Donald Trump, great golf cheat, according to a book
"Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump" documents dozens of examples of the president's shady behavior.
Collusion with Russia? The prosecutor says no. Golf cheating? Well, that's another story.
From cheating on Tiger Woods to exaggerating his handicap, Donald Trump's trickery on the golf course is the subject of a new book by former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly, "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump." golf explains Trump).
Reilly documents dozens of examples of the president's shady behavior, transgressions talked about by golf professionals and amateurs alike.
“In golf he is not exonerated. There are dozens and dozens of people who can convict you of cheating," Reille said.
In a well-known case, in 2017, he played a round with Woods and Dustin Johnson, the current number one in the world. Trump's partner, Fox Sports golf analyst Brad Faxon, claimed that Trump's schemes included a score that ignored two golf balls he hit into the water at a hole.
“You hear so much about these things that you want to witness them so you can tell them,” Faxon said, according to the book.
Nothing serious, some will say. It's just a game.
Golf, however, has codes of honor and players are their own referees, keeping their own count of the shots they hit and applying penalties to themselves if they commit infractions. Trump's cheating, Reilly said, is so treacherous that it prompted him to write the book.
“I don't know much about politics, but I do know about golf and that really offends me, not as a voter or as a citizen. As a golfer,” Reilly said.
The author cites players who accuse Trump, his caddy and Secret Service agents of running the balls when they land in tricky spots. At New York's Winged Food Golf Club, the only golf club not owned by him but of which Trump is a member, "the caddies are so used to him kicking the ball down the fairway that they nicknamed him 'Pele,'" Reily tells.
Sportscaster Mike Tirico claims that Trump once played with the president and he knocked his ball off the green into a bunker to make it difficult for him to shoot.
Some of the stories the book tells are not new. Like that of boxer Oscar de la Hoya, who in 2016 told the AP that Trump cheated him twice over two holes. "Yeah, I got it," de la Hoya said. "It was incredible. But it was his field. I guess those are their rules.”
Trump is a good player, according to those who know him, especially for someone his age, Reilly says. But the handicap of 2.8 strokes is the product of manipulation. The handicap is based on the most recent 20 goals and allows players to compete at the level best suited to their talent. Someone with Trump's handicap should round rounds of three over par. But despite visiting his golf courses more than 150 times since he became president, he has only once had a round using the United States Golf Association's Handicap Index. And it was 96 (very high, well above three over par).
Trump's passion for golf contrasts with his criticism of his predecessor Barack Obama for playing too much golf. "I'm not going to have time to play golf" if elected president, he said during the presidential campaign.
"Golf helps explain Trump," says Reilly. The president sprinkles his public statements with allusions to golf. In December he posted a tweet about the Federal Reserve saying: “The Fed is like a very strong player who can't score because he lacks class. He can't putt!” the short shot.
Reilly contends that Trump's wanderings on golf courses somewhat reflect his view of his world.
Trump learned to play at Cobbs Creek, a public course outside Philadelphia, which he once claimed was full of "cheaters" and where he "learned everything."
Bryan Marsal, director of the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot, told Reilly that he once partnered with Trump and Trump warned him up front: “See those two guys? They cheat. You see me? I cheat. And I hope you do too because we're going to beat those two today."
Trump is not the first president accused of trying to gain an advantage in golf. Bill Clinton used to repeat bad shots without the slightest remorse. But Reilly, who has known Trump for decades, says the president's shenanigans are "so sneaky you almost admire them."
Reilly, who obviously doesn't like Trump, says he decided to write the book tired of hearing that Trump had won 18 tournaments.
He assures that he could not corroborate a single victory of the president.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the book.
