Three-second clip exposes Donald Trump's cheating on Scottish course
Trump is an avid golfer and has regularly made all sorts of claims about club championship victories and his overall ability on the course.
The 79-year-old is in Scotland for a three-day tour, visiting his own Trump Turnberry course and Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire during the brief visit.
In between rounds, he also joined European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen to announce the United States' 15 per cent tariff on all imports from the EU.
But it is a moment from a caddy during Trump's time on the course on Sunday (Monday AEST) that has also gained plenty of attention.
In the video you can see above, two caddies or on course officials in red vests are seen walking ahead of the president in his golf cart.
One of them slows down before bending over and rather sheepishly dropping a ball onto the first cut of rough, a few feet short of a bunker and clear of the much thicker rough on the Scottish layout.
Trump then gets out of his cart, club in hand, ready to hit his next shot.
It was a moment that was jumped on by a huge number of people on social media.
Author Richard Hanania tweeted the video along with the caption: 'Oh my God this is so pathetic. Trump's cronies drop the golf ball in front of him. He pretends to notice it at that spot. Today, MAGA influencers are tweeting out almost identical messages about his golf swing. We really are in North Korea.'
US veteran John Jackson also noticed the incident, writing on X: 'Trump caught cheating at golf, watch the second guy in the red vest toss a ball behind him.'
An X account called Wu Tang is for the Children also wrote: 'LMAO for the morons that think Trump doesn't cheat at golf and wins all those club championships fair and square … watch his caddie here.'
Hundreds of X users were also commenting on the vision.
American health professional Craig Beam said: 'I could get my index down considerably if I had his caddie with me every time I played.'
One quipped: 'It is a known fact that had Trump played professional golf, he would have ranked above Tiger Woods and been the winningest golfer in history. Even at 80, with a little more practice, he could win on the Tour.'
Another wrote: 'I love how the guy throws the ball back like he's trying to make it look as though he didn't put it there lol.'
Another referenced a classic episode from The Simpsons, writing: 'That's what Smithers did for Montgomery Burns.'
A fourth wrote: 'The Mystery of how Trump is winning all these golf tournaments solved.'
As always with Trump's staunch base of supporters, there were also a number of comments keen to debunk the footage.
While the body language of the caddy did appear somewhat damning, many were doing their best to insist it was a normal act out on the course.
'Please learn golf before you post. It's called a drop. Common in golf. He's actually a very good golfer. He doesn't need to cheat,' wrote one supporter.
'Assuming his ball was out of play or in the shrubs, his caddie was simply putting one out for him to play. Pretty standard,' stated a second.
pic.twitter.com/sCawwP4mne
— Toph (@tophalba33) July 27, 2025
'Didn't see any ball dropping. Those fellows are secret service checking out the terrain before the cart arrives,' suggested another.
'When you lose a ball, you drop a new one with a penalty, that's kinda how golf works,' said a fourth.
A fifth wrote simply: 'Amazing golf swing sir!'
During the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, Trump boasted about his latest club championship at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Shortly after claiming he weighed 215 pounds (97kg) and stood six-foot-three (190cm), dimensions that would put Trump's physical appearance alongside the likes of Muhammad Ali in his boxing prime and Tom Brady, he posted on his own Truth Social site that he had won the senior club championship.
There is very little actual footage of Trump on the course, with one being a viral video of him badly shanking an attempted chip in July 2023 playing in Los Angeles (see below).
In the Bedminster event, it wasn't just the claim of his victory that raised eyebrows, it was also his supposed score.
Trump stated he shot a round of 67 at the course, which has a par score of 72.
'I am pleased to report, for those that care, that I just won the Senior Club Championship (must be over 50 years old!) at Bedminster (Trump National Golf Club), shooting a round of 67,' Trump posted.
'Now, some people will think that sounds low, but there is no hanky/lanky. Many people watch, plus I am surrounded by Secret Service Agents.
'Not much you can do even if you wanted to, and I don't. For some reason, I am just a good golfer/athlete – I have won many Club Championships, and it is always a great honour!'
We understand 'hanky/lanky' was a typo when he meant hanky panky, which usually refers to somewhat inappropriate sexual activity.
A score of five-under on most championship-level golf courses, which Trump National is, would please seasoned professionals.
Trump then remarkably shared the contact details of the head golf professional from Bedminster, Mickey Gallagher, for anyone looking to verify his performance.
Author and former sports columnist Rick Reilly also released a book back in 2019 titled Commander in Cheat: How golf explains Trump.
During his round on Sunday, Trump's security team also debuted what appeared to be a heavily armoured golf cart 10 months after a would-be assassin aimed an SKS-style rifle toward him at his West Palm Beach tee resort.
As the president played at the Trump Turnberry course in South Ayrshire, an imposing, apparently heavily fortified black vehicle followed close behind.
Security experts said it showed all the hallmarks of an armour-reinforced golf cart in the mold of Trump's official limo, aka 'The Beast'.
Trump drove a standard white golf cart as he played, but the bulky silhouette of the latest addition to his security fleet — which appears to be a modified Polaris Ranger XP — stood out like a sore thumb on the course.
Stepped-up hardware to protect Trump on the golf course would not be unexpected given he survived a pair of assassination attempts last year.
On September 15, Ryan Routh, 59, trained a rifle styled after a Soviet-designed semiautomatic at Trump's security detail as the president walked along the fifth hole at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
Less than an hour later, Routh was apprehended during a traffic stop and charged with the attempted assassination of Trump.
Two months earlier, Trump survived another assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, carried out by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
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