Who played more golf in office trump or obama
Executive summary
Donald Trump has been documented to have played substantially more golf while in the presidency than Barack Obama: multiple outlets and trackers show Trump’s rounds and trips outpaced Obama’s, with one Statista summary saying Trump played 75 rounds in his first year versus Obama’s 31 and analyses finding Trump "138% more golf" than Obama in comparable periods [1]. Reporting also emphasizes that Trump’s golf outings have cost taxpayers tens of millions in travel and security in his second term — HuffPost-based figures cited by The Independent and other outlets put 2025 golf-related costs near $71 million and project the total could rise toward $300 million if the pace continued [2] [3].
1. The raw totals: multiple counts point to Trump playing more
Contemporary tallies and long-form counts used by news outlets and trackers show Trump accumulated far more golf rounds during his presidency than Obama did: Statista summarized that Trump played 75 rounds in his first year vs. Obama’s 31 and reported Trump played roughly 138% more golf than his predecessor in early comparisons [1]. Newsweek and other outlets tracked rounds across terms and cited Mark Knoller’s and other compilations showing Obama played hundreds of rounds over eight years (333 rounds reported for Obama by a Newsweek summary) while Trump’s confirmed rounds per year were higher in the comparable windows [4] [1].
2. Methodology matters: “rounds” vs. “trips” vs. taxpayer cost
Different sources count golf in different ways: some count confirmed “rounds” of golf (how many times a president played a course), others count trips to golf clubs or weekends away where golf likely occurred; still others estimate taxpayer cost per trip [1] [5] [2]. For example, HuffPost-based analyses tally travel and security costs per trip (about $3.4 million per Mar‑a‑Lago trip in 2025) and produce dollar totals, while trackers like DidTrumpGolfToday aim to list days spent golfing or at golf properties [5] [2]. Those methodological differences explain varying headline numbers across outlets [3] [2].
3. Cost angle: why much of recent coverage centers on taxpayer expense
Coverage from The Guardian, The Independent and other outlets emphasizes not just frequency but cost: reporting cites HuffPost analysts estimating roughly $71 million in taxpayer costs for Trump’s 2025 golf-related travel and security so far, with projections that continuing the pattern could push totals much higher over a term [2] [3] [6]. That focus creates a different comparison metric: even if both presidents played, Trump’s pattern of flying to his private clubs and weekend trips to Mar‑a‑Lago produced higher security and travel bills than Obama’s more local rounds, according to these reports [2] [6].
4. Political context and messaging: hypocrisy and critique
Multiple pieces point out political friction: Trump criticized Obama in 2016 for golfing, then played frequently himself once in office — a contrast that has driven much commentary and criticism [1] [7]. Opinion and news outlets highlight that dynamic explicitly, using it to frame public outrage about both frequency and apparent enrichment when Trump visits courses he owns [6] [7].
5. Trackers and independent tallies: strengths and limits
Sites like DidTrumpGolfToday and project trackers provide day-by-day accounting and cost estimates, useful for cross-checking media reports, but they rely on public reports, photos and official notices — and their cost-per-trip estimates use GAO-derived averages that may not capture every variable [5]. Statista and other aggregators use media and government reporting to produce comparative charts, which are useful snapshots but inherit the limits of source data [1].
6. What the sources do not say
Available sources do not offer a single, universally accepted official tally that perfectly reconciles every round, trip and cost across both presidencies; they rely on journalistic compilations, trackers and analyses [1] [5] [2]. Specific claims about the exact final comparative number of rounds across full presidencies depend on which counts and time windows are chosen; that ambiguity explains differing headline figures in the reporting [4] [1].
Conclusion: On the simplest reading of public counts and media analyses, Donald Trump played more golf while in office than Barack Obama, and his golf-related trips in 2025 drew particular attention because outlets estimated high taxpayer security and travel costs for those outings [1] [2] [3]. Different sources use different counting methods and emphasize different metrics — rounds played, trips taken, or taxpayer dollars spent — so exact comparisons vary by methodology [1] [5].