Donald Trump’s third foreign trip as president is a sentimental journey to open a golf course named for his mother at a northern outpost of his sprawling business empire – with some pressure tactics thrown in.
The president heads to the UK Friday to golf with world pros, take stock of the seaside dunes that line his new course – and try to score a dream that would bring an infusion of attention and cash to his most acclaimed Scottish golf course.
For Trump, 79, whose business empire has grown to include media ventures, meme coins, NFTs, and signed collectibles, golf has always been a more tangible pursuit.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach who has golfed with Trump, says the president’s attachment to the details of the game and the business was evident on a recent outing.
‘I’ve been with him on his courses playing golf – he takes those little flags and puts them. He said, “I’m going to put 300 palm trees on this course,”’ Tuberville told the Daily Mail.
‘And he’ll go around and personally put the flags where he wants the tree. He really takes interest in his course, personally,’ he said.
Trump gushed about his new Scottish course, in Aberdeenshire, when he broke ground on it in 2023.
‘It’s one of the great pieces of land anywhere in the world … Some people say it’s the greatest course ever built. And views of things that nobody’s ever seen before. Some of the best views I’ve ever seen,’ Trump said, amid overhead views of misty dunes and future fairways.
His son Eric calls it the ‘greatest 36 holes of golf.’
Now, the president will get to tout it again – this time with the national media in tow.
He’s landing in Scotland later Friday for a trip that will include visiting his sprawling properties in Aberdeen and Turnberry and a ribbon-cutting ceremony for his new course.
And he’ll hammer out details of a huge trade deal with the UK during talks in between rounds of golf at his Scottish course Monday with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump’s new MacLeod course is named after his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.
She was born on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and grew up in the town of Tong. MacLeod migrated from Scotland to the U.S. at the age of 18. She would eventually marry Fred Trump and give birth to the future president.
The Trump course with the most storied lineage is in Turnberry, on the western coast of Scotland. But golf’s biggest prize has been out of reach since Trump acquired it.
His Aberdeen courses, which son Eric Trump calls the best 36 holes in the world, are on the eastern coast.
Trump bought Turnberry for $60 million in 2014, reportedly spending $200 million improving it.
Now, he wants to use it to host one of the crown jewels of pro golf, the British Open, sometimes called simply the Open.
‘He’s very proud of it. I’ve even heard some of the professional players like Rory McIlroy say: “Why are we not having more big tournaments here?” said Tuberville.
Two-time winner Bryson DeChambeau, has also crowed about the course while putting in a plug for Trump.
‘It’s one of the best golf courses in the world, and I’d love for it to be a part of the rotation,’ said DeChambeau, who celebrated with Eric Trump and Trump Organization execs after winning the U.S. Open at Trump’s club in Westchester, New York. (He also visited Trump at the White House.)
Trump’s purchase of the Ayrshire resort has brought controversy, and the course hasn’t hosted the open since 2009 – before Trump owned it. The course finally made a profit in 2022, and the Open with its estimated 300,000 visitors could help.
Turnberry hosted the famous ‘Duel in the Sun,’ Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus.
But the The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which controls the tournament, has raised doubts about ‘logistical challenges.’
There are reports Trump has asked previously asked British government officials to pressure the R&A to select Turnberry for a future Open.
Trump gets two such opportunities on his trip – which gets official status thanks to his meetings with British PM Keir Starmer.
The two men will meet and dine at Turnberry, then travel aboard U.S. Government aircraft to Trump’s Aberdeen club.
Starmer isn’t known to be much of a golfer, but he is seizing the opportunity to bond with Trump at his Scottish properties.
Both events will give him the opportunity to hail his courses while answering questions about news of the day – which based on Trump’s flurry of actions from taking on the Fed to accusing Barack Obama of Treason, he would prefer not include a focus on Jeffrey Epstein.
There are already clear signals that Trump’s trip will bring protests, and locals are already complaining about the police costs and disruptions as he inaugurates the new Balmedie course.
David Milne, who lives next to Trump’s Aberdeen course, and whose home Trump has dubbed an eyesore, is back to grousing about the ‘most expensive round of golf ever.’
Trump, who the White House revealed days ago was diagnosed with Chronic Veinous Insufficiency, has made plain with his travel schedule that he plans to continue his golf hobby.
According to Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington, he has made 99 visits to his own properties this term, with 62 to golf courses – a 37 per cent spike from his first term.
