"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2017-02-22T03:19:35Z"
data-video-section="politics"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/02/22/trump-the-golfer-kaye-ac-pkg.cnn"
data-branding-key="ac360"
data-video-slug="Trump the golfer kaye AC pkg"
data-first-publish-slug="Trump the golfer kaye AC pkg"
data-video-tags="donald trump,golf,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,political figures - us,randi kaye,sports and recreation,us federal government,white house,barack obama"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2017-02-22T03:19:35Z"
data-video-section="politics"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/02/22/trump-the-golfer-kaye-ac-pkg.cnn"
data-branding-key="ac360"
data-video-slug="Trump the golfer kaye AC pkg"
data-first-publish-slug="Trump the golfer kaye AC pkg"
data-video-tags="donald trump,golf,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,political figures - us,randi kaye,sports and recreation,us federal government,white house,barack obama"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2018-08-21T21:58:27Z"
data-video-section="politics"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/08/21/trump-manafort-sad-russian-collusion-sot-tsr-vpx.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="trump manafort sad russian collusion sot tsr vpx"
data-first-publish-slug="trump manafort sad russian collusion sot tsr vpx"
data-video-tags="donald trump,political figures - us,continents and regions,crime, law enforcement and corrections,criminal law,eastern europe,europe,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,investigations,law and legal system,paul manafort,politics,russia,russia meddling investigation,us federal government,verdicts,white house,robert mueller"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2018-09-05T21:49:50Z"
data-video-section="politics"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/09/05/trump-nyt-anonymous-op-ed-reaction-sot-tsr-vpx.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="trump nyt anonymous op ed reaction sot tsr vpx"
data-first-publish-slug="trump nyt anonymous op ed reaction sot tsr vpx"
data-video-tags="companies,donald trump,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,new york times co,political figures - us,us federal government,white house"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2018-09-06T04:00:15Z"
data-video-section="politics"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/09/06/john-dean-trump-nyt-op-ed-ctn-sot-vpx.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="john dean trump nyt op ed ctn sot vpx"
data-first-publish-slug="john dean trump nyt op ed ctn sot vpx"
data-video-tags="donald trump,political figures - us,companies,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,john dean,new york times co,us federal government,white house"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2018-09-04T17:02:02Z"
data-video-section="politics"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/09/04/bob-woodward-book-trump-white-house-ip-vpx.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="bob woodward book trump white house ip vpx"
data-first-publish-slug="bob woodward book trump white house ip vpx"
data-video-tags="government and public administration,government bodies and offices,us federal government,white house,arts and entertainment,basketball,donald trump,paintings,political figures - us,sports and recreation,visual arts"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2018-08-28T22:05:58Z"
data-video-section="politics"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/08/28/donald-trump-warns-of-violence-midterms-sot-tsr-vpx.cnn"
data-branding-key="situation-room"
data-video-slug="donald trump warns of violence midterms sot tsr vpx"
data-first-publish-slug="donald trump warns of violence midterms sot tsr vpx"
data-video-tags="2018 midterm elections,donald trump,elections (by type),elections and campaigns,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,government organizations - us,midterm elections,political figures - us,political organizations,politics,us congress,us federal government,us political parties,us republican party,white house"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2018-08-23T13:53:27Z"
data-video-section="politics"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/08/23/donald-trump-fox-news-intv-impeach-somebody-great-job-economy-crash-sot-nr-vpx.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="donald trump fox news intv impeach somebody great job economy crash sot nr vpx"
data-first-publish-slug="donald trump fox news intv impeach somebody great job economy crash sot nr vpx"
data-video-tags="21st century fox,banking, finance and investments,business, economy and trade,companies,donald trump,economic conditions,economic crisis,economy and economic indicators,financial markets and investing,fox news,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,impeachment,political figures - us,political scandals,politics,scandals,securities trading,stock market crashes,stock markets,us federal government,white house"
data-details="">
"I'm not going to have time to go play golf," Trump said
Trump made Obama's golfing a staple of his 2016 critique
West Palm BeachCNN
—
President Donald Trump has made visiting his Florida golf courses a near every-weekend habit in the first month of his administration, and his aides are trying to obscure whether Trump is actually golfing during the visits.
One possible reason: Trump was a frequent and vocal critic of President Barack Obama’s golf habit, regularly slamming the former president for playing golf with many pressing issues before the country. Trump even suggested during a 2016 event in Virginia, in a knock on Obama, that if elected he was “not going to have time to go play golf.”
“I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go play golf,” Trump said at the time.
Trump has visited his two golf courses near his Mar-a-Lago estate – Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Course in Jupiter – six times in his first month in office.
Aides would not confirm that Trump played golf each time, but through a series of social media posts and interviews with the professional golfers who joined him, it is clear the President golfed during most of these visits. By comparison, Obama played his first round of golf as President on April 26, 2009, at Andrews Air Force Base.
The level of secrecy around golf is new for the presidency, too. While the Obama administration was hesitant to allow cameras to regularly get shots of the President hitting the links, they would tell reporters who joined the President for each round. Trump’s nascent administration has not done that.
According to a picture posted by Clear Sports, a golf technology company, Trump hit the links at Trump International Golf Club on Sunday with Rory McIlroy, one of the top-ranked golfers in the world.
McIlroy later told No Laying Up, a golf blog, that he played a full 18 holes with the President, the CEO of Clear Sports and Paul O’Neill, the former New York Yankees right fielder.
The professional golfer said Trump “shot around 80” through 18 holes, eight strokes above the course’s par 72 layout.
The reported 18 holes of golf, however, directly contradicts how White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders described Trump’s visit to the golf course during a briefing with reporters on Sunday.
“I know he played a couple of holes this morning but I am not going to disclose any of the others that were there,” Sanders said, adding that Trump also “played a couple” on Saturday, as well.
Confronted by McIlroy’s comments about playing 18 holes with the President, Sanders said the President “intended to play a few holes and decided to play longer.”
“He also had a full day of meetings, calls and interviews for the new (national security adviser), which he is continuing today before returning to Washington, DC, tonight,” Sanders added.
McIlroy is not the only professional golfer to play with the President. While hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Palm Beach earlier this month, Trump played a full round with the foreign leader and professional golfer, Ernie Els.
Abe shared during a joint news conference with Trump that his golf scores are “not up to the level of Donald at all,” but he’s “always aiming for the cup.”
Presidents have regularly turned to golf as a way to relax from their abnormally stressful job. Obama reportedly played 306 rounds of golf in office, a far cry from the estimated 1,200 rounds Woodrow Wilson played as president.
But Trump made Obama’s golf a staple of his 2016 critique of the President.
“I love golf, I think it’s one of the greats, but I don’t have time,” Trump said during a December 2016 rally in Michigan. “He played more golf last year than Tiger Woods. We don’t have time for this. We don’t have time for this. We have to work.”
And even before he was running for president, Trump would tweet about Obama’s golfing.
“Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the US, President Obama spent the day playing golf,” Trump tweeted in October 2014. “Worse than Carter.”
CNN’s Gregory Wallace contributed to this report.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to accurately reflect that Ernie Els still plays golf professionally.
