Trump bets on golf, even as interest wanes

Despite waning interest and profits in golf courses during the tough economic times, Donald Trump is moving full speed ahead, picking up golf links around the country, sometimes at huge discounts. Trump currently controls 12 golf courses in the U.S., including the Ferry Point course currently under development in the Bronx, which makes him stand alone as the only American investor still actively acquiring golf courses, according to the Post.

Last month Trump purchased the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Fla., soon to be known as the Trump National Golf Club, for an unknown amount.  In March, Trump paid approximately $3 million for a club in Charlotte, NC, shortly after he spent $150 million for the famed Doral Golf Resort in Miami — a steal, considering that Morgan Stanley paid $501 million for Doral in 2007.

And even as the number of rounds of golf played in the U.S. has declined each year by 0.5 percent, 1.8 percent, 0.6 percent, 2.3 percent and 2.5 percent, since 2007, according to the National Golf Federation, Trump continues to invest. At a dinner Friday for 320 members of the former Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at the Trump International in Palm Beach, his son Eric, promised “millions and millions” of dollars would be spent on upgrades to the facility. [NYP] —Christopher Cameron