JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK: 6,000 cops, miles of steel and the dog walkers baffled by the most expensive round of golf EVER!

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Officially it is a two-centre golfing break in Scotland – the kind favoured by many a rich American crossing the pond this summer.
The trip takes in a prestigious west coast course and a round on a newly complete east coast one, with the last word in luxury accommodation a short walk from the first tee at each.
But no long weekend on the fairways in Scotland has ever looked quite like this one.
This one has commandeered almost a third of Police Scotland's manpower to make sure things go smoothly.
This one had officers in high viz vests swarming over greens, tees, fairways and rough hours before the holidaymaker even boarded his flight from Washington DC.
It had police with dogs, on horseback and even officers on quad bikes as they patrolled a mile-long expanse of empty beach which they have closed off to the public.
It even had a security tower with police sharp shooters atop it.
US President Donald Trump is a man partial to superlatives. Well, his sojourn at Turnberry, in Ayrshire, and the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire abounds in them.
It is surely the most expensive golfing trip on these isles ever contemplated. How many others involved flying in a motorcade by military jet days in advance?
Further preparations have included throwing up rings of steel around the Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire courses and accommodation - all of which, of course, the vacationing president happens to own.
Rounds were still being played by regular golfers (albeit paying up to £1,000 a time) at Turnberry yesterday. But the golf was happening behind miles of newly erected 10ft fences with ultra-fine mesh, and only after rigorous ID and vehicle checks.
On the tee of the third hole, which lies closest to a stretch of shore still accessible to the public, the foursomes hitting their drives were easily outnumbered by police patrols.
Nor, surely, has any golfing weekend boasted the epic supporting cast of this one. Up to 6,000 police officers - many drafted in from forces outside Scotland - are on some form of Trump detail this weekend.
They were arriving at Turnberry yesterday not by the traditional vanload but by the coachload - three in the space of four minutes.
And let us not forget the protesters. Thousands of them are expected to make the extent of their displeasure felt in Edinburgh and Aberdeen this weekend - while others hope to do so within shouting distance at his golf courses.
Also among the bit part players are Prime Minister Keir Starmer and First Minister John Swinney, both of whom will be afforded audiences with Mr Trump - one in each of his Scottish residences - over the next few days.
There was a time during his days as a mere billionaire tycoon when a Trump visit to one of his Scottish properties brought a splash of colour and a smattering of press to the local area.
It would bring his private jet - a 727 - with the Trump name emblazoned on the fuselage in gold lettering.
Today, as president, he arrives in Air Force One - and brings those same areas to a standstill.
'We came here for a quiet life,' says Bill Fletcher, 73, who moved to Turnberry from Stratford Upon Avon a year ago.
'But there's just so much security and it arrived here so early. We can't get on the beach to walk the dog. I suppose you have to expect it for the most important person in the world - or someone who thinks he is.'
His view of the president is likely similar to many of the householders in this upmarket enclave of detached houses and holiday homes. 'I don't like some of his policies and he can be quite unpredictable,' he says. 'But he's got some things right and I wish we were as firm here as he is.'
Along the road in the Balkenna Tearoom, staff were bracing themselves for protesters mobbing their carpark as they did during Mr Trump's last presidential visit in 2018.
'We've a sign up saying 'patrons only' this time,' says a waitress. 'It's going to be pandemonium.'
On his visit during his first term as president, a protester managed to fly an aircraft trailing an anti-Trump banner over the Ailsa championship course.
This time around, you cannot fly so much as a kite or model aeroplane in the area. Don't even think about a drone or a balloon. 'No Fly Zone' signs dotted all around advise people seeing anyone attempting to do so to call 999.
And yet, here at least, the disruption is met with a degree of understanding. It is less than a year since there was an attempt on Mr Trump's life on a golf course.
The gunman hid in shrubbery at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Weeks earlier, on the campaign trail he was hit in the ear by a sniper's bullet.
'I don't like him personally but I suppose we have to put up with it, and it doesn't happen very often,' says David Browning, 84, who lives a few hundred yards from the Turnberry clubhouse.
'And I've got say, he does a lot for Turnberry which was looking pretty tired before he bought it.'
Does he visit the spruced-up hotel much himself?
'Occasionally, but you've got to have lined pockets for that,' Mr Browning said, adding that he hopes the president is successful in bringing the Open championship back to Turnberry - even if it is 'obviously an ego thing'.
There is at least a whiff of suspicion that a key objective of the Trump visit to Scotland may be to lobby for the Open to come to his course. While it remains on governing body the Royal and Ancient's roster for the championship, Turnberry has not played host since the American snapped it up in 2014 - something that clearly eats at the president.
A less cynical interpretation of the visit - described as 'private' by the White House - would have Mr Trump making a long awaited return to a land that is undeniably dear to him and in which he has invested heavily.
His mother Mary Anne MacLeod was from the Hebridean isle of Lewis. On this visit he is due to open his second golf course in Aberdeenshire, the New Course, which will include a new memorial garden to honour his mother with a centrepiece that will be made from stone imported from Lewis.
Massive security measures were already in place at that Trump facility yesterday, days ahead of the president's arrival.
In the early hours, a deer was an early casualty in the operation. It had to be euthanised after being knocked down by a police vehicle patrolling the Trump estate.
Both his Scottish properties have been targeted by protesters in recent months. Activists daubed red paint over much of the Turnberry resort in March. The president described them as 'terrorists' who 'did serious damage and will hopefully be treated harshly'.
In Aberdeenshire, meanwhile, a placard this week proclaimed the estate was 'twinned with Epstein Island' - a reference to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein whose relationship with Mr Trump is under renewed scrutiny.
Protests in Edinburgh are expected to target the US Consulate, which the Trump administration has threatened with closure.
Alena Ivanova, a campaigner with the Stop Trump Coalition said: 'Donald Trump may shake hands with our leaders, but he's no friend of Scotland.
'We, the people of Scotland, see the damage he has done - to democracy and working people in the US, to the global efforts to tackle the climate crisis, to the very principles of justice and humanity.
'Trump is not welcome because he represents all that Scottish people reject.'
She certainly did not speak for everyone.
Jackie McDowall posted online that her six-year-old son Ricky was 'desperate' to see the President and his motorcade making their way to Turnberry.
She wrote: 'Right, so obviously I know nobody's going know exactly where Donald Trump is going be etc, but does anyone know roughly his route to Turnberry and time or anything?
'I've a wee six year old desperate just for a tiny wee glimpse of the President or even his entourage.
'Ideally he would like to meet the man himself have a quick chat and at least get to shake his hand.'
That, certainly, was what Scottish Secretary Ian Murray was waiting to do on the tarmac at Prestwick Airport last night.
Where exactly it goes from there, who can tell?
The president's long weekend in Scotland has begun. It will, naturally, be the biggest ever - and possibly the maddest.