Trump visits his golf clubs 17 times in 11 weeks

I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf. ~ Donald Trump, August 2016

The President routinely brings attention and money to his own businesses in Florida, Virginia and the District of Columbia through his regular forays to his golf clubs, hotels and restaurants.

On Sunday, March 26, Trump made his 13th trip to a golf course bearing his name. It had been nine weeks since he assumed office on January 20.

On Sunday, April 9, he made his 17th trip to one of his own golf clubs. It’s been 11 weeks since he was sworn in.

"Hurries toward his home and sporting place" Henry IV #ShakespeareSunday #Trump #golf #sad pic.twitter.com/dzGeYPSaoy

— cassandracarolina (@cassandra17lina) April 9, 2017

As president, he is routinely spotlighting his own businesses.

Moreover, he is also routinely visiting properties with challenging security issues:

Former Secret Service agents said the setup at Mar-a-Lago and the president’s other regular clubs presents challenges that their agency wasn’t built to deal with. The Service’s main job is to protect the president from physical threats and monitoring for wiretaps and other listening devices — but not from the kinds of counterespionage challenges presented by the president’s choice to eat, sleep and work at a club accessible to anyone who can get a member to invite them in.

You and I know that his businesses aren’t forced to shut down when he visits. (We have seen the pix on social media.)

That’s not the case when he flies into Florida.

Lantana Airport, a Palm Beach County facility, is about six miles southwest of Mar-a-Lago. It loses business every time Trump goes to Mar-a-Lago because the Secret Service closes down the airport. So all of its clients also lose business. However, “tenants are unlikely to receive any concessions” or compensation from the federal government.

He is also playing a game of “ignore what I said.”

On 26 occasions, he complained on Twitter about Obama golfing too much.

In February, Politico noted:

President Barack Obama made it four months into his presidency before his first golf outing as commander in chief. George W. Bush made it even longer, first hitting the links as president about 5 ½ months into his first term.

Donald Trump made it two weeks before heading to the golf course.

In December, he played with Tiger Woods.

An earlier version of this post ran on March 26.
Also, see my Golf Outing Tracker