§64 —
On the mulligan
Democrat
135 DAYS
The count. One independent tracker records 135 confirmed golf days in the first 598 days of the second term, about one day in every 4.4, the latest at Bedminster on September 7 1. Obama's 333 rounds took eight years 2. The same tracker, using a Government Accountability Office figure of $3.4 million per trip to Mar-a-Lago, estimates about $78.2 million for 23 Florida trips 1.
And the course. In July 2025 he flew to Scotland, visiting Turnberry and Aberdeenshire, where his family business's new course opened to the public on August 13 3. The promise was no time for golf. The tracker has the time, down to the day.
Sources
- 135 confirmed golf days in 598 days, about one in 4.4; last round 7 September 2026 at Bedminster; about $78.2 million for 23 Florida trips at the GAO's $3.4 million per trip — donaldtrump.golf, 10 September 2026 ↑
- Obama golfed 333 times in eight years, per CBS's Mark Knoller — Washington Examiner, 15 January 2017 ↑
- The Scotland trip, 25–29 July 2025, to Turnberry and Aberdeenshire; the new course opened to the public on 13 August 2025 — PBS NewsHour ↑
Republican
MULLIGAN
The promise, from a rally in August 2016: "I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf. Believe me" 1. It sat beside a standard he set for others; in October 2014 he wrote: "Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf" 2.
The fair defense of the golf is that presidents golf, and they golf a lot. CBS's Mark Knoller counted 333 rounds for Barack Obama over eight years 3. A president on a course is still a president, with the phone in the cart. By that measure, golf is a presidential tradition, and this president is keeping it. A mulligan is a do-over you award yourself, and the question is only how many.
Sources
- "I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf. Believe me." — rally, August 2016 — Newsweek ↑
- "Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf" — tweet, 13 October 2014 — PolitiFact, 10 October 2017 ↑
- Obama golfed 333 times in eight years, per CBS's Mark Knoller — Washington Examiner, 15 January 2017 ↑
“I wrote down the promise in 2016: "I'm not going to have time to go play golf. Believe me." Then the tweet from 2014 about his predecessor, "with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S." Then I asked my brother-in-law, who golfs, to help me with a tracker somebody keeps online: a hundred thirty-five days in five hundred ninety-eight. He said that's a better schedule than he's got, and he's retired. Sorry, you've got a tee time, I'll be quick. The man who said he wouldn't have time — where did the time come from?”— Lou
“"I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf. Believe me." Somebody's keeping count: a hundred thirty-five golf days in five hundred ninety-eight, one day in four and a half. And in 2014 he was tweeting that Obama spent a day playing golf "with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S." A mulligan is a do-over you give yourself. He gave himself the whole promise.”
“The president does his best thinking on the course, which means the golf days are working days and the working days are, if anything, the days off, so by that math he's been on the job about a hundred thirty-five days more than his critics.”