Donald Trump was filmed at the White House on Tuesday 5 May missing a series of short golf putts in front of primary school pupils, setting off a wave of online mockery and renewed questions over his self proclaimed fitness. The clip emerged from a student event in Washington where Trump was promoting the return of the Presidential Physical Fitness Award.
The award is a long running US school fitness programme that Trump is trying to revive as part of a wider push on children’s health and exercise. The president, aged 79, has repeatedly portrayed himself as physically and mentally strong, often contrasting his condition with that of political rivals. His decision to step onto a small putting mat on the White House lawn, surrounded by children and cameras, appeared designed as a playful moment. Instead, it produced a viral clip that quickly turned against him.
Viral Golf Clip Draws Mockery
In footage shared widely on social media, Trump is seen standing with a group of young students outside the White House, putter in hand, lining up a short attempt at a hole on an artificial green. The ball rolls past. He resets, tries again and misses once more.
After the two failed attempts, Trump hands the club to a nearby colleague and steps aside as staff and children look on. There is no indication of any injury or medical issue. It is simply a pair of missed putts. Even so, for a president who has spent years cultivating the image of a serious golfer, the moment was never likely to pass quietly.
At the WH physical fitness event today, Trump takes the kids outside to demonstrate his athletic ability with a little putting display. He misses every putt before giving up. pic.twitter.com/yYLQhHEEih
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 5, 2026
The reaction online was swift and brutal. One critic on X wrote: ‘He plays hours and hours a week and is still struggling to make that putt? How embarrassing, what a loser.’ Another user added: ‘Imaging [sic] playing golf every week for 60 years and you still suck a–.’ A third mocked the moment by writing: ‘But he’ll claim he made every putt! He is the worst putter I have ever seen, and I have seen non-golfers putt.’
None of those comments proves anything meaningful about Trump’s health or ability. What they do show is how quickly a small public stumble can be turned into a political symbol. For critics already primed to see a gap between Trump’s rhetoric and reality, the missed putts became instant ammunition.
Fitness Talk Turns Awkward
At the same event, Trump leaned into the wider theme of health and fitness, telling the assembled children and athletes that both physical and mental wellbeing matter. He also turned the focus back on himself with a joke about exercise.
‘I work out so much, like about one minute a day, max, if I’m lucky,’ he said, according to the account of the event. It was a joking remark, but also a familiar Trump move, turning a potential weakness into a punchline before anyone else can.
The Presidential Physical Fitness Award is built around testing performance, endurance and health in public. By placing himself inside that setting, even briefly, Trump opened the door to questions about whether he could meet the standard he was promoting.
RFK Jr Exchange Adds To Moment
The awkwardness deepened during a separate exchange with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the US Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, 72, had been recalling how his late uncle John F. Kennedy once challenged his Cabinet to complete a 50 mile hike ‘to show the American people that we’re in shape.’
‘This Cabinet could’ve done it. We have a bunch of thoroughbreds on this Cabinet,’ RFK Jr. said, before naming more than half a dozen senior officials, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. ‘There’s a lot of people who could probably do a 50 mile hike.’
Trump, who had been left out of that impromptu list, interrupted with a pointed question: ‘What about me? You didn’t mention my name.’
RFK Jr: “There’s a lot of people who could probably do a 50-mile hike.”
Trump: “What about me? You didn’t mention my name.”
RFK Jr: “This guy walks nine miles a day on a golf course every weekend, so he could do it in a breeze.” pic.twitter.com/j3z5hxAwA3
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) May 5, 2026
Kennedy quickly tried to smooth over the moment, replying: ‘This guy walks nine miles a day on a golf course every weekend, so he could do it in a breeze.’ The line was clearly meant as praise, but it leaned heavily on the very image the viral putting video was undermining online.
It would be easy to overstate the significance of one clumsy putting display, and there is nothing in the footage that points to a wider medical issue. But politics rarely runs on fair measures. Trump has repeatedly demanded cognitive tests for rivals and boasted about his own fitness. When that same president is then filmed missing every putt in a school style challenge on the White House lawn, the irony is hard to ignore.