By any unit of measure, the Trump Organisation’s golf property empire – of which Doonbeg, host to next week’s Amgen Irish Open is one of its prized jewels – is massive, encompassing as it does some 16 properties globally with yet more in the pipeline.

The first golf resort acquired by Donald Trump was West Palm Beach in Florida in 1999, which teed off a portfolio which has evolved to include the acquisition of some famous courses, among them Turnberry in Scotland which has played host to The Open on four occasions, and the creation from scratch of other projects in an ongoing expansion.

What’s more, this year alone bears testament of how all of the main men’s professional golf tours have been drawn like magnets to courses with the Trump brand. When the Irish Open is staged next week, it will be the sixth tournament of 2026 held on courses owned by the Trump Organisation, following the Cadillac Championship at Doral in Miami on the PGA Tour, LIV Bedminster and LIV Virginia on the troubled LIV 1.0 circuit, the Nexo Championship on the DP World Tour and the Staysure PGA (both at Trump Aberdeen) on the Legends Tour.

In terms of that magnetic pull, the exception, for now, remains the R&A. The Open organised have not featured Turnberry in its rota of courses to stage golf’s oldest Major championship in recent years. The last time Turnberry staged the championship was in 2009 when Stewart Cink lifted the Claret Jug.

And while the Trump organisation has used some of golf’s highest profile designers and players to create courses – among them Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Greg Norman and Martin Hawtree – it may come as a surprise to people that two of the golf empire’s portfolio were actually designed by Donald Trump himself. Trump National Los Angeles on the Palos Verdes peninsula and Trump National Washington DC (with contributions from Fazio and Arthur Hills in this case) are noted as Donald Trump Signature Courses.

Since its inception in 2022, LIV has played events at least once every season at a Trump course (although the Saudi Arabia PIF’s withdrawal of its financial support from that tour has left a big question mark over future tournaments).

Before that Bedminster event in August, the LIV chief executive officer Scott O’Neil couldn’t have been more effusive in outlining why they were there.

“When you come to a Trump course, it’s something special. It starts with the people … they attract some of the most wonderful people who can stop on a dime, who can pivot, who understand service, who understand what world-class golf courses mean and need.”

Who doesn’t like a bit of ego-bolstering, eh?

Trump’s son, Eric, who is executive vice-president of the Trump Organisation, is responsible for the operation of the golf resorts worldwide, including Doonbeg. He is seen to adopt a hands-on approach in keeping on top of the group’s expanding global empire of courses, with projects in Indonesia and Qatar set to add to its portfolio.

And while operational control of the golf side of things has been left to Eric, there are physical associations drawing on president Trump’s presence.

A week before LIV Doral in Miami in May, a large gold statue – actually constructed of bronze but gold-plated measured 15 feet in height and weighed three tons – was unveiled at the golf resort.

Dubbed “Don Colossus”, the statue depicts Trump with his right fist raised in the air, the pose taken after an assassination attempt in July 2024 at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The statue was funded by a cryptocurrency firm.

In Aberdeen, ahead of the opening last year, Eric arranged for a personalised sign to be erected with the following message: “New Course: The Great North Sea Links: This remarkable championship links course is built in honour of the greatest leader of our generation — my father, President Donald J Trump.

“His vision, indefatigable strength, and pursuit of excellence, drove the development of this ground-breaking modern links destination. It was his abiding love for Scotland — the ancestral home of his beloved mother, Mary Anne MacLeod — and the great game of golf, that inspired the team and I to build the New Course and complete what many believe to be the greatest 36 holes in the world. From your loving son, Eric F Trump. Opened by president Donald J Trump, 45th and 47th president of the United States of America, July 29th, 2025.”

Designed by Martin Hawtree, the new links at Aberdeen was officially opened in August 2025 with the US president playing a round of golf with former Ryder Cup player and captain Paul McGinley and has staged tournaments on the DP World Tour and the Legends Tour.

At that official opening of the new course to augment the older course (2011) and expand the resort to 36 holes, Eric Trump remarked: “This is not just another great golf course – it’s a once-in-a-generation masterpiece. We speak of the Mona Lisa when we talk about timeless masterpieces in golf. This is our Mona Lisa and it will be here for hundreds of years to come. I firmly believe that both courses here are the greatest 36 holes you will find anywhere in the world!”

The Trump portfolio started with that purchase of West Palm Beach in 1999 and has since expanded to include Trump Nationals in Los Angeles, Miami, Turnberry, Bedminster (New Jersey), Charlotte (North Carolina), Colts Neck (New York), Hudson Valley (New York), Jupiter (Florida), Pine Hill (New Jersey), Washington DC and Westchester (New York) and Trump Internationals in Doonbeg, Dubai, Lido (Indonesia), Aberdeen and Turnberry.

Turnberry is the diamond in the crown of jewels, but remains on the outside looking in with regard to again playing host to The Open with no imminent date for any return.

An interesting questions and answers developed at Royal Portrush last year between a reporter and Mark Darbon, the chief executive of the R&A, on whether Turnberry would again return to the championship rota.

Reporter: “For so long as Trump is president, we will assume that you don’t have any particular interest in going back there, but does that mean that when he ceases being president, there might be more reason to go back to Turnberry?”

Darbon: “I think we’ve been extremely clear on our position in respect of Turnberry. We love the golf course but we’ve got some big logistical challenges there … we’ve got some work to do on the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure around Turnberry. We’ve explicitly not taken it out of our pool of venues but we’d need to address those logistical challenges should we return.

Reporter: “What plans are you making to address them?

Darbon: “So we’ve had good conversations with the ownership and the venue like we do with all of our venues. We’ll continue to assess the feasibility and work collaboratively not just with the venue, but with local and national government to understand what may be possible and that process at Turnberry is no different.”

And so it remains the case.

Still, the beeline taken by the main professional tours to stage tournaments at Trump courses – with The Open and the R&A’s diplomatic answers seemingly an outlier – has resulted in high-profile regular tournaments throughout 2026, with Trump International Doonbeg joining the list with next week’s stage of the Amgen Irish Open.

Five Jewels in the Trump Crown

Aberdeen

Purchased in 2006 with plans to develop two links courses on the 1,400-acre site, the Trump Organisation had to overcome many objections from environmentalists due to its status as a site of scientific interest before being permitted to proceed with the project. The first course was opened for play in 2012 and a second course, called the MacLeod Course in memory of Donald Trump’s mother Mary Anne MacLeod, was opened in August 2025. The DP World Tour’s Nexo Championship, played at the Aberdeen venue last month, was won by Scott Jamieson.

Bedminster

The 520-acre site in New Jersey was purchased for $35 million in 2002, and two courses – designed by Tom Fazio and Tom Fazio II – were constructed. It hosted the US Women’s Open in 2017 and was awarded the men’s US PGA Championship for 2022 but the PGA of America decided to move it to Southern Hills in Oklahoma instead following the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021, claiming that holding the championship at Bedminster would be “damaging to the PGA of America brand.” Joaquin Niemann won the LIV Bedminster tournament in August.

Doonbeg

Originally designed by Greg Norman and developed by the same company who owned Kiawah Island, the resort was purchased by the Trump Organisation in 2008 for a reported €15 million. Among the investment in the resort since the change in ownership was a rebuild of the golf links by golf course architect Martin Hawtree, who was also responsible for the renovation of Lahinch. The Amgen Irish Open next week will be the first time for the course to play host to a DP World Tour event.

Doral

Although the upmarket resort has four courses, the Blue Monster is the star of the show. A long-time stop on the PGA Tour – it hosted the Doral Open from 1962-2006 – the Trump Organisation purchased the resort out of bankruptcy for a reported $150 million. The WGC-Cadillac championship was held there from 2007-2016 while LIV Miami was staged at the venue from 2022-2025. The PGA Tour returned this season with the Cadillac Championship (won by Cameron Young).

Turnberry

A host venue for The Open on four occasions – most memorably the 1977 so-called “Duel in the Sun” between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson – the famous links was purchased by Trump in 2014 for a reputed $60 million from its UAE owners. The Ailsa links – designed originally by Mackenzie Ross and again by Martin Ebert in 2006 – is one of the most famous seaside courses in golf and has played host to The Open on four occasions, along with Walker Cups and the AIG Women’s Open, but has not staged an Open since 2009.