BALMEDIE: Donald Trump officially opened his new golf course in Scotland on Tuesday, ending a five-day trip in which the US president signed a major trade deal with the EU and gave Russia less than two weeks to end the Ukraine war.

To the sound of bagpipes, secret agents and golfers criss-crossed the sprawling complex on the Aberdeenshire coast, waiting for the president to tee off. We started with a beautiful piece of land, but we made it much more beautiful, and the area has … really, really welcomed us,“ Trump said before cutting the ribbon.

“We’ll play it very quickly, and then I go back to (Washington) DC and we put out fires all over the world,” he added.

“We have a world that’s got some conflict, but we’ve ironed out a lot of it. We’re gonna have a great and peaceful world.”

Trump’s campaign song, the Village People’s “YMCA”, blared out after the ribbon cutting, as fireworks exploded in the background. The president then teed off with son Eric, who led the project.

“This will be a tremendously successful place and a place where people can come and enjoy life,” the US leader said, highlighting how his trip has again blurred the lines between his presidency and his business interests.

“We wanted this to be the greatest 36 holes anywhere on Earth. And there’s no question that that’s been achieved,” said Eric Trump. “This was his Mona Lisa,” he said of his father’s connection with the course. “Sculpting the dunes, sculpting the land, that was always his painting,” he added.

The new course features the world’s largest natural bunker, dunes and greens overlooking the sea, with a “focus on environmental sensitivity”, said a press release.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2025