Will the R&A Thump Turnberry Due to Trump?

Ten years ago, billionaire real estate mogul and now U.S. president-elect Donald Trump started a project of building a world-class golf resort, which would have two 18-hole golf courses, in Balmedie in northeast Scotland near the city of Aberdeen. Trump International Golf Links is located amidst 4,000 year-old, pristine sand dunes that some Scots regard as a national treasure. It overlooks the North Sea with its deep sea oil reserves that have made some citizens of Aberdeen wealthy. But Trump’s golf links are not making citizens of Balmedie any wealthier as was expected and even promised.

Some residents adjacent to this Trump resort refused to sell the Trump Organization their homes. Donald Trump–who has a reputation for vindictiveness when he doesn’t get his demands–then planted trees and built a 15-foot high earthen wall to obstruct the beautiful coastal views of those homeowners.

The New York Times reports today that many Balmedie citizens claim Donald Trump has broken one promise after another regarding Trump International Golf Links. Martin Ford, a former local government official, says of Donald Trump’s recent election as U.S. president, “I have just seen him do in America, on a grander scale, precisely what he did here. He suckered the people and he suckered the politicians until he got what he wanted, and then he went back on pretty much everything he promised.”

Alex Salmond was the first minister of Scotland whose administration, in 2008, granted the Trump Organization permission to build Trump International Golf Links on its location. Salmond now admits he would not have acquiesced had he known what he knows now. He alleges of this project, “Balmedie got ten cents on the dollar.”

Salmond also claims Trump’s constant, xeonophobia remarks during his campaign for the U.S. presidency, which appalled most Scots and their politicians, could have significant ill-effects on the future success of his Balmedie venture. Salmond furthermore adds that the Royal and Ancient Golf Club–which administers the British Open and co-administers with the United States Golf Association the rules of golf worldwide–may take Turnberry Golf Club out of the rotation of venues for the British Open. (Located on the west coast of Scotland, The Open has been held there four times.) Why? Donald Trump bought Turnberry 2.5 years ago as his most valuable golf facility to date.