By John Strege

Trump Golf’s two Scotland properties, Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links, lost close to $25 million in 2016, according to financial reports released over the weekend.

Trump Turnberry on Scotland’s west coast bore the brunt of the losses, $23 million, the report says. “The company attributed the loss to currency fluctuations and the resort being closed for renovation for six months of the year,” Bloomberg’s Stephanie Baker wrote.

Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen on its east coast, meanwhile, lost $1.8 million. “The company said the drop in revenue was due to the fall in the price of oil, the subsequent downturn in the economy of northeast Scotland and a severe winter storm which damaged part of the site,” Baker wrote.

President Donald Trump resigned as director of the courses prior to his inauguration in January. They are being operated by his son Eric Trump. “In Friday’s report, Eric Trump, the president’s son and a director of the British subsidiary that owns the two resorts, included a letter expressing confidence that the resorts will attract plenty of golfers,” the Associated Press reported.

Trump purchased the Turnberry courses in 2014. Trump had the Aberdeen course constructed from scratch on land he purchased in 2006.

The Ailsa Course at Trump Turnberry was 22nd on Golf Digest’s ranking of the World’s 100 Greatest Courses. Trump International Golf Links was ranked 54th.

The post Trump Turnberry, Trump International Golf Links post losses of nearly $25 million appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Members of private golf clubs that are part of the Trump Golf network pay initiation fees that can exceed $100,000 and annual dues in the thousands. It’s no surprise, then, that they are among the country’s elite.

But, according to a USA Today report, dozens of them work as lobbyists or for companies that hold federal contracts, raising potential ethical questions.

In an investigation by the newspaper, reporters identified at least 50 executives whose companies hold federal contracts and 21 lobbyists and trade group officials who are members at the Trump clubs that the president has visited most often during his first seven-plus months in office: Trump International G.C./Mar-A-Lago in Florida, Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey and Trump National Washington in Virginia.

There’s nothing illegal about these memberships, but they raise potential questions about the nature of their relationships with the president given that these individuals with interest before the government are making payments that benefit Trump’s personal business interests. These same members often have access to the president when he’s at the clubs and are free to talk to Trump about any and all subjects, according to the report.

While membership lists aren’t public at Trump courses, the newspaper used social-media websites and the GHIN website to identify 4,500 club members. The paper said it then contacted hundreds of these members to determine if their businesses had ties to the government and ask whether they have had contact with the president while they frequented the clubs.

RELATED: The plaque on a Trump golf course commemorating a Civil War battle that never happened

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