President Donald Trump on pace for 650-plus rounds of golf as Commander-in-Chief
Golf Culture

President Donald Trump on pace for 650-plus rounds of golf as Commander-in-Chief



President Donald Trump loves golf, and that affinity for the links may lead to him playing a staggering number of rounds as Commander-in-Chief.

On April 15, Trump made his 19th visit to a Trump-owned golf club, heading from his Mar-a-Lago club to Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., according to pool reports. That is Trump's 19th visit to one of his golf clubs since taking office on January 20, giving him almost 20 visits in his first three months in office.

Doing simple math and assuming Trump gets two terms as President (which, of course, isn't guaranteed), Trump has been to his clubs 19 times in 12 weeks. In eight years, a President would get 416 weeks in office. That means Trump is on pace, right now, to visit his golf clubs 658 times in two terms.

Splitting that in half were Trump to lose a 2020 re-election bid, Trump would still be on pace for 329 golf club visits. That figure would put him practically square with the estimated 333 times President Barack Obama played golf in his eight years in office, an estimate made by CBS News reporter and unofficial White House historian Mark Knoller. Obama didn't start playing golf until 100 days into his presidency.

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Every president should be afforded leisure time, of course -- running the free world is a difficult, aging-inducing job. However, then-candidate Trump was hyper-critical of Obama's penchant for golf, even suggesting on the campaign trail that he wouldn't play golf were he elected.

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Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is currently a +2.6 USGA handicap, and he has covered dozens of major championships and professional golf tournaments. He likes writing about golf and making it more accessible by answering the complex questions fans have about the pro game or who want to understand how to play golf better.

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