President Donald Trump is well into his third year as the Commander-in-Chief, and since ticking over into Year 3, Trump has been playing golf much less frequently.
In his first year in office, Donald Trump played golf an estimated 91 days -- effectively once every four days. It was the initial pace that concerned so many Americans that Trump wasn't taking the job of President seriously, preferring to spend time on the weekends on the golf course and at his clubs, among the paying members and employees he felt comfortable around from his life as a private citizen.
Trump also developed a travel pattern that became more predictable for his subsequent years in office. In the winter months, Trump would leave Washington, D.C., and travel to his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, frequently spending the weekend there, particularly during the fall and winter holidays. In the summer of 2017, Trump chose to go to his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., to spend time while the White House was undergoing previously scheduled renovations. That turned into a regular summer vacation spot, as Trump chose again to leave D.C. for the comforts of his owned properties.
Early into his first year, Trump was on pace for 650 days of golf in an eight-year, two-term presidency.
In his second year in office, Trump slowed down his golf pace. He played 76 times in his second year. After all, Trump spent many of his potential golf days on the campaign trail, stumping for Republican candidates for the House of Representatives and the Senate in the midterm elections. Many of his usual summer and fall golf trips were shelved in favor of campaigning. The weather in the D.C. area in the summer was also poor, with a record amount of rain in July. That prevented Trump from playing golf in the region as frequently as he might prefer.
Four months into his third year, Trump has slowed his pace even further. Through the first third of his third year in office, Trump played golf just 23 times. All things being equal for the other two-thirds of the year, Trump would be on pace to play golf 69 times in the third year ending Jan. 20, 2020.
However, this number may be deceiving. Trump plays the bulk of his golf, just like any golfer, in the spring, summer and fall. With co-operating weather, Trump will play golf most weekends he's in the region. Some weekends, he will be giving speeches to convention and other meetings, limiting his playing opportunities to perhaps one day per weekend.
He is also likely to take up to two weeks in the summer to travel to Trump National Bedminster to vacation, meaning he will be on the golf course each day. By year's end, Trump may well actually wind up surpassing his second year tally.
Of course, we are unable to count the number of rounds he plays on the golf simulator inside Trump's living quarters in the White House.
Regardless of his slower pace, Trump currently has been on the golf course 22.2 percent of the days of his presidency. That's a remarkable amount for anyone in elected office, much less the Commander-in-Chief.
