Golf: the Trump-Obama match in five figures
The controversy around the presidential passion for the little white ball takes on a political dimension that risks weighing on the American campaign. Because in the United States, the practice of golf is very often a mirror of man and his way of governing. The proof in five figures.
“While almost 100,000 people lost their lives during the coronavirus crisis, and several million are out of work, the president is playing golf. When he discovers this angry tweet from Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate on May 24, Donald Trump almost swallows his cap. The video editing accompanying the message is formidable. There are images of the president walking around, club in hand, on the fairway of his golf course in Virginia and others showing caregivers mobilized with patients suffering from Covid-19.
Nearly 100,000 lives have been lost, and tens of millions are out of work.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 24, 2020
Meanwhile, the president spent his day golfing. pic.twitter.com/H1BVNtgVjA
In a flurry of flowery responses via the same network, Donald Trump will defend himself step by step, retorting to "Sleepy Joe" - the little name he gave Biden - that he had not touched a bullet since the previous March 8 and that his predecessor, Barack Obama, frequented the greens much more assiduously than he did during his two terms. Anecdotal in the eyes of the French, even more since the riots that set America ablaze after the murder of George Floyd, this controversy is nevertheless of capital importance in the United States. Golf is in fact closely linked to the course of the presidents. Even more since the last of them draws part of his fortune. Trump and the little white ball, so it's not just a matter of leisure or business, it's also a mirror of man and his way of governing. The proof in five figures.
251
The number of times Donald Trump has been to a golf course since the start of his mandate, reveals the very scrupulous Trump Golf Count website. An incredible mine of information, which tracks the President's golfing activity day by day. It shows the days of the week he plays the most, with which partners and where. All the press articles devoted to this considerable subject are also listed and available free of charge. So, to come back to the controversy, Donald Trump has been to a golf course 251 times since his election - essentially his own - but he has only actually played 119 times.
Over the same period during his presidency, ie 176 weeks, Barack Obama would have played 99 times. Contrary to what he claims, Trump is therefore a more assiduous golfer than his predecessor, although the gap is not as wide as one might think. The presidentialgolftracker site, another bible for lovers of statistics, estimates that if Donald Trump were re-elected, he could reach 605 games played in two terms, against 322 recorded for Obama.
$ 134 million
The money that their President's sprees on the greens cost American taxpayers. Air travel (sometimes with an armored car in luggage), security costs, everything goes. The bill is unmistakably salty. Of this total, the highest marks go to Donald Trump's stays at his golf course in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida. Since he began his presidency, travel costs have been $ 59.1 million and the security post - mainly the Coast Guard - is close to $ 30 million (https://trumpgolfcount.com/#costModal.) By comparison, Obama would have cost four times less over an equivalent period. The explanation: he has most often opted for land located on military bases near the White House where security is already in place, while Trump plays 100% of his games in private clubs, most often his own. .
17
The number of golf courses that Donald Trump owns or operates in the world. Among the best known, the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where his daughter Ivana married Jared Kushner, is one of those POTUS frequents most with the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. in Florida. All of them bear his name, including those located in Scotland, Ireland and Dubai (the latter's design having been designed by the huge Tiger Woods). In October 2019, "45" as it is called (the 45th American president) ignites the controversy by announcing that it will host the G7 2020 at the Trump National Doral Club in Miami. The meeting will ultimately be scheduled to be held at Camp David before being finally postponed indefinitely.
18
The total club tournaments that Donald Trump claims to have won. A highly questionable - and contested - figure which once again illustrates the President's difficult relationship with the truth. In a devastating book "Commander in cheat: how Golf explains Trump", former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly demonstrated, with supporting evidence, that most of these victories - all claimed on a course which belongs to him - were pure inventions. He thus claimed to have won the tournament of his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, while, the same day, he was, according to several witnesses, on his ground in Pennsylvania.
Just won The Club Championship at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach-lots of very good golfers-never easy to win a C.C.
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2013
2.8
The handicap claimed by Donald Trump to ensure his level of play. This classification index corresponds to the usual number of strokes that a player performs in more - or in less - compared to the average low water level of a given course of 18 holes. But if all his partners or if observers have been able to attest to the fact that Donald Trump is an excellent amateur player, no one can believe for a single moment in the ranking of 2.8 that he displays. For a man over 70 (Trump is 73), such an index is almost impossible. For comparison, Jack Niklaus, one of the greatest players of all time, now 80, was credited with a handicap of over 5 at the age of Trump. Can we seriously imagine that he is ranked lower than the American President?
To explain this anomaly - in addition to Trump's pronounced taste for fabricating - we must resolve to evoke another reason: cheating. According to most of the witnesses interviewed by Rick Reilly for his book, the President is a staunch cheater. One of his quirks is to kick the ball to put it back on the right path, get it out of tall grass or simply bring it closer to the hole. He withdrew, on the greens, the pretty nickname Pelé, an allusion to the magician of Brazilian football. With Trump, in golf as in politics, anything goes.
