As Donald Trump pursues a second term in the White House, 3,000 miles away in Scotland he is building a new golf course, once again bringing scrutiny to his complex relationship with his mother’s homeland.
For some, the 18-hole links on the northeastern Aberdeenshire coast will symbolise the Republican candidate’s deep affection for the late Mary Anne MacLeod Trump’s ancestral home and will drive economic investment.
Others see it as a display of excess, offering little benefit to a local area already home to several highly-rated golf courses, including an existing Trump course.
The new course is being developed at the Trump International Golf Links resort in Balmedie, north of Aberdeen, where Trump opened a course in 2012 that generated controversy over potential environmental damage.
The second course is set to open to golfers next summer and forms part of a wider plan at the resort to honour his mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis in 1912.
“The whole impetus for this development was Trump’s enduring love for Scotland,” Sarah Malone, executive vice president of Trump International Scotland, told AFP inside a baronial mansion on the resort’s 1,400-acre (567-hectare) grounds.
Outside, North Sea waves lap golden beaches as the autumn Scottish sun casts long shadows over greenkeepers laying turf on holes flanked by towering sand dunes, dotted with spiky marram grass.
Trump International claims the course will comprise “the greatest 36 holes in golf”. Golf Digest magazine ranked the original course 34th in the world earlier this year.
Losses
Four years ago, Scotland’s natural heritage agency stripped the dunes on the resort of their status as a site of special scientific interest, citing the construction of the original course.
Trump’s company stresses that the new course will be “one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable courses ever built”, with almost all materials sourced locally.
“Everything we have done has enhanced the environment and developed new habitats and biodiversity on the site,” said Malone.
Not everyone is convinced.
“We know sand dunes are fragile habitats. They don’t respond well to this kind of development,” local lawmaker Maggie Chapman of the Scottish Green Party told AFP.
Upon purchasing the land in 2006, Trump promised to create 6,000 jobs and invest £1 billion ($1.3 billion).
Today, the Trump Organisation directly employs about 600 people in Scotland, including at the historic Turnberry course on the country’s west coast.
A promised luxury hotel and 500 homes have yet to be built, but Malone said the Aberdeenshire project is “multi-phased”, with plans to develop cottages and lodges for tourists.
When the Scottish government approved the development in 2008, ministers emphasised that the potential economic benefits would outweigh any environmental impact.
Relations between Edinburgh and Trump have since deteriorated, reaching a new low on Friday when Trump International criticised Scottish leader John Swinney’s endorsement of Kamala Harris in the upcoming election as an “insult”.
‘Personal Toll’
Trump handed control of his Scottish golf courses to his sons before becoming president in 2017 but retains a financial interest.
Last month, documents revealed that losses at the Aberdeenshire course nearly doubled in 2023 to over £1.4 million.
“The first golf course over-promised and has under-delivered,” said Chapman, calling the second course “a vanity project” for the 45th president.
On the windswept sands adjoining the new course, local residents appear
divided.
“I’ve no issues at all with it. I think it’s bringing business into Aberdeenshire,” 63-year-old retiree Willie Rowell told AFP.
But David Louden, out walking his dog, said he felt “embarrassed” by Trump’s association with Scotland following the ex-president’s conviction over hush money paid to an adult film star.
“It’s just a playground for the rich,” said the 62-year-old, referring to green fees that can total around £1,200 for four people.
David Milne, whose house overlooks the resort and its grand clubhouse, has opposed the development since Trump first expressed interest in the area almost 20 years ago.
He refused to sell his home for the development, and he says that in response, a row of trees and later a fence were erected in front of his property.
Milne admits that fighting the development has taken a “personal toll”.
“It would be good for him to fade into the background and just vanish,” the 60-year-old said of Trump.
That is unlikely, as the resort is considering a memorial on the estate to Trump’s mother, who died in New York in 2000.
“Trump has absolutely delivered on his promise, and we are not finished yet,” said Malone.
AFP.
Read the full article here
