To pass through the ornately gilded gate of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach is to enter a playground for the 1-percenters.
Ferraris, Jaguars and Porsches wait patiently for their owners on the driveway.
On the course, members who pay a $150,000 initiation fee and $25,000 annual dues thwack dimpled white balls down garden-like fairways between chuckles and pulls on their cigars.
Inside the opulent clubhouse, Donald Trump has just finished his usual Saturday round on his flagship golf course, the first of 11 in his collection, which now includes Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Doral, site of the WGC-Cadillac Championship that tees off Thursday. The author of The Art of the Deal bought bankrupt Doral last month for the the bargain price of $150?million. He intends to remake the Blue Monster and surroundings, as scuffed as an old pair of shoes, into “the finest golf resort in the country.”
Trump, wearing his favorite red golf cap atop his famous comb-over, is having lunch with an assortment of tycoons, titans, magnates and millionaires. They are the Andrew Carnegies of their day.
Trump, gracious and welcoming, is in a jocular mood. He hit a towering 240-yard hook shot from an uphill lie behind a tree to within six feet of the 15th hole to beat the other players in his foursome.
“A lot of people are losers,” he said. “I like to win.”
He certainly does. The man at No. 401 on Forbes’ List of the World’s Billionaires, with a net worth of $2.9 billion (he insists he’s worth double that), the man who bought much of Manhattan and put his name on it, the man who copyrighted the phrase “You’re fired!” from his hit show The Apprentice, is also an excellent golfer.
He has a 3.7 handicap, can drive the ball 280 yards and putts with the same unerring hand he uses to sign contracts. He’s not humble about his game, and why should he be?
“I’ve won many club championships – many,” Trump said. “Frankly, if I had time to play more often my handicap would be lower. I enjoy the competition. And if I hit a bad shot, I don’t get upset. I’m not a club thrower.”
Trump, 65, is a habitual hyperbolizer. His properties and projects are “the best,” “the most spectacular,” “rated the highest” and “measured by impeccable standards.” But, in person, he doesn’t speak with the bombast of The Donald, the persona he cultivates. His lower lip doesn’t protrude with that trumped-up air of superiority. His face is open, ruddy, not painted with the waxworks tan you see on TV. He’s friendly, funny. He’s tall with a sturdy build, and was a good football and baseball player in his youth.
“He’s surprisingly a lot better golfer than you would think,” said Phil Mickelson, former Doral champion who joins Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and the world’s top golfers this week at the 50-year-old tournament. “He understands the game. He has a lot of speed and can hit the ball reasonably hard. And he always has some interesting stories.”
Trump has played with everybody who is anybody, from President Bill Clinton to quarterback Tom Brady, from Rush Limbaugh to Garth Brooks, from Annika Sorenstam to Nick Faldo.
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