Trump on track to obliterate Obama’s and Bush’s records for time spent on the golf course.
By April 2017, with less than 100 days in office, the cost of Trump’s trips to his Mar-a-Lago golf resort had already cost taxpayers more than $21 million.
The Independent reported that by August 4, 2017, Trump had already “enjoyed more than three times as many holiday days as his predecessor had enjoyed at the same stage in his tenure,” adding that “Trump’s trips have already cost the taxpayer $30m on private travel to his estates, according to an estimate from the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress.”
As The Guardian reported on Friday, 24 November 2017, “Trump’s regular trips to his own golf courses in Florida, Virginia and New Jersey have become a lightning rod for criticism, particularly in light of his own attacks on Barack Obama for time spent on the fairways when he was president.”
In August 2016, Trump told supporters in Virginia: “If I win I may never see my property — I may never see these places again. But because I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go golfing, believe me. Believe me. Believe me, folks.”
However, as CNN reported on Saturday, 25 November that Trump was already on track to surpass the time spent on the golf course by both of his predecessors – and by a huge margin:
Trump could be on track to spend as much as triple the time former President Barack Obama did on the golf course in his first year in office — and to play more than former President George W. Bush did in eight years in office.
Talking specific numbers, CNN reported the following regarding the estimated number of days Trump has been spending on the golf course:
Obama played 333 rounds of golf during his eight years in office and at this point in the first year of his term had played 26 rounds, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, who keeps detailed statistics of presidencies.
Knoller told CNN that Bush played only 24 rounds of golf as President and stopped playing golf after October 13, 2003, after he was criticized for golfing while the nation was at war. At this point in his presidency, Bush had golfed seven times.
Below is a clip posted by CNN on Facebook showing the many times Trump criticized Obama for playing golf while in The White House:
If there is a bright side to all this, it is in the fact that Trump has been losing considerable money from his golf resorts due to his campaign, presidency, and losing several significant long-running lawsuits.
For instance, Trump was reduced to hurling insults in June 2017 after losing a bitter two-year court battle and millions of dollars in Scotland over one of his golf resorts.
In February 2017 Trump lost bigly when a Florida federal Judge ordered Trump Jupiter Golf Club to pay nearly $6 million dollars to former members after they were barred from the club while still paying dues.
And Trump lost literally hundreds of millions of dollars in 2015 when his Turnberry golf resort was pulled from consideration for hosting the British Open Golf Tournament.
As The Independent reported at the time:
[Trump’s] dream of handing over the trophy at The Open is in tatters, The Independent … can reveal, after golf’s governing body, headquartered in Scotland, privately decided that his reputation is now so toxic that the newly renamed Trump Turnberry can no longer host the game’s most prestigious tournament.
The Independent went on to report that Martin Slumbers, the new chief executive of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, had been expected to endorse Trump’s course to host the 2020 Open Tournament up until Trump’s surreal presidential campaign. After Trump’s slew of racist remarks about the Chinese, Mexicans, Muslims, and women – increasing concerns regarding the risk of boycotts by tournament sponsors and players were too much for the prestigious governing body and Trump lost out on what he once thought was a golden opportunity.
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