California Governor Gavin Newsom recently shared some news on X (formerly Twitter) to reveal that Donald Trump’s golfing has cost US taxpayers $100 million. He noted in his post, “$100 million — not spent on food assistance, health care, housing, or veterans. Just golf!”
It has been 14 months since Donald Trump began his second term as President of the United States, and Gavin Newsom is keeping an eye on him all along. In that time, Trump has made 56 visits to West Palm Beach and his Mar-a-Lago, and has played 110 rounds of golf, which is keeping him on track to spend $300 million on golf.
Due to Donald Trump’s golf roster, US taxpayers are set to pay at least $101.2 million on the President’s travel and security expenses since his return to office. According to a HuffPost analysis, this figure is around two-thirds of his golf total in his first term as President, and he is set to spend $300 million by the time his second term comes to an end.
$100 million — not spent on food assistance, health care, housing, or veterans.
Just golf! https://t.co/3yJ5qH0QAX
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) March 29, 2026
Saturday morning marked Trump’s 56th visit to his West Palm Beach golf course since he inaugurated in 2025. It also marked the President’s 110th day of golfing on one of his own golf courses. This figure makes it clear that he has played golf on more than 25 percent of his days since starting his second term.
Jordan Libowitz of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a watchdog group in Washington, said, “At a time when gas prices are spiking and Americans across the country find themselves in an ever-worsening affordability crisis, the president has burned through over $100 million in taxpayer money to make promotional appearances at his golf courses and hobnob with millionaires and billionaires.”
“If his goal were to help struggling Americans out, one thing he could try is stop spending their money going to his golf courses,” Libowitz added.
In Donald Trump’s first term in office, it took him two full years to reach the $100 million mark. While he played golf on a total of 293 days on his own golf courses, he cost taxpayers $151.5 million. These figures were reportedly based on figures for transportation and security for the President’s golf trips, on a report to Congress in Trump’s first term in office.
Now in his second term, Trump has so far made 17 trips exclusively to his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, which is located close to his courses in West Palm Beach and Jupiter. Moreover, of the seven trips to Mar-a-Lago, these also included at least one extra stop. As an example, last weekend, the President flew from Florida to Memphis to make a speech before returning to Washington, DC.
On top of these trips, Trump has traveled to his course in Bedminster, New Jersey on eight occasions, costing $1.1 million per trip, and five to his Doral, Florida, resort, which cost an additional $2.7 million each.
However, of Trump’s regular golfing destinations, Mar-a-Lago costs the most for him to visit, costing taxpayers $3.4 million per trip, due to the added expense of patrolling the Atlantic Ocean off the Palm Beach coast, as well as the Intracoastal Waterway that separates the barrier island from the mainland.
This is due to the necessity of a Coast Guard ship being stationed offshore during Trump’s visit, as well as smaller law enforcement vessels with guns on their bows in the Intracoastal Waterway.
However, the President’s most expensive golfing trip to date was his trip to his resorts in Scotland last summer, which reportedly cost $9.7 million. This included his participation in the grand opening of a new golf course at his Aberdeen property, which reportedly was an event for his for-profit business that the Trump administration staff in the White House helped to promote.
Meanwhile, the White House has recently started categorizing Trump’s golf trips as “executive time,” a phrase that also shows almost daily in his public schedule. When the White House press office was asked if that meant the President participates in some form of leisure activity in each instance, the unsigned statement read, “Executive time refers to executive time.”
BREAKING: Donald Trump appears to be on his way to golf in Florida as gas prices skyrocket, inflation intensifies and war rages on. This is an insult to the American people. pic.twitter.com/BLtwOlvKmn
— Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) March 22, 2026
Among the additional expenses are the cost to fly Air Force One, and the requirement to transport motorcade vehicles using expensive C-17 cargo planes. Reportedly, the high costs of his hobby in Trump’s second term include the flights on Air Force One, the Air Force C-17 transports, and the salaries for those protecting Trump have likely increased.
Before Trump’s first term in 2016, he spent much time criticizing former President Barack Obama for his golf outings. Meanwhile, in his first campaign, Trump promised he wouldn’t have time to play golf. Moreover, following his loss in the 2020 election, Trump also repeatedly criticized his successor, Joe Biden, for his regular weekend trips to his home in Delaware.
However, the taxpayer tab for Obama’s golf trips was a small fraction of Trump’s, mainly because he played the course at Joint Base Andrews, a short drive from the White House. Meanwhile, Biden’s trips home used either the smaller version of Air Force One, or a Marine One helicopter. Both options cost far less to operate than the $273,063 per hour it costs Trump to fly the larger, modified Boeing 747 on his golf trips to Florida.
