President Donald Trump bragged about his golf on Thursday and boasted of winning 38 club championships, insisting he did so “legitimately.”
But people who played with Trump have said otherwise.
“Look, I know a lot about golf. I’ve won 38 club championships and I don’t get to practice much,” Trump said, who plays golf most weekendscosting taxpayers around $70 million, amid deep cuts elsewhere in government.
During a holiday call with U.S. service members, Trump bragged about winning a championship at “a big club” by beating a 27-year-old player last year, but gave no details.
“You know, club championships are our most important championships, you know, most people can’t play in them, they won’t,” he said. “We’re talking no strokes or anything else. So I have a very low handicap and I’ve won 38 legitimately, all legitimately.”
He claimed that his wins had to be legitimate because of the number of people competing during championships.
“So I’m a good golfer, yeah, I should say that,” he insisted. “I want to be honest. I have to be honest.”
Trump responded to a soldier who asked about his golf handicap and whether he would ever play against former President Joe Biden.
Naturally, Trump used the question as an opportunity to take a few shots at his predecessor.
“You get a lot of people talking, but they can’t play, like Biden,” he said. “Biden can’t hit a ball 100 feet, I’m telling you. I looked at his swing. He can’t hit a ball 100 feet.”
Trump has so far spent 82 days of his presidency at golf courses he owns, including 29 days at his West Palm Beach course, close to his home in Mar-a-Lago.
He played golf as his tariffs caused economic chaos, regularly took to the course during the government shutdown, and even golfed instead of attending the return of the remains of four American soldiers killed during a training mission abroad.
But while the president spends a lot of time golfing, those he has played with and other observers say he is not nearly as good as he is made out to be.
Sportswriter Rick Reilly not only played with the president, but also wrote an entire book about the experience called “Commander In Cheat: How Golf Explores Trump.”
Reilly said last year that Trump cheats at golf “like a mafia accountant” and called his championships “fake as Velveeta cheese.”
“He has never won a championship at a track he doesn’t own and operate,” Reilly told MSNBC last year. “He’s played in Pebble Beach, he’s played in Tahoe, where there are rules and judges and cameras. And he’s never finished in the top half of that. So he wins when someone who doesn’t agree he won leaves the club. That’s how he understands it.”
Earlier this year, videos surfaced online that critics say show the president cheat.
Given that history, Trump’s critics at X didn’t believe his latest boast about “legitimately winning 38 championships.”
