Donald Trump’s Golf Trips Have Cost US Taxpayers Millions in Just One Year
As Donald Trump settles into his second term as US president, fresh scrutiny has returned to a familiar aspect of his time in office: how frequently he plays golf and how much those trips cost the public.
The renewed attention follows updated figures published by DidTrumpGolfToday.com, a long-running tracker that monitors presidential golf outings using publicly available schedules.
Time away from Washington
According to the website, Trump has played golf on 91 of the 367 days since he was sworn in as the 47th president in January last year. The tracker calculates that this amounts to 24.8% of his time in office so far.
The site says its methodology relies on official schedules and travel disclosures to log each outing, a system similar to the one it used during Trump’s first presidency.
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Estimating the price tag
Based on those appearances, DidTrumpGolfToday.com estimates that Trump’s golf-related travel and security have cost US taxpayers roughly $127.4 million (£94.9m) since his return to the White House.
Those figures are projections rather than audited totals. The estimates are derived from average per-trip costs outlined in a 2019 Government Accountability Office report, which examined four golf trips taken during Trump’s first term.
During that earlier presidency, from 2017 to 2021, travel and security expenses associated with golf reportedly reached $151.5 million.
Where and when he plays
The tracker’s data suggests Trump’s busiest golfing month during his current term was August, when he spent 10 days at his courses. March and November followed closely, with nine golf days each.
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Many of those visits have been to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The Huffington Post has previously reported that trips to the resort can cost an estimated $3.4 million each once security, travel and staffing are included.
Security and transport costs
A substantial share of the expense comes from presidential travel. The Associated Press has reported that Air Force One costs about $200,000 per hour to operate, citing Pentagon data.
However, the AP has noted that flight time alone does not capture the full scale of the spending. “But those figures only scratch the surface of the real cost,” the report said, pointing to the use of military cargo aircraft to transport armoured vehicles, along with the extensive security operation that accompanies presidential travel.
Trump’s defence of his golfing
Trump has repeatedly pushed back against criticism of his time on the course, arguing that his schedule limits how often he can play.
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In a Thanksgiving 2025 video call with US military members, he said: “I know a lot about golf. I’ve won 38 club championships, and I don’t get to practice much. I won one last year.”
He added: “I won a club championship at a big club, beating a 27-year-old kid. I said, ‘You know, I’m decades older than you.’ But I said, ‘The fairway doesn’t know how old you are as you walk up the middle and he’s in the rough.’ I’ve been a good golfer over the years.”
Trump went on to describe club championships as highly competitive events, saying: “You know, club championships are our Majors, you know that, most people can’t play in them, they won’t. We’re talking about no strokes or anything else.”
Sources: DidTrumpGolfToday.com, Associated Press, Huffington Post, Government Accountability Office
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