I Sat Down With Eric Trump – Here’s What Happened …

A favourite adage of mine is that golf journalists are among the most underpaid yet overprivileged people on the planet. We get to visit some extraordinary places and meet some extraordinary people – Experiences the average working man or woman wouldn’t perhaps have access to.

I’ve had some surreal (underpaid) experiences in my time – Finding myself chairing a round-table discussion in Tokyo featuring a rather confused looking group of Asian journalists and the then Augusta Chairman Billy Payne springs to mind. And one this Sunday at Trump International in Aberdeen might squeeze into my top five – 20 minutes with a prominent member of one of the most recognisable families in the world. I met with Eric Trump, third child of Donald and Ivana and executive vice president of the Trump Organization.

Eric was at Trump International Scotland to the north of Aberdeen as the superb Martin Hawtree-designed course there was playing host to the Legends Tour and the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship – A great event, won handsomely by the on-form Peter Baker. On the final day, I was invited to interview Eric in the surprisingly understated clubhouse.

It was all fairly late notice, and I wasn’t too sure of the timings. Sometime between 12 and two was all I knew. I arrived pretty much spot on 12 with a bit of paper on which I’d scribbled a hurried list of questions, looking slightly bedraggled having been caught out in a north east squall between car park and clubhouse. I was hoping I’d have some time to pull myself together, but the moment I walked through the door I was told – “It’s on now – come this way.”

‘OK’ I thought. ‘Be cool. It doesn’t matter that you’re a little damp. Nobody will see.’ – I’d been led to believe it would be a nice, quiet, one-to-one sit down after all.

Imagine my surprise then when I was led into a side room in the clubhouse where there were two opposing armchairs, a film crew and at least six other people from the Legends Tour and the Trump Organization.

“Erm, is this being filmed?” I asked tentatively. “Yes, you’re interviewing Eric now… He’s just coming in. If you sit there please.”

I’m not that easily shaken but this was all a bit peculiar. I had a moment when I wondered if I was awake – it all felt strangely like an anxiety dream.

Then, in came Eric. He’s a tall guy like his father and his handshake is equally powerful. Just as when I met Donald at the opening of Trump International Scotland some years ago, Eric was extremely well prepared. He knew who I was, he knew about Golf Monthly, he asked me about my favourite moment in golf history as he knew I wrote on that subject. For info, I said Seve’s winning putt in the 1984 Open and he went for the Duel in the Sun at Turnberry, “I have to don’t I!” he grinned.

It was rather settling as I remembered that ‘of course, this guy is a total pro.’ It was going to be fun.

A popular sentiment in our sport just now is that politics should have no place in golf. I think politics actually has a place in pretty much every element of life for every person on the planet, whether they like it or not. However, I wasn’t meeting with Eric to talk politics, I was meeting to talk about golf and I could tell that was very much his intention too.

“Golf is a passion for my father and now for me too. He loves the game and, coming out of the world of building high rises, he thought ‘you know what, I want to build my own golf courses,’” Eric says. “It (golf) grew from a project out of passion to something that really represents a very large part of our corporate assets.”

Big Ambitions For Trump Aberdeen

The Trump Organization owns and manages golf facilities across the globe and their ambitions for the future are significant. They are not lacking in self-belief. When it comes to Trump International Scotland, Eric is confident the Staysure PGA Seniors Legends Tour event represents the start of big things to come.

“I can tell you this property will host the biggest tournaments in golf. There’s no question about it,” he says. “The history of tournaments that will be held at this property is going to be long and very, very distinguished. Go down the check list of things you need for a Major, it has every one of them on steroids.”

He's aiming high. And it’s not just in tournament golf that there are significant plans for the future at Trump International Scotland. Work on the second course – the MacLeod Course (also designed by Martin Hawtree) is progressing and Eric pulls no punches when describing how good it will be.

“The course is going to be right up there as one of the best in the world. It will absolutely rival the first course,” he says. “Our goal is to create the greatest golfing destination anywhere on earth. We will have two courses that are simply unmatched anywhere.”

Like the first course, it will be set amidst the towering dunes along the Aberdeenshire coast and will feature a selection of spectacular holes.

“It’s incredible how big the dunes are, how vast the seascapes are, the magnitude and size of some of the holes… it’s going to be remarkable,” he says.

Open will “come back to Turnberry”

Across on the other side of Scotland, Eric believes Trump Turnberry will host The Open again, despite the suggestion being dismissed for now by Martin Slumbers of The R&A.

“I do think The Open will come back to Turnberry,” he says. “It’s one of the best anywhere in the world. We’ve invested almost $200 million in that property. I do think we’ll get it, it’s on our timetable but listen, we’re going to safeguard that asset and when it happens it happens.”

The Trump Organization has been a key player in recent developments in the professional game, playing host to three events on the LIV Golf circuit through 2023. Eric believes that the pro game and golf generally can benefit from the disruption in men’s elite golf over the last couple of years.

“I actually think disruption in life is normally a good thing. Some ideas will work out great and some ideas will crash and burn. But the cream will rise to the top as it always does,” he says. “It’s important to be cognisant of a younger generation.”

And he believes different approaches can attract more people to the game who wouldn’t otherwise have shown an interest. There’s a big market to tap into.

“I think some of the moves by some of the bodies have been excellent – Trying to create a spirit in golf to appeal to people who might not want to be golfers but want to be fans,” he says. “If you look at so many of the other sports, American football, European football – 90% of the fans might not play that sport. Versus, if you look at golf, at least traditional golf, almost every person out there watching is also a player. If we can diversify and change that, we’ll grow the game.”

Two Sides Can Come Together

Although he feels it’s too early to tell whether the proposed merger between the main tours will go ahead, he’s positive there’s a place for tradition as well as an edgier side within golf.

“I would like to see golf come together where two different concepts can live in harmony. One that embraces the tradition of the game and one that really pushes the limits and brings masses that otherwise wouldn’t embrace golf into the game,” he says. “There’s a lot of bandwidth for growth and I don’t think that growth should ever be quelled.”

In terms of his own game, Eric plays as much as his work will allow but he’s enjoying seeing his young family embark on their golfing lives.

“I’m getting my six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter into the game, and they’ve been hitting balls for a year and a half or so. It’s a lot of fun,” he says. “It’s amazing though – I’ve seen so many different phases of golf. I’ve seen it from a young single guy standpoint, I’ve seen it as I’ve grown professionally in my career and now I’m seeing it from the perspective of a father and how golf can really bring a family together.”

“We’re not going to get distracted by buying Mickey Mouse courses"

Eric is clearly a lover of the game but his professional role within golf is to ensure that the Trump Organization continues to build on and maintain its portfolio of properties around the world. He has a very hands-on approach, walking every hole of the MacLeod Course during this visit to check on works for instance. For that reason, endless acquisition of properties is not the business model.

“We’re not going to get distracted by buying Mickey Mouse courses. we want to have a portfolio that’s tight and made up of the finest golfing assets,” he says. “If you have too many courses, you will lose focus on making them exceptional. We want to tweak holes, push boundaries, make courses more modern. We’re aiming for them to be the very best.”

And with that, my 20 minutes were up, the camera stopped rolling, Eric shook my hand warmly, looked me in the eye and thanked me for my time. One thing’s for sure, he has gravitas. I wasn’t there to talk politics, but he’s very like a politician! I stood up in something of a daze and left the room. Someone handed me a glass of “Whispering Angel” rose wine and I sat down in a corner to gather my thoughts. Even by my overprivileged, surreal standards, it had been a weird one.

The Trump Organization will continue to divide opinions but when it comes to golf, they occupy a fundamental part of the landscape and they have done a huge amount for the game. They have also done a huge amount for tourism and the economy in Scotland and they are doing more. As a golfer, I can’t wait for another stunning championship course on the Menie Estate at Trump Scotland. It will be great for Aberdeenshire and great for golf.