President Donald Trump wanted the world to know on Saturday he's not just playing golf at his Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland to escape the annoyances of being the American head of state, but he's also hitting the links to exercise.
In a Saturday morning tweet, Trump not only plugged his Turnberry resort -- again -- while overseas, but he also shared he uses golf as his primary way of getting moving.
I have arrived in Scotland and will be at Trump Turnberry for two days of meetings, calls and hopefully, some golf - my primary form of exercise! The weather is beautiful, and this place is incredible! Tomorrow I go to Helsinki for a Monday meeting with Vladimir Putin.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2018
Here's the problem with Trump's theory: Trump almost exclusively uses a golf cart to play golf. That means he doesn't really walk much on the golf course. He only walks when he has to walk. That could be from the cart path to the tee box, then back to the cart, then down to his tee shot location, then back to the cart, then to the next shot, and so forth, until he gets to the green. Truthfully, that's not a whole lot of exercise.
While it's said golfers can burn as much as 2,000 calories per round of golf (which is pretty high, frankly), that tally is for golfers who walk the course and carry a golf bag. At that point, playing golf is like a multi-hour hike in many ways. That's great exercise. Riding in a cart and yucking it up with playing partners and members and gawkers is not.
Furthermore, the overwhelming number of golfers who play at Trump Turnberry's Ailsa or King Robert the Bruce courses are required to walk and take a caddie with them. Only golfers who can provide a medical reason why they need a cart are allowed to use them. However, Trump rode in a cart on Saturday playing with his son Eric.
Then again, this may have been a particularly awkward walk for Trump given the hundreds of protesters near the Trump resort shouting at him, calling him a racist.
#BREAKING President Donald Trump waving a protestors who are calling him racist as he plays golf at #Turnberry @realDonaldTrump #TrumpProtests #TrumpVisitsUK #trump pic.twitter.com/aZFmqFzkzX
— Frankie McCamley (@Frankie_Mack) July 14, 2018
Sometimes, riding in the golf cart is the way to go.