In early August 2025, a rumor began to spread that U.S. President Donald Trump had been caught cheating at golf a second time in one week.
For example, one post on X (archived) making the claim amassed 3.4 million views. The post the footage was from Aug. 2, “the day the White House announced Trump won the ‘2025 Men’s Senior Club Championship'” at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The claim further spread on X, as well as on Instagram. Meanwhile, Snopes readers searched the website looking for more information about the claim.
The video, taken from a distance, showed a man dressed in white dropping a ball from hip level on a putting green. The man was holding the type of flag that typically marks a hole, indicating he was the caddie. Trump then moved the ball around before seemingly dragging it to the hole with his club. Meidas Touch, a left-leaning publication, said in a said in a report that the video was taken by a guest during the Aug. 2 tournament.
This scene supposedly happened about a week after Trump was caught cheating, also on video, while playing golf on his Turnberry course in Scotland. During the event, his caddie dropped the ball for him, Snopes confirmed in late July.
However, we were not able to verify the provenance of the August video as we could not find other photographs or videos of the tournament. We contacted both the White House and the Trump Organization, which operates the course, asking for images of the tournament, as well as a statement on allegations that Trump cheated. We will update this report should they respond. As of this writing, we were unable to rate the claim as true or false.
It is important to note that United States Golf Association rules allow ball drops, but only in certain circumstances. When the ball falls in an area with “abnormal course conditions,” the player is allowed to “take relief.” The players themselves then must drop the ball from knee height, precluding caddies from doing it at all, let alone from hip level. Players are also not allowed to drop a ball on the green of the hole they are playing, unless conditions of the putting green are abnormal (for example if there is a puddle on the green). Lastly, players must hit the ball “as it lies.” In other words, once dropped, they cannot move the ball around to a more convenient spot before playing it.
In sum, the video appeared to show Trump breaking several rules of golf in only a few seconds. This seemed to create more outrage because the White House announced (archived) Trump had won this particular tournament with a score of three under par — that is, in three fewer strokes than the number a player is expected to make on this course (69 against 72 par) — which, accounting for his handicap, led to a net score of 67:
The scorecard appeared elsewhere on the internet, for example in a photograph (archived) that was seemingly taken at the club. “Winning on and off the course,” the post read.
Sports writer Rick Reilly also posted on X about Trump’s alleged cheating (archived):
He added in another post on X: “The 4 guys in Trump’s group finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th. Trump has a magic pencil. #CommanderInCheat,” a hashtag that referenced the title of Reilly’s 2019 book “Commander in Cheat.”
