They Say Trump Doesn’t “Play the Ball as It Lies”
Much has been written about Donald Trump cheating at golf. One of the loves of his life is his golf game. But according to reports, he does not honor the “gentleman’s game” about “playing the ball as it lies.” Apparently, Trump turns that around—”lies about playing his ball.”
This subject emerged again over the weekend. President Donald Trump took a five-day vacation to Scotland to observe his golf courses there and open a new one named after his Scottish-born mother. While playing golf, drones with video cameras were used to film Mr. Trump. The video shows Trump’s caddie secretly dropping a ball for him to play and therefore abandoning his “play ball” out yonder in the bushes. Yeah, the best cheaters at golf hire a “good” caddie and pay him well to do such things.
My Tour Caddie “Sam” Used to Caddie for Trump
I have a chapter in my Trump book about President Trump cheating at golf (pp. 130-131). I tell about one of my main caddies on the PGA Tour, Big Sam, a.k.a Sam McCray. He lived in New York City and used to caddie for Donald Trump at the famous Winged Foot Golf Club, where I played one U.S. Open. I wish Sam was still alive. I would ask him about Trump’s cheating. Sam said that way back then, The Donald “paid good,” usually $200 per round of golf.
It has been widely reported that the caddies at Winged Foot nicknamed Donald Trump “Pele,” referring the soccer star because Trump kicks his ball out of the rough into the fairway.
Suzann Pettersen and Others on Trump’s Golf
Pro golfer Suzann Pettersen of Norway has been Team Europe’s Solheim Cup captain the last two years. She played golf with Donald Trump during his first presidency. She then said of him, “He cheats like hell. … I’m pretty sure he pays his caddie well, since no matter how far into the woods he hits the ball, it’s in the fairway when we get there.”
Telegraph Sport interviewed a sports agent in golf who anonymously said, “Trump likes to quote the late pro wrestler Eddie Guerro who said, ‘I cheat in business. I cheat in love. I cheat in golf.'” The agent then says, “Trump laughs when he says it and is clearly quite proud of it.”
But the foremost authority on Trump’s cheating at golf is supposedly Rick Reilly, who wrote the book about him entitled Commander In Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump (2020). He has known Donald Trump for thirty years and tells lots of stories about his cheating at golf. He says in golf that Trump “cheats like a mafia accountant.”
Oscar de La Hoya Tells about Trump’s Cheating

My favorite part of that small chapter in my book is what boxing champion Oscar de La Hoya said of the only round of golf he ever played with Donald Trump, starting at the first hole:
“First ball, [Trump] hits off to the water, gets another ball from his pocket. Hits it off to the left, out of bounds,” De La Hoya said.
Trump said, “Oh, I got another one, just warming up,” De La Hoya recounted.
“Another one to the water. Then the fourth ball he hits—I know it went to the bushes. But Donald, what he does, he tees off first so he can take off [in his golf cart] right away. I pipe mine down the middle. So we go off to our ball, and who do we see? Donald Trump, right in the middle of the fairway,” De La Hoya said.
He quoted Trump saying, “By the way, I found my first ball, it’s right here.”
De La Hoya said. “I’m not [voting] for someone who cheats in golf.”
[See Kermit Zarley’s book, Bible Predicts Trump Fall. It’s thesis is based on wisdom sayings in the Bible, such as, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall,” and “When pride comes, then comes disgrace” (Proverbs 16:18; 11.2).]