--- title: Report: Trump Installs $50,000 Golf Simulator in the White House description: Trump has installed a room-sized golfing simulator inside his personal quarters at the White House, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. canonical: https://time.com/5529241/trump-golf-simulator-white-house/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-14T00:44:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:46:08.912Z article:section: Politics og:title: Report: President Trump Installs $50,000 Golf Simulator in the White House og:description: Trump paid for the simulator himself, according to the report og:url: https://time.com/5529241/trump-golf-simulator-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebfa14d500d990f7/69894519b21a9c958f500172/trump-golf.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Trump-Scotland-Golf og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Report: President Trump Installs $50,000 Golf Simulator in the White House twitter:description: Trump paid for the simulator himself, according to the report twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebfa14d500d990f7/69894519b21a9c958f500172/trump-golf.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Report: President Trump Installs $50,000 Golf Simulator in the White House > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=81c1a34a-2463-4163-9253-5de43e84b2a7&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Feb 14, 2019 12:44 AM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump plays a round of golf at Trump Turnberry Luxury Collection Resort during the U.S. President's first official visit to the United Kingdom in Turnberry, Scotland on July 15, 2018\. Trump has played golf about 139 times as president, according to the Washington Post. U.S. President Donald Trump plays a round of golf at Trump Turnberry Luxury Collection Resort during the U.S. President's first official visit to the United Kingdom in Turnberry, Scotland on July 15, 2018\. Trump has played golf about 139 times as president, according to the Washington Post. Leon Neal—Getty Images  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Feb 14, 2019 12:44 AM UTC President Trump has installed a room-sized golfing simulator inside his personal quarters at the White House, [the Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-trump-installed-a-room-sized-golf-simulator-at-white-house/2019/02/13/ed3f6d5c-2e45-11e9-813a-0ab2f17e305b%5Fstory.html?noredirect=on&utm%5Fterm=.8f8c722593b4) on Wednesday. The device, which reportedly cost $50,000, will enable the President to simulate playing on some of the world’s most famous golf courses. Trump paid for the simulator and its installation himself, according to the report. The system replaced a less-sophisticated simulator that had been installed by President Barack Obama. Before he became President himself, Trump frequently complained that Obama golfed too much during his term. He tweeted about Obama’s golf hobby 27 times from 2012 to 2016, according to [SB Nation](https://www.sbnation.com/golf/2017/3/27/15073086/donald-trump-tweets-barack-obama-golf). However, Trump has spent significantly more of his time as President golfing than Obama. The Washington _Post_ reports that Trump plays about 70 rounds of golf a year, while Obama played, on average, 38 rounds. Golf courses have also been a signature part of Trump’s career as an hotelier. The Trump Organization operates 17 golf courses, [according to the company’s website](https://www.trump.com/golf/). This year got off to a slow start for Trump’s golf hobby. During the 34-day government shutdown, Trump didn’t golf at all. After the shutdown ended, he broke his golf-free streak by playing a round of golf on his Mar-a-Lago estate with golf stars Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods [on Feb. 2](http://time.com/5519348/trump-golf-tiger-woods-jack-nicklaus/). Trump hasn’t used the simulator yet, the _Post_ reports. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5529241/trump-golf-simulator-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5529241/trump-golf-simulator-white-house/"},"headline":"Report: President Trump Installs $50,000 Golf Simulator in the White House","datePublished":"2019-02-14T00:44:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:46:08.912Z","description":"Trump paid for the simulator himself, according to the report","url":"https://time.com/5529241/trump-golf-simulator-white-house/","keywords":["White House","golf","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebfa14d500d990f7/69894519b21a9c958f500172/trump-golf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebfa14d500d990f7/69894519b21a9c958f500172/trump-golf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump-Scotland-Golf","caption":"President Trump plays golf in Scotland","creditText":"Leon Neal—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5529241/trump-golf-simulator-white-house/","name":"Report: President Trump Installs $50,000 Golf Simulator in the White House"}}]}] ```