Golf World Reacts as Donald Trump Wins His 40th Club Championship With Round of 70

Donald Trump is back in the spotlight with another notable feat at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, per NUCLR Golf: his 40th club championship victory across his golf properties. And that number comes with a familiar catch. Every one of those wins has come on a course he owns, refereed by his own staff, with no outside verification of the card.

“Firing a score of 70, U.S. President Donald Trump has won another Club Championship,” NUCLR Golf wrote on X. “The Sr division title at Bedminster this weekend reportedly marks Trump’s 40th Club Championship victory across his golf properties.”

This was originally reported by Golf Digest senior writer Alex Myers, who also shared a clip from the golf course showing Trump apparently being presented with a trophy after the victory on his X account. However, it’s worth noting that he has never won a tournament outside of his own golf properties, and he owns plenty of them. 

According to a report by Bunkered, Trump owns at least 16 golf courses: 11 in the United States, two in Scotland, one in Ireland, one in the UAE, and one in Asia. Several more are also under construction. There has also been considerable skepticism surrounding the number of club championships Trump has actually won. 

A club championship carries weight because of how it’s run: under USGA rules, its scores count as “competition” scores, subject to peer review by the club’s Handicap Committee rather than self-reported. Winning one legitimately isn’t as simple as turning in a good scorecard. The club’s Handicap Committee has to sign off on the result before it counts as an official score. Play stretches across multiple rounds. Any member can enter. And the winner’s name gets posted somewhere the whole club walks past. Trump’s events don’t go through any of that. He owns the course the tournament is played on, his own staff runs it, and nobody outside the property ever lays eyes on the scorecard.

Trump himself has muddied the numbers further. During a Thanksgiving 2025 video call with U.S. military members, he put his total at 38 club championships, a figure that doesn’t quite square with how the term is normally used. A club championship is supposed to be an annual scratch event to find the best golfer at a club, but NUCLR Golf’s count lumps in senior division wins too.

Despite the skepticism surrounding Trump’s golfing resume, golf legend Jack Nicklaus offered a favorable assessment of his game. Nicklaus said Trump is “probably the best player” among the U.S. presidents he has played with. The 18-time major champion praised Trump’s golfing ability, saying he plays well and genuinely enjoys being on the course. 

While joking that Trump, much like himself, doesn’t always finish every hole, Nicklaus added that the President strikes the ball well and pointed to his multiple club championship victories as evidence of his ability. But where there’s praise, there’s also criticism. And one of Trump’s most vocal critics has been Rick Reilly. 

After Trump claimed to have won 38 club championships, Reilly responded on X, saying the President “adds about 10 every time he brings it up.” He went on to claim that Trump’s actual number of legitimate wins is zero, alleging that if anyone beats him, Trump “throws you out of the club.” Trump’s own history has also fuelled the criticism. 

According to Golf Monthly, Trump had not signed up for 2018’s championship at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach at all. After its conclusion, he challenged the winner to a nine-hole playoff and won, under what the outlet called “allegedly controversial circumstances,” then declared himself co-champion.

Two weeks after Phil Mickelson shot a 75 at Bedminster during a LIV Golf event, Trump posted that he’d shot a 67 there himself to win the club’s Senior Championship, a claim many found hard to believe given it beat a six-time major champion by eight strokes on the same course.

There are several other instances that critics point to as well. In any case, following NUCLR Golf’s post, golf fans quickly took to social media to share their opinions.

Opinion remains divided about Donald Trump’s golf wins

One user asked, “Honest question: Has he ever won a game on a course that he doesn’t own?” And the answer remains no.

Another mocked Trump’s win. “You have to play all 18 holes not 9 to win the tournament,” the user commented. There’s no actual evidence that he did otherwise. 

A third had the same idea. “70 gross not bad for 9 holes. I shot 73 gross today, but it was 18 holes,” they posted.

But Trump also had supporters. “I used to think this was BS. Just more Trump hyperbole. But I’ve seen him play. He’s legit. Could he foot wedge every now and then? Sure. But he can play.”

Someone else branded all the critics “haters,” writing: “All these haters. There’s a video of him playing 18 holes with Bryson DeChambeau within the last year. He can easily have shot a 70. Goofy swing, he makes it work.”

One fan went as far as to name Trump as the best. “He’s best golfing POTUS, haters are sorry pathetic people, some things never change,” they wrote.

That’s the gap fueling the divide. Forty titles sound impressive until you notice they all came somewhere Trump controls the tee sheet and the trophy. Until he wins on a course that isn’t his, the number stays a talking point, not a résumé, and at 80, with time running out to prove otherwise, that’s likely to stay the story.

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