Trump Gets Caught Cheating At Golf And The Response Will Send His Ego Spiraling

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For a man who enjoys calling out his opponents for supposedly influencing outcomes, President Donald Trump seems to do quite a bit of that himself. Trump's questionable reputation on the golf course was just highlighted by a video clip now going mega-viral. During his recent visit to Scotland, the president took time to play some rounds at his Turnberry golf course. Cameras caught Trump's caddies walking just ahead of his golf cart as it approached a sand bunker. One of the caddies is clearly shown taking a ball and tossing it behind him onto the turf just before Trump exits the cart and prepares to swing.

High resolution video of Trump's caddie placing a golf ball for him at his Turnberry Golf Resort in Scotland.

Trump approached to play like it was no big deal. pic.twitter.com/hdKq0Bxzlv

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) July 28, 2025

The incident set off a firestorm online. Supporters of the divisive POTUS brushed it off as no big deal. One commenter on X, formerly Twitter, yawned, "This isn't a tournament. LOL It's a round of golf and probably couldn't find his ball. The caddie dropped one for him. Take it easy." Another suggested Trump wasn't actually keeping score, snarking, "He owns the golf course and can hit as many balls as he wants. Who gives a stuff?" But critics saw the play quite differently, and Trump wouldn't be happy to see the way he's being roasted. One called the move "a metaphor for his entire presidency." A detractor agreed, "Trump caught cheating at golf. Everything he does is crooked."

Even more eyebrows would have been raised if this had been an actual tournament. Trump's championship golf wins often evoke the word that rhymes with "wigged," since they coincidentally occur at the very courses he owns. This was a casual game, but it followed a pattern fellow golfers have known for years.

Sportswriter Rick Reilly succinctly described Donald Trump's golf methods in his book "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump." Moving the ball, taking extra swings, and positioning himself at the top of the scoreboard are all, excuse the expression, par for the course for the president. By contrast, Reilly says, Barack Obama's game "could have been put on a USGA poster — no cheating, no mulligans, no do-overs."  

Was the caddy's move in Scotland illegal? Opinions vary. Commenters on X pointed out that golfers who hit their ball into a sand trap can opt not to try hitting it out. Instead, they can move the ball outside the bunker and take either one or two penalty strokes, depending on where the ball is placed. Trump may just have been playing for fun and not actually keeping score. But having a caddy do the positioning for the player is a gray area, and the nonchalant "oops, here it is" attitude of Trump's caddy looked to some like a cover-up.

The bigger issue, argues Reilly, is that Trump routinely makes illegal moves in a game renowned for its integrity. "For golfers, the stain of cheating is so much graver than winning or losing that we live in mortal fear of being called a cheater," he writes. "[T]he way Trump does golf is sort of the way he does a presidency, which is to operate as though the rules are for other people." Considering Trump's golf outings in Florida alone reportedly cost taxpayers millions in travel, hotel, and security expenses for his entourage, you'd think he owes the public at least a more honest game.