Trump in Scotland: Golf as a Political Performance Act
By Anna Barlow
President Trump has golfed 137 out of the 611 days he has spent back in office. In other words, he has spent more than 22% of his presidential days on the green. Like Andy Burnham on his runs, or even JFK sailing, Trump participates in the world of sport tied to the wider game of politics. His golfing has arguably become a kind of performance art.
U.S. President Donald Trump visits Scotland for rounds of golf and trade talks, July 29th 2025
Image Courtesy of BBC.
As Amanda Coogan defines it, Performance Art is a practice that involves a person undertaking an action to create an ephemeral art experience for an audience. Trump’s action of choice is golf.
Like many sports, golf has the potential to place a morally dubious oligarch into the shoes of a virtuous sportsman. Still, this guise may not be as effective as planned, especially as he frequents the game’s home turf in Scotland where standards are high.
Last photographed playing at Trump Turnberry in July 2025, Trump took advantage of the Scottish landscape to meet EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen at his luxury golf resort. They reached an unlikely agreement to set US tariffs on goods from the EU at 15%.
Captured in a follow-through, Trump’s success is portrayed in the photos of him performing his beloved sport. His arms are raised triumphantly, painting a picture of victory that is inherent to the natural motions of the golf swing. Yet, this is only proof of style, not substance.
Wayman Adams, Bobby Jones, 1926, oil on canvas, 80×47 inches.
Image courtesy of Atlanta Athletic Club.
The use of golf as a paradigm for successful leaders has a long-standing tradition. In 1926, Wayman Adams was commissioned by a group of prominent Atlantan businessmen to celebrate Bobby Jones winning ‘The Double’ (the U.S. and British Opens) with a portrait to convey his profound integrity.
One of the patrons, businessman J.J. Haverty, wrote to Adams in a letter: “you are not making the portrait of a sport, but of a young man with a high order of mental capacity, of wonderful concentration, self-control, culture, determination and ambition.” A paragon of golf like Jones arguably displays all the virtues of an admirable leader, or in this case, an American president.
Yet, does Trump successfully align himself with this golfing blueprint? Certainly not.
Golfing in Scotland, the game’s birthplace, is entrenched in authentic tradition and has the potential to legitimise Trump’s politics. Much as a priest gains a kind of authority by practising in Rome, going to a country of prestige, with centuries of tradition, is a smart move.
John Cuneo, The Swamp, 2018, ink and watercolour.
Image courtesy of The New Yorker
Yet, in true Trump fashion, he faces allegations of playing ‘fast and loose’ with the rules of the course. In this way, the President trips into a bunker of parody rather than serious legitimate play. This is captured by contemporary artists such as John Cuneo.
Trump is illustrated trying to play out of a murky swamp, kept afloat by a turtle, and protected by surrounding crocodile caddies. His disposition is uncannily like that of his team of predators, as he nods to a snake hanging from above.
Comedy, indeed, is a part of the game played in St Andrews. As those who walk along the Scores, or spend their own time on the Links will recognise: ‘elements of the absurd and ridiculous are, indeed, “par for the course”’. Humourists such as Norman Rockwell have adopted this subject, parodying what Mark Twain called “a good walk spoiled”.
Norman Rockwell, Old Man Tracy of Tracy and Tracy, 1926, oil on canvas, 22×36 inches, United States Golf Association Museum, Far Hills, New Jersey.
Image Courtesy of Cindy Momchilov.
Cuneo takes one step further with his presidential picture, landing the final putt on this parody as he interweaves the President’s alleged foul play and, naturally, politics.
Trump’s tries to perform on Scotland’s sacred turf as a political saint of sport, but instead, falls on his own sword (or his club, rather), in the face of malpractice on the green and in the White House.
That July last year, Trump was met with hundreds of protesters in Edinburgh.
Bibliography
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DTGF. ‘Donald Trump Golf Tracker’. Donald Trump Golf Tracker, 13 August 2026. https://donaldtrump.golf/
France 24. ‘Hundreds Rally in Scotland to Protest Against Trump’s Golf Visit’. FRANCE 24, 26 July 2025. https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20250726-hundreds-rally-in-scotland-to-protest-against-trump-s-golf-visit.
High Museum of Art. ‘The Art of Golf’. High Museum of Art, 10 July 2024. https://high.org/exhibition/the-art-of-golf/.
Lubin, Rhian. ‘Trump Posted Touched-Up Version of His Golf Photo to Look Younger and Slimmer’. Independent, 10 August 2026. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-golf-photo-truth-social-b3030450.html.
McCool, Mary. ‘Donald Trump Agrees Trade Lead With EU President After Round of Golf at Turnberry’. BBC News, 27 July 2025. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93dpl0p200o.
McCool, Mary. ‘Security Tightens as Donald Trump Plays Golf at Turnberry’. BBC News, 26 July 2025. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg4210lygko.
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