Donald Trump paid a visit to Trump National Golf Club, Washington, D.C., in Sterling, Virginia, on August 31, representing the 369th time the 45th and 47th President has visited one of his 18 golf clubs (and, for most of them, presumably played some golf) since becoming President on Jan. 20, 2017, and then again on Jan. 20, 2025.
In his first term, Trump played golf some 240 times and visited his golf clubs a total of 308 times. This is his 57th round of golf his second term. The discrepancy comes from times Trump visited his golf clubs for vacation or time away from Washington, as well as times he visited his clubs for a meal or a reason other than to play golf.
In his second term, Trump has played golf on most weekends, typically leaving Washington to go to Florida to visit Mar-a-Lago. He has been departing from his home there to the golf course on weekends to play golf before taking Air Force One back to Washington on Sunday. This weekend, however, Trump went to his northern Virginia club after rumors started circulating about his health amid a published public schedule that didn’t have him appearing in public through the day after Labor Day.
Trump played golf both days this weekend, just after an appeals court ruled most of the tariffs imposed by his administration are illegal.
Trump prefers to play golf in the mornings, while the Secret Service follows around Trump in golf carts that cost American taxpayers nearly $765,000 to use in his first term.
Trump has a USGA handicap index in the single digits, though he doesn’t enter every round to keep complete track. It’s not that big of a deal, as most golfers don’t enter rounds religiously.
In Trump’s first term, the Secret Service spent over $950,000 to stay overnight at Trump-owned properties, including his New Jersey country club.
Trump ended 2017 with 91 golf course visits and was just shy of 100 visits in Year 1 as President. In his second year as President, Trump played golf 76 times. In his third year, he played golf 91 times. All but two rounds of golf has been at his clubs, playing once in Japan in Nov. 2017 with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and Japanese star pro Hideki Matsuyama, then playing with Abe again in May 2019.
In his first term, the White House didn’t typically acknowledge Trump was even playing golf. That is commonplace policy, particularly when Trump isn’t playing with celebrities or pro golfers or doesn’t have something to flaunt. Typically, the White House press pool indicates when Trump arrives at his golf clubs, then they are held in a holding location until Trump is done and moves to his next location. Photos of Trump playing emerged from friendly accounts on social media.
In Trump’s first term, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has asked the White House to provide the names of Trump’s golf partners, as well for his clubs to provide visitor logs to get a sense of when Trump has played golf and with whom.
The President is certainly entitled to some leisure time, and golf has been an outlet for most Commanders-in-Chief dating back to the early 20th century.
