President Trump will travel to Ireland next month to attend the Irish Open at his own golf resort in County Clare, combining a presidential overseas visit with a major tournament at a property he has owned since 2014.
A White House official confirmed to the Associated Press that Trump plans to be in Ireland on September 12 and 13, the final two days of the four-day tournament at Trump International Golf Links Ireland in Doonbeg, a resort town on Ireland's Atlantic coast. The New York Post first reported the trip on Saturday. Before heading to the tournament, Trump will attend an event with U.S. Embassy workers and business officials, giving the visit a diplomatic component alongside the golf.
The Irish Open runs September 10 through 13, and the president's arrival for the weekend rounds means he could watch defending champion Rory McIlroy, the two-time defending Masters champion, compete for back-to-back Irish Open titles on a course that bears Trump's name.
Trump first floated the idea in March while sitting beside Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Oval Office. Asked about attending, he did not hedge much, as The Hill reported:
"It would be an honor, but it was a great honor to be chosen. They only chose the best courses in the world for the... big opens. That's one of the big ones, the Irish Open."
At the time, he said he was going to "try" to make the trip. Five months later, the White House has moved from "try" to confirmed travel dates.
Trump purchased the Doonbeg property in 2014. Just The News described the resort as a five-star hotel and golf course designed by Greg Norman, spanning 400 acres along a mile and a half of beach on Ireland's west coast. In July, Trump called it "one of the best, most beautiful golf courses anywhere in the world."
The visit would mark Trump's first presidential trip to his Irish golf property since June 2019, during his first term.
McIlroy, who won both the 2025 and 2026 Masters, has maintained a visible relationship with the president. He attended a White House state dinner honoring King Charles III in May. Trump saluted McIlroy's consecutive Masters victories at the dinner, telling him his performance showed "unconquerable courage."
The two have also played golf together, most recently in February 2025. McIlroy's presence as the defending Irish Open champion adds a marquee draw to a tournament already guaranteed presidential attention by virtue of its venue.
Security at Trump-owned properties has been a recurring concern. Earlier this year, an armed man was arrested at a Trump golf club in California carrying weapons, body armor, and a fake security badge, a reminder that presidential visits to open-air sporting venues carry real logistical weight.
Trump's golf holdings are not a small side venture. His latest financial disclosure showed that seven of his clubs, five in the United States and two in Scotland, reported more than $252.5 million in combined revenue in 2025. The Doonbeg resort sits outside that specific group of seven, but the figure illustrates the scale of the business the president still owns.
The president has been a visible presence at major golf events throughout his second term. In May, he attended the final round of the PGA Tour's Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral in Florida. Last September, he showed up for the second day of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, New York.
LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour, held two of its 12 events this year at Trump-owned courses. AP News noted that Trump's courses have hosted or are scheduled to host multiple major tournaments, including a PGA event at Doral in 2028 and potentially the British Open at Turnberry in Scotland.
Trump has previously traveled to Scotland during his presidency to golf at Turnberry and to inaugurate a new Trump golf course in Aberdeenshire. The White House characterized that Scotland trip as a working visit.
Critics have questioned whether presidential travel to Trump-owned golf properties blurs the line between official duties and personal business interests. Trump himself has long pushed back against that framing. In his 2004 book, he wrote, "Don't take vacations. What's the point?" He has also criticized predecessors for golf travel, once saying of President Obama: "They talked about the carbon footprint and then Obama hops onto a 747, Air Force One, and flies to Hawaii to play a round of golf and comes back."
The Ireland trip follows a familiar pattern: pair a diplomatic engagement, in this case, the embassy event, with a stop at a property Trump owns. Whether one views that as efficient scheduling or a conflict of interest depends largely on where one already stands politically.
Trump has shown no reluctance about public appearances at high-profile events in recent months. He returned to the White House Correspondents' Dinner earlier this year after a prior security incident forced an evacuation, and he has continued to draw crowds at campaign-style events across the country.
A presidential visit to a small resort town on Ireland's Atlantic coast is no minor affair. Doonbeg will see a security footprint, a media contingent, and international attention that a standard Irish Open, already one of Europe's premier golf events, would not generate on its own.
Trump's presence on the final two days means the weekend broadcast will feature the president of the United States watching golf at a course that carries his name, managed by his family business. The diplomatic stop at the U.S. Embassy adds official purpose, but the centerpiece of the trip is the tournament.
The Hill reached out to the White House for additional comment on the trip. No response had been reported at the time of publication.
The threats that follow this president remain a persistent backdrop. Iran has released propaganda material targeting the Trump family, and security concerns shadow every overseas trip. Ireland's government has not publicly commented on the visit's logistics.
A president who builds golf courses, hosts tournaments on them, and then shows up as both the owner and the head of state is doing something no predecessor attempted. Whether that bothers you probably says more about your priors than about the trip itself, but the man is at least consistent about where he'd rather spend a weekend.
