Donald Trump Golf Partner Mystery: On More Than 70 Percent Of Golf Outings, No One Knows Who Trump Played With

When Donald Trump, a golf enthusiast, campaigned for president in 2016, he pledged that he would give up golf, saying, “I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go golfing, believe me. Believe me. Believe me, folks,” as CNN reported. But in fact, in his 554 days in office, Trump has spent 132 at a golf club that he owns or operates, according to a record kept by NBC News producer Kyle Griffin.

That means that Trump has spent more than 20 percent of his term at golf clubs, according to calculations by Golf News Net, which notes that were he to remain in office for the full eight years of two terms, Trump would spend 772 days at his golf courses.

That would be 2.3 times as much golfing than his predecessor, President Barack Obama, who played golf a total of 333 times, according to a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Of course, the exact number of days Trump has actually hit the links is uncertain, because the White House rarely reveals if Trump has played or not when he visits a golf club. But the Washington Post estimates that Trump has played golf 111 times so far in his 19 months in office.

Though Trump has golfed on some inappropriate occasions — including as the body of a slain United States soldier, killed in Niger, was returned home, as Inquisitr reported — the White House has frequently claimed that Trump’s golf outings double as work meetings, as NBC News reported. And that has created a mystery that The Post is asking for the public’s help in solving.

If Trump is working on the golf course, The Post wants to know, who is he working with? According to the paper’s count, on 81 of his 111 golf outings — 73 percent — since taking office on January 20, 2017, Trump’s golf partners are simply unknown, at least to the public.

Some of Trump’s golf partners have been identified, The Post reports. They include his staff and cabinet members, Senators and Representatives, and even foreign leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for example, has played golf with Trump on three occasions. Trump has also played with legendary golf pros, including Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.

But according to Post reporter Philip Bump, in all but 30 of his golf games, Trump’s partners remain a mystery.

“What it means is that Trump holds three-hour-long meetings with unknown individuals multiple times a month,” Bump wrote on Friday. “He might have spent three hours on Saturday chatting with the head of a firm that will soon learn that it is exempt from certain tariffs. We simply don’t know.”

The Washington Post is asking for the public’s help. Bump posted a list of Trump’s golf outings. At that link, the paper is accepting tips about who golfed with Trump on specific dates.