Fact check: Did Obama or Bush play more golf rounds during their presidencies than Trump?

1. Why different tallies for Obama make headline counts slippery

The public record on Obama’s golf rounds is inconsistent across the provided items: one source cites 333 rounds during his presidency (a Golf Channel/CBS tally published in January 2017), while other contemporaneous accounts estimate 186 or “over 140” rounds in mid-presidency reports (2014 and 2013). These variations reflect differences in counting methodology (what counts as a round, private vs. public outings, pre-presidency vs. official-time play) and timing of the tallies; later compilations naturally aggregate more outings. The divergence underscores that single-number claims need methodological context before comparing across presidents. ^{[1] [2] [4]}

2. The Bush baseline: small numbers, but also a pause during wartime

All provided analyses that discuss George W. Bush portray him as having played far fewer rounds as president than Obama, citing an estimate of 24 rounds and noting that Bush largely stopped playing in 2003 because of overseas wars. That wartime pause is widely noted in contemporaneous commentary and explains the low tally rather than reflecting a permanent aversion to the sport. The data in the supplied items therefore supports the clear conclusion that Bush played fewer presidential rounds than Obama, according to these counts. ^{[2] [5] [4]}

3. Trump’s golf activity is described, but rounds are not enumerated

The supplied pieces about Donald Trump from 2024–2025 report frequent visits to his own golf properties and multiple weekend stays, with a 2025 summary noting 62 visits to golf courses in the first six months of a second term and descriptions of many weekends at Mar-a-Lago. These items document visit frequency and property use but do not provide a strict rounds count comparable to the Obama/Bush tallies. Because the inputs focus on site visits and travel patterns rather than a standardized round-by-round accounting, they cannot be directly converted into a rounds total to compare with the Obama and Bush numbers offered here. ^{[3] [6]}

4. Comparing apples to oranges: methodological gaps that block a clean answer

Directly answering whether Obama or Bush played more rounds than Trump requires a consistent metric: identical definitions of a “round,” inclusion/exclusion of pre/post-presidential play, and transparent counting of private vs. public rounds. The supplied materials fail to deliver that consistent metric for all three presidents. Obama’s figures vary by source and date, Bush’s low figure is tied to wartime behavior, and Trump’s coverage gives visit counts, not rounds. Because of these methodological gaps, any definitive cross-president ranking from the provided dataset would be unreliable. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

5. Political context and possible agendas shaping coverage

Several supplied items note political framing: Obama’s golf was a focal point for critics and was even tracked by partisan entities, while Bush publicly defended presidential golf. Reporting about Trump emphasizes frequency of stays at private clubs and contextualizes that behavior in 2025 accountability coverage. These patterns suggest that coverage choices reflect partisan and watchdog agendas—counting rounds can be used to criticize leisure, while emphasizing costs or frequency can serve broader narratives about priorities or ethics. Readers should treat single numbers as potentially selected to support a political point. ^{[7] [5] [3]}

6. Short answer based on the supplied evidence and what’s missing

From the supplied analyses, the best-supported conclusion is that Obama played more golf rounds than George W. Bush while in office, because multiple contemporary pieces explicitly report that difference. There is insufficient comparable data in these materials to determine whether Obama or Bush played more rounds than Trump: Trump’s activity is described in visit-frequency terms without a rounds tally, and Obama’s rounds estimates vary across sources and dates. A definitive, apples-to-apples ranking is therefore not possible from the given documents alone. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

7. What you would need to resolve this definitively

To settle the question conclusively, obtain or produce three items: ^[8] a standardized rounds count for each president with a transparent definition of what counts as a round; ^[9] source-by-source reconciliation of private vs. official play and chronology; and ^[10] independent compilations or audits that reconcile visit counts with actual rounds played at private properties. Only with such standardized, contemporaneous accounting can one credibly compare Obama, Bush, and Trump on presidential golf. The current supplied dossier is informative but incomplete for that final comparison. ^{[1] [2] [6]}