Stop it all: we found an area where Trump is not completely bad
Since the start of his term, the US president has visited his golf courses almost every fourth day. And apparently, the effort pays off.
We knew it: Donald Trump spends a lot of time playing golf, even since he was elected head of the United States in November 2016. The American president is so often on the greens that some sites even take it into account the number of visits he has made since the start of his mandate.
According to a last count relayed by Mashable, "out of his 590 days of work, Donald Trump used 196 to visit his various properties and 153 on his golf courses (nearly one day in four)".
A figure much higher than the other American presidents, and in particular a certain Barack Obama, against whom Donald Trump himself was angry a few months ago.
If Barack Obama was known to be a regular player, his level was generally equivalent to that of the former presidents. And the one in exercise, then?
"The best golfer in the history of the White House"
The American press obviously has the answer. And it turns out Donald Trump is pretty good. "The 45th president is a real golfer," assures the Golf Digest site, one of whose journalists met him.
Sports Illustrated confirms this impression and assures us that "even at 71, he is easily the best golfer in the history of the White House". The New Yorker reckons that the US President is "a good player, and even without trying to rebalance the rankings given his age, he is probably one of the best of many golfers to have served as President of the United States." His biggest rival, according to a ranking compiled by Golf Digest several years ago, would have been John F. Kennedy, who was playing well despite his horrific back problems. No other president would have stood a chance against him, including Dwight Eisenhower, the most avid golfer of all presidents ”.
Golf Digest was also quite complimentary of his technique, after spending a few hours at his side in 2013 and 2014: “The photos and videos show a very good impact position, validated by an almost exaggerated extension, which evokes Lee. Trevino, and sometimes a finish reminiscent of Gary Player. Trump's swing has a few flaws, but it does the most important things correctly. To me, the greatest quality of Trump's game is his hitting the ball. "
Known by the greatest
Some of the greatest golfers themselves admit that the President of the United States has a good low level.
“He's a good player for a 70-year-old man,” Rory McIlroy commented in February 2017. “He really knows how to play. He's very, very good, ”South African golfer Gary Player told CNBC in October 2017, more enthusiastically.“ His main strength is his power. He is able to send the ball very far, ”added Tom Watson, former world number one. An observation shared by Tiger Woods: "What impressed me the most is the distance to which he sends the ball at 70 years old."
Still, there is a reason why Donald Trump is not a professional golfer, but “only” President of the United States. In this case, it is the "little game", that is to say the strokes played on the green or nearby. “It's the same with all the presidents I've played with. When they have to putt a yardstick, they just tell you to get the ball back - and you don't argue, ”says Gary Player.
Donald Trump claims to have never really worked his game with the help of an instructor, which may explain this flaw. “I see golf as a very natural game. I never really wanted to know a lot about my technique. I trust my instincts, in golf as in many other things, ”he told Golf Digest.
A tendency to embellish everything
All is not perfect in Trump's relationship with golf. Sometimes the US president "desecrates the game he loves so much," according to a Washington Post columnist: "He drives his golf cart over the greens and teeing grounds. He speaks while the other players prepare their move. "
And like everywhere, Donald Trump seems to have a tendency to embellish things. A long Sports Illustrated portrait thus detailed that "Trump will sometimes respond to a miss by playing a second ball and pretend nothing has happened." These are called “floating mulligans” and Trump usually does more than one per course. Because of this, it is impossible to determine his true score, according to eighteen people who have played with him in the last decade ”.
He's also the kind of person who'll boast about completing a sixty-eight move Los Angeles course, which Sports Illustrated "would have required him to be nearly perfect from start to finish." The magazine had contacted one of its playing partners that day, who confirmed that Trump had indeed "played well, but taken all the usual liberties of everyday golfers: mulligans," gimmes "[partly friendly, the players grant the putts of a few centimeters without playing them, editor's note], improved lies ..."
Over the years, several people have accused Donald Trump of cheating on the greens, including actor Samuel L. Jackson - a remark that had really not pleased the then candidate for the Republican primary.
Officially, his index (or handicap, which determines the level of play) is 2.8, which is a very good score - the handicap varies from 0 to 54 and the lower it is, the better you are. But according to a relative, the truth would be more around "8 or 9". The Guardian had also expressed serious doubts on this subject during the American presidential campaign.
"Trump's world is a parallel universe"
As for his trophies, Sports Illustrated reports that Donald Trump can boast of having won at least eighteen, he has never made the list public. And when the magazine attempted to verify these claims by contacting its properties, no one wanted to respond.
In his portrayal for The New Yorker, David Owen attempted to explain the logic behind Donald Trump's arrangements with golf reality, and drew a parallel with his arrangements with the truth - some would say "lies" - that we have learned to discover in recent months.
“I don't think 'cheating' is a good description of his actions when we've played together, just as I don't think 'lying' is the right description of what happens when he gives a speech or responds to speeches. questions at a press conference. I suspect in his head Trump thinks he rolled a 71 that day, if not a 69 now. Trump's world is a parallel universe where truth takes various forms, hardly any of which is based on reality. And we would do well to get used to it, because until 2021, we will live in this universe. "
