Trump Golf Count: 2,308 Hours As President

"Who would have thought that tracking the number of times the most closely watched human being on earth plays golf could be so fraught with ambiguity?"

Trump Golf Count is a meticulous record of the enormous amount of time Donald Trump has spent golfing or simply hiding out at a golf club since winning the 2016 election.

Between February 4, 2017 to March 8, 2020, Trump visited a golf club 249 times in 1,129 days. He played golf on at least 117 of those visits. As president, Donald Trump has spent 2,308 hours on a golf course.

How much golf is that? 2,308 hours of golf is eight hours a day, every day, seven days a week, for 288.5 days.

Assuming an eight-hour workday (a generous assumption for someone as lazy as Trump), that means from February 4, 2017 to March 8, 2020, Trump has spent 25.6% of that time at a golf club.

Obama should play golf with Republicans & opponents rather than his small group of friends. That way maybe the terrible gridlock would end.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2012

Can you believe that,with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf.Worse than Carter

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2014

We pay for Obama's travel so he can fundraise millions so Democrats can run on lies. Then we pay for his golf.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2014

Trump's golfing obsession has cost American taxpayers more than $133 million.

Trump Golf Count Cost Breakdown
AF1 flights to Mar-a-Lago:                    $59,110,000
AF1 flights to Bedminster:                    $18,375,500
Costs to Bedminster, Palm Beach:              $20,959,504
Cost to guard coast off Mar-a-Lago:           $29,972,000
Luxury car rental in Turnberry, Scotland:      $1,260,139
Cost of stay at Trump Turnberry, Scotland:        $68,800
Total cost of staying in Doonbeg, Ireland:     $3,600,000
Total Cost:                                  $133,345,943

President Obama has a major meeting on the N.Y.C. Ebola outbreak, with people flying in from all over the country, but decided to play golf!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 24, 2014

PolitiFact posted in 2018 which president had played more golf more often:

As of May 18, 2018, the score of confirmed golf outings [at the same point in their times in office] is Trump 56, Obama 37. Our tally of Trump's time on the green is likely an undercount. Here's why.

The White House has on several occasions declined to confirm he played golf while spending the day at his golf club. So in some cases, we have to rely on reporters’ observations and those of private citizens who spotted Trump on the course and posted pictures on social media. ...

The New York Times and NBC News are tracking Trump's visits to his properties instead of the number of times he's played golf. According to both groups' count, Trump has visited his four golf courses more than 100 times since he took office. Whether Trump actually played a round golf on every single visit is hard to determine, but the tally indicates Trump has probably played golf more than we know. ...

[Obama played] 333 times total over his eight years ...

During the campaign, Trump said he would play golf smarter than Obama ...

Obama 333 in 8 years, Trump 249 in 3.5 years.

In addition to the golf facts, the Outings chart also includes "Comments". Trump's most recent outing, on March 8, had the comment: "With the Washington Nationals as a pandemic rages".

Other comments: "While quarantined cruise passengers wait", "I really pretty much work", "Sharpie-adjusted score: 63!!!", "Retweeting childish Hillary GIF", "Insulting disaster victims", "Rewarding Graham for an angry outburst", and "Ditching Melania on Mother's Day".

The site was created, and is maintained, by Sophie German (a pseudonym?):

Who I am

Basically, I'm a data junkie. Probably like you, I am concerned about the erosion of truth that is currently plaguing U.S. politics, and I am kind of unhealthily obsessed with calling out hypocrisy wherever I see it.

Why I do this

When I first got the idea to track the President's golf outings, I set out to create a website that would be factual, yet entertaining. ... [M]y primary mission is to get these numbers right! I am also having tons of fun doing it. ...

How I track counts

I've set up a filter of the White House Pool reporters' RSS feed. The pool reporters take turns covering the President's activity, which means they now spend a boatload of time in Palm Beach, Florida, sitting in a library across the street from the golf club for hours while the President holds his "meetings and phone calls." I am using their reports to track the time POTUS spends at his golf clubs ... and when reporters catch him, I'll also keep count of the times he's observed actually hitting the ball.