President Donald Trump celebrated another golf win over the weekend, the latest in a long line of nearly unbelievable championships. Trump was honored at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey in a video posted Aug. 2, which shows him receiving a trophy for winning the “super senior” and “senior division” after supposedly shooting a 70. The club’s two courses are rated at par 72.
Trump, 80, bragged about his victory on social media, attaching a video of the presentation. “The Winning Shot in the Bedminster Club Championship! Thank you very much to all of those who participated. I won with a score of 70, and am so honored in that, unlike the rest of the field, I’m given very little time to practice, because I’m focused on many other things. It’s called TALENT, and I have it, and they don’t!” he wrote.
As Trump was handed the trophy, one fan was heard on the video saying, “The president of the United States. The super senior and the senior, he won both. He won both. That’s amazing. Best president of my lifetime.” This victory adds to the former president’s claim that he has now won at least 40 club championships throughout his life.
The frequency of Trump’s golf outings remains a subject of intense tracking. According to estimates by multiple organizations, Trump has golfed about 22% of his second presidency. Data from “Trump Golf Track,” run by The Alt Media—a self-described progressive alternative to mainstream news—indicates he hit the greens 124 days during his second term. The site notes there were additional days on his schedule where he visited his properties, though his golfing status remained unconfirmed. Another website, “Did Trump Golf Today,” calculates his golfing days using public schedules from Roll Call Factbase and found he golfed 125 days.
Despite his claims of success, Trump has long faced a reputation as a cheater on the course. Sportswriter Rick Reilly documented these allegations in his 2019 book, “Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump.” Reilly wrote that Trump frequently throws, boots, and moves his ball, noting that at Winged Foot, where Trump is a member, caddies became so accustomed to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway that they nicknamed him “Pele.”
These allegations are not limited to casual play. In 2023, members of Trump International West Palm Beach arrived for the final round of their Senior Club Championship only to find Trump’s name at the top of the leaderboard, despite him not playing the first round. He had played a round earlier that week, claimed he had a good day, and decided to use that score for the tournament. Trump later called it a “great honor” to win, adding that he was “hitting the ball long and straight.”
Reilly noted in a Vox interview that Trump often tells him he plays the first club championship by himself when opening a new course, declares himself the champion, and puts his name on the wall. “But it’s usually just him and Melania in the cart and nobody else,” Reilly said. “He just makes it up.” Reilly added that the best player he knows at that level has won eight championships, far fewer than Trump’s claimed 40.
Assessing Trump’s actual skill level yields mixed reviews. Hall of Famer Ernie Els, who witnessed a hole-in-one by Trump in 2022, previously told the Palm Beach Post that Trump can really strike the ball and has a good swing. “Like any amateur, you got to do the short game practice. I keep talking to him about his chipping. He’s a pretty good putter. Back in his day, he had to be a 4- or 5-handicap. Today, he’s probably a 10, 12,” Els said. Trump claimed last fall that he maintains a “very low handicap.”
Trump has played alongside many professional golfers, including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka. “President Trump plays pretty well, not bad at all,” Nicklaus said in 2020. Koepka also offered praise, stating, “I think he’s actually a pretty good putter. He had a lot of good putts today that just didn’t go in.”
During a Pro-Am at Doral, Trump stopped to chat between holes, asking, “Where are the golf writers? What do you think? Trump is pretty good, isn’t he?” When later asked for his own assessment of his game, Trump replied, “I hit it straight, I hit good drives, I hit good irons.”
