Donald Trump and golf: The astonishing amount of hours spent on the links during his presidency

Within weeks of returning to the White House, President Donald Trump had already racked up seven trips to his own Florida golf courses.

During his first term in office, an analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) found that he made 547 trips to his own properties, including 145 visits to Mar-a-Lago and 328 to other Trump-owned golf courses.

It estimates that Trump spent 307 days of those first four years golfing, likely the most of any president in US history. Even in 2020, during the height of the covid-19 pandemic and in the midst of a presidential election campaign, Trump spent 54 days playing golf.

In Trump’s defence, he is known to conduct official business at his properties and sometimes arranges golf-focused trips with senior officials. So far in his second term he’s visited Mar-a-Lago nearly every weekend, at an eye-watering cost to the US taxpayer.

Staggering cost of Trump’s golf trips

As US president, Trump is covered by Secret Service officers around the clock and presidential security in general has grown into a major industry. But while presidents typically move between the White House and other official engagements, Trump chooses to spend time travelling to his own properties at great cost to the US government.

The Guardian reports that the Secret Service paid nearly $2 million to Trump-owned properties during his first term in office. This included charging up to $1,815 per night for a room at the Trump International hotel in Washington DC.

But while $2 million is a lot of money, that only covers the rooms for Secret Service agents. A 2019 report by Government Accountability Office (GAO) looked at Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago, including the cost of flying Air Force One and a separate cargo plane to carry the presidential motorcade. They estimate that a single trip costs around $3.4 million, meaning that Trump has probably racked up around $23 million in Mar-a-Lago trips within three months of his second term.

Making matters worse, there is evidence to suggest that the government has been overcharged for stays at Trump’s properties. Some hotel rates were 300% above the authorised government limits and a 2024 report from Congressional Democrats found that the US government had been charged significantly more than “rooms rented by the Qatari royal family and Chinese business interests”.

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