Politics

Video Shows Trump’s Latest Golf Win Doesn’t Quite Add Up

SCRATCH SKEPTIC

The president recorded a score many professional golfers would struggle to achieve.

President Donald Trump tallied an eyebrow-raising final score at his golf tournament this weekend.

Trump, 80, boasted on Sunday about how he won the tournament at his very own course, the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, with a net score of 70. However, a fellow participant, Philip Zamloot, unwittingly pointed out Trump’s gross score, which stretches credulity.

The president’s name appeared at the very top of the alphabetically ordered leaderboard with a gross score of 70, according to a video shared by Zamloot on Instagram—meaning that Trump played with a handicap of zero.

donald trump golf score bedminster
Trump recorded a 70 gross score, a feat difficult even for the highest-level professional golfers. Screenshot/Philip Zamloot/Instagram

In golf, a player’s gross score is their total number of strokes, whereas the net score is their total number of strokes minus their handicap.

The par at Bedminster is 72, meaning that Trump recorded a score of two under without playing to a handicap—a feat only achieved by the highest-level players.

STERLING, VIRGINIA - NOVEMBER 26: US President Donald Trump makes a phone call as he golfs at Trump National Golf Club on November 26, 2020 in Sterling, Virginia. President Trump stayed in Washington, DC this year for Thanksgiving due the Covid-19 outbreak in the United States. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Trump's alleged golf prowess has long been a subject of skepticism. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Zamloot highlighted how he recorded a 77 gross score, the next best after the president’s.

“Thank you very much to all of those who participated. I won with a score of 70, and am so honored in that, unlike the rest of the field, I’m given very little time to practice, because I’m so focused on many other things,” he bragged on Truth Social on Sunday. “It’s called TALENT, and I have it, and they don’t!”

@realDonaldTrump/ TruthSocial
The president emphasized he won because of "TALENT." @realDonaldTrump/ TruthSocial

Trump’s senior club championship victory reportedly pushed his total win count into the 40s, but some online critics have noted how it’s “weird that he only wins at his own courses.”

Sportswriter Rick Reilly, who wrote a book about Trump’s golf habits titled Commander-in-Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump, once stated that “When it comes to cheating, [Trump]’s an 11 on a scale of one to 10.”

Despite Trump’s claims that he has “little time to practice,” he has golfed 115 days since he returned to office on Jan. 20, 2025, including 38 days this year.

At last year’s Bedminster tournament, the president played with a handicap of two, recording a three-under gross score of 69 and a five-under net score of 67. The next lowest gross tally on the scorecard, shared by the White House on Instagram, was amateur golfer Terry Conley, who scored a 79 gross score.

The White House did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment.