported in his 2000–2018 tax filings), these golf courses had combined losses of $315.6 million.

United States

* Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, New Jersey – purchased in 2002. * Trump National Golf Club, Charlotte, North Carolina – designed by

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

, located on Lake Norman, purchased in 2012. * Trump National Golf Club, Colts Neck, New Jersey – purchased in 2008. * Trump National Golf Club, Hudson Valley, New York – purchased in 2010. * Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter, Florida – purchased in December 2012. * Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles * Trump National Doral Golf Club, Florida * Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, Florida * Trump National Golf Club, Philadelphia (located in Pine Hill, New Jersey) * Trump National Golf Club, Washington, D.C. * Trump National Golf Club, Westchester, New York

Outside of the U.S.

Trump International Golf Links, Scotland Trump International Golf Links, Scotland is a golf course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, owned by Donald Trump. It opened in 2012. History In 2006, Trump purchased a plot just north of Aberdeen at Menie (Balmedie), Scotland, with the ...

* Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Ireland * Trump Turnberry, Scotland

Golf courses managed by the Trump Organization

The Trump Organization also operates golf courses not owned by them.

Puerto Rico

In 2007, the Trump Organization took over the management and licensed Trump’s name to the 4-year old, 36-hole oceanfront golf course at Coco Beach, Puerto Rico. It hosted the 2008 PGA Puerto Rico Open, but the club kept losing money and in 2015 filed for bankruptcy protection.

Ferry Point, New York

The Trump Organization operates the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, New York, a public golf course built and owned by New York City, under a 20-year contract awarded in 2013 by the administration of then- Mayor Bloomberg. The course opened in 2015. Under the agreement, the city paid the course's utility and water bills while collecting no income for the first four years. In the first year of operation, ending in March 2016, the company had $8 million in gross receipts, and the city paid $1 million in water and sewage bills. In the second year of operation, gross receipts dropped 9.5%. For the operating year that ended March 2019, the Trump Organization reported a loss of $122,000; it now faces contractual fees of at least $300,000 per operating year from the city. On January 13, 2021, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city government would be terminating all contracts with the Trump Organization effective November 14, 2021, for "directly incit nga deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol." The city of New York also stated that the Trump Organization had defaulted in its contractual obligations because it had failed to attract a major tournament. In June 2021, the Trump Organization sued the city for wrongful termination of the contract. The court allowed the Trump Organization to continue operating the golf course while the case was pending. In April 2022, the judge ruled that "the city had not given a valid legal reason for ending the contract."

Dubai

According to the Trump Organization, it is neither the owner nor the developer of the Trump International Golf Club. The financial disclosures Trump filed with the Federal Election Commission in 2016 show that the Trump Organization manages the two golf courses in Dubai. The second Trump-branded golf course, the Trump World Golf Club, was designed by

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

and developed and built by

DAMAC Properties DAMAC Properties is an Emirati property development company, based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. In January 2015, DAMAC Properties was publicly listed on the Dubai Financial Market. The company operates internationally providing resident ...

, a company founded by Hussain Sajwani. It was scheduled to be opened in 2017, the year in which a report revealed that migrants working on the project were not being paid on time. In February 2021, it was announced that the inauguration was delayed at least until 2022, as the work on the project was paused. Some officials working on the construction project were told that the delay was because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, but developers in the Emirates were reportedly struggling to finish such developments even before the global health crisis.

Coats of arms

Trump has used a number of logos in the style of coats of arms for his businesses. Joseph E. Davies, third husband of

Marjorie Merriweather Post Marjorie Merriweather Post (March 15, 1887 – September 12, 1973) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She was also the owner of General Foods Corporation. Post used much of her fortune to collect art, particularly I ...

and a former U.S. ambassador of

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

origins, was granted a coat of arms, bearing the

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

''Integritas'', by British heraldic authorities in 1939. After Donald Trump purchased

, the Florida estate built by Merriweather Post, in 1985, the Trump Organization started using Davies's coat of arms at Trump golf courses and estates across the country. It was also registered with the U.S. patent and trademark office. In 2008, Trump attempted to establish the American logo at his new Trump International Golf Links in

Balmedie Balmedie ( gd, Baile Mheadhain) is a large village in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It lies north of the city of Aberdeen, in the civil parish of Belhelvie. The long and wide beach is bordered by an extensive dune system that stretches from Aberd ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, but was warned by the

Lord Lyon King of Arms The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grant ...

, the highest authority for

Scottish heraldry Heraldry in Scotland, while broadly similar to that practised in England and elsewhere in western Europe, has its own distinctive features. Its heraldic executive is separate from that of the rest of the United Kingdom. Executive The Scottish he ...

, that an act of the Scottish Parliament from 1672 disallows people using unregistered arms. In January 2012, shortly after the inauguration of the golf course, Trump unveiled the new coat of arms that had been granted to ''The Trump International Golf Course Scotland Ltd'' by the Court of the Lord Lyon, Scotland's heraldic authority, in 2011. From 2014, Trump used the same logo for the Trump International Golf Links, Ireland, the golf resort built from his acquisition of

Doonbeg Doonbeg () is a village in west County Clare, Ireland on the Atlantic coast. The surrounding natural environment has supported its development as a tourist resort. The area was officially classified as part of the West Clare Gaeltacht, an Irish- ...

Golf Club.

Presidency

Following his election in 2016, Trump announced that he would not

his business holdings, as other recent presidents had. Instead, Trump kept his ownership stake in

and appointed his sons

Donald Trump Jr. Donald John Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977) is an American political activist, businessman, author, and former television presenter. He is the eldest child of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his firs ...

and

Eric Trump Eric Frederick Trump (born January 6, 1984) is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his fir ...

to manage the business. In an unusual rebuke from the

Office of Government Ethics The United States Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is an independent agency within the executive branch of the U.S. Federal Government which is responsible for directing executive branch policies relating to the prevention of conflicts of intere ...

, director

Walter Shaub Walter Michael Shaub Jr. (born February 20, 1971) is an American attorney specializing in government ethics who, from January 9, 2013 to July 19, 2017, was the director of the United States Office of Government Ethics. As of July 19, 2017, he jo ...

called Trump's actions "wholly inadequate" and "meaningless from a conflict of interest perspective." In an interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Trump explained: "As far as the, you know, potential conflict of interests, though, I mean I know that from the standpoint, the law is totally on my side, meaning, the president can’t have a conflict of interest." Just days after his inauguration, a lawsuit was filed in federal court seeking to block the president from receiving payments from foreign government entities at his businesses. The lawsuit alleged that these payments constitute a violation of the

Foreign Emoluments Clause The Foreign Emoluments Clause is a provision in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, that prohibits the federal government from granting titles of nobility, and restricts members of the federal government from rece ...

of the United States Constitution. In February 2017, the president invited

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Sta ...

Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...

to play at the

Trump International Golf Club Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduate ...

in Florida and stay at Trump's

resort. Legal and ethical concerns were raised by organizations such as the Sunlight Foundation over foreign payments the president may receive from the visit. Trump has vowed to donate any such payments to the Treasury Department, although the specifics of this arrangement remain unclear. In June 2017, the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a separate lawsuit, claiming the president was "flagrantly violating" the Emoluments Clause. A 2016 investigation by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' found that

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

s and

corporate executives A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

had been purchasing memberships at Trump golf courses to gain favor or contact with the president. Membership fees at Trump courses can exceed US$100,000, leading to ethical concerns over a sitting president accepting money from people lobbying the government. While campaigning to be president, Trump declared in August 2016: "I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to play golf". After becoming president, the amount of time he spent golfing generated controversy. Despite frequently criticizing his predecessor

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

as having played golf too much as president, Trump golfed 11 times during his first eight weeks in office, when Obama did not golf at all in his first eight weeks, although ''Golf Digest'' concluded that Obama played 306 rounds of golf over his two terms, which the magazine describes as "...a fairly remarkable amount of golf while in office." According to

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, Trump visited Trump-owned golf courses 92 times between becoming president in January 2017 and January 3, 2018, although the White House does not disclose when the president actually plays golf during a visit to a golf course. The White House on some occasions denied that Trump played golf during his visits even after photos published on social media showed him playing golf. In November 2018, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' found that the average number of days between golf rounds was around 5 days for Trump, and around 12–13 days for Obama. Journalists and ethics experts have alleged that these frequent visits are a means of boosting publicity at the courses to sell more memberships. White House Press Secretary

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders (born August 13, 1982) is an American former political spokesperson and the governor-elect of Arkansas. She was the 31st White House press secretary, serving under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. She ...

defended the president's golfing, saying that his time on the course was spent "developing deeper and better relationships with members of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in which those relationships have helped push forward the president's agenda." CNN reported in January 2018 that Trump was known to have played golf with members of Congress only seven times at a Trump-owned golf course. Vice President Mike Pence stayed at the Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Ireland in 2019 while meeting with Irish officials in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. Pence was originally going to end his trip in

, where he has familial ties, but Trump suggested that he stay at the Trump property instead, which required daily flights of a more than one hour each way.

References

External links

Trump Golf
Official website
Trump Golf Count

First Golfer: Donald Trump's relationship with golf has never been more complicated
by Alan Shipnuck, originally appeared in the August 7, 2017 edition of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Trump, Donald and Golf Donald Trump Golf people