British golf fans are left outraged as Donald Trump‘s Scottish Turnberry resort is hiking prices to £1,000 per round, making it the most expensive golf course in the UK.
The transatlantic golf row has broken as UK players, who claim it the best golf course in the country, feel they are being priced out of the game by ‘rich Americans’
Many took to X (formerly Twitter) to point fingers at the GOP Presidential candidate Trump, who bought the course in 2014, and the influx of wealthy American punters he has attracted.
One social media user said: ‘Yikes. I am hoping to do a Scotland trip in the coming years but I’m worried these courses are pricing out regular golfers and just hoping rich Americans cover the costs.’
Another posted: ‘Rich American golfers are ruining the game of golf for the average punter. I’ve been lucky enough to play Turnberry twice pre Trump for £100 but the price to play Scotland’s elite courses in now insane.’
Former US president Donald Trump playing golf at his Trump Turnberry course in South Ayrshire during his visit to the UK
Donald Trump on July 18
Another X account noted that Turnberry was a ‘great course’ but ‘not 1,000 pounds sterling great’.
The price increases were flagged by Scottish golf enthusiast David Jones who runs the blog UK Golf Guy.
Taking to X, he said on Sunday that ’18 holes on the Alisa course at Turnberry will cost £1,000 a person for non-residents before 1pm. After 1pm, £545.’
He noted that in 2013, the year before Trump took over the golf course, the price for a round was £176.
The Ailsa course and hotel resort at Turnberry in southwest Scotland, which Trump has owned since 2014, has become the most expensive in the UK at £56 per hole before 1pm.
Golfing fanatics are outraged as the Scottish Turnberry resort owned by Donald Trump will hike up its prices to a ‘ridiculous’ £1,000 per round
Golf players on X pointed their fingers at the former US president and the influx of wealthy American punters he has attracted
Several believe that Scottish golfers are being priced out of the game in their own country by ‘rich Americans’.
Jones also warned that green fees at other well-known courses in Scotland, including the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie in Angus and Muirfield in East Lothian.
Fees at Carnoustie and Muirfield will be £321 and £365 respectively, while the Old Course in St Andrews which has not yet announced next year’s fees, is £320 this summer, according to The Times.
Meanwhile, golfing website Golfshake said: ‘Even we were caught off guard when we saw the price to play the legendary Ailsa in 2025. There is no doubt that the Ailsa is one of the finest layouts on the planet but enough people have been put off by the venue’s association with Donald Trump without these new prices making the place even more inaccessible to the majority.’
Americans account for more than half of business at golf courses and hotels in Scotland during the summer months, as reported by The Times.
This comes as Donald Trump on Friday said that he wants to give golfing legend Sir Nick Faldo a job at the White House if he is elected president in November, the Republican presidential candidate said.
Although Faldo is from England, he appears to have taken an interest in Republican politics since marrying his fourth wife, American former topless dancer Lindsay De Marco back in 2020. She is a MAGA fanatic and was named Mrs Conservative US in 2012.
Trump gushed over the British golf champion at a campaign rally in Bozeman, Montana, revealing that Faldo was ‘a major friend of mine’, as he attended Trump’s event.
During the rally on Friday, Trump addressed the retired sportsman and praised his golfing skills to the crowds.
‘He could take people, he’d play the best players in the world, and they always folded in front of him. In fact, I think I need to bring him into government ’cause we like to get other people to fold.’
