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Fact check: What is the estimated cost per trip for Trump to visit his golf courses?
Executive Summary
Reporting from multiple outlets shows there is no single, authoritative “cost per trip” figure for former President Donald Trump’s visits to his golf properties; estimates cited in recent coverage range from specific one-off local policing bills of about £3.2 million to event-related estimates as high as £12 million, with broader tallies of cumulative taxpayer costs in the tens of millions since his return to the White House [1] [2]. The available sources offer aggregate totals and isolated examples, not a standardized per-trip accounting, so any per-trip number depends on which costs and which trips are included [2] [1].
1. One trip, big local bill — Why a single visit can look enormous
A high-profile example cited in later-September reporting estimates that a private journey to one of Mr. Trump’s Scottish golf venues generated a local policing bill of about £3.2 million, illustrating how security and local operational costs can dominate a single-trip figure [1]. This figure reflects local and host-nation expenditures tied to a specific event and security posture, rather than a comprehensive U.S. federal expenditure breakdown; the same article frames it as part of an overall claim that golf-related costs since his return exceed £53 million, demonstrating how isolated large-ticket items can be aggregated into a larger cumulative claim [1].
2. Event-scale numbers — Ryder Cup and “most expensive” framing
Coverage around the 2025 Ryder Cup raised an estimate that Mr. Trump’s visit could make that trip “the most expensive in sport’s history,” using a projected figure of over £12 million for that single engagement [1]. This is an event-driven estimate: the Ryder Cup is an international sporting gathering with expanded security, logistics, and hosting demands, so the per-trip figure here is driven by the scale of the event rather than a routine weekend at a private club. The reporting provides a context-driven top-end example but does not supply a line-by-line federal accounting to corroborate every cost component [1].
3. Cumulative tallies — totals versus per-trip averages
Other pieces compile cumulative figures, stating that golf-related travel since Mr. Trump’s return to office has cost taxpayers tens of millions—for example, claims of over $18 million tied to Florida course visits and pacing toward exceeding $151.5 million spent during his first term [2]. Cumulative totals can be converted into averages only if the number of trips and included cost categories are defined; the sources do not present a consistent trip count or uniform inclusion rules (e.g., local policing, federal Secret Service, travel, airlift, and opportunity costs), so dividing totals by an undefined trip denominator yields unreliable per-trip estimates [2].
4. Why different outlets report different numbers — definitions and biases matter
The disparate figures arise from differences in scope and methodology: some stories emphasize local police costs at host locations, others aggregate federal security expenses, and some mix multiple cost categories into a single headline total [1] [2]. Each source frames its figures to highlight fiscal impact, and that framing can reflect editorial priorities; none of the provided pieces points to an audited, single-source federal breakdown of per-trip costs that would allow apples-to-apples comparisons, leaving room for differing interpretations and political narratives [2] [1].
5. What a rigorous per-trip estimate would require — missing accountability pieces
To produce a defensible per-trip cost one would need transparent line-item data across consistent categories—Secret Service overtime and transportation, Department of Defense airlift, Department of Homeland Security coordination, local law enforcement reimbursements, and ancillary federal and host-nation expenditures—plus the exact trip count and duration [2] [1]. The current reporting provides fragmented inputs—event estimates, local bills, and cumulative totals—but lacks a unified dataset or methodology shared across outlets, so any single-number per-trip claim is provisional and contingent on omitted assumptions [1] [2].
6. Bottom line: a range, not a single number — how readers should interpret these claims
The most defensible statement from the available reporting is that per-trip costs vary widely and that recent examples span from roughly £3.2 million for a specific local policing burden up to £12 million+ for a major international event, while cumulative totals since his return reach tens of millions in taxpayer expense [1] [2]. Readers should treat these figures as illustrative extremes and not as a definitive per-visit average, since no source in the provided set publishes a standardized, itemized per-trip accounting that reconciles local, federal, and event-driven expenditures [3] [2].