At Trump-Biden debate, golf dispute produces deeply relatable moment

If you’re seeking debate takes or shrewd political analysis, you’ve come to the wrong place.

We are here not to ruminate over which presidential candidate got the better of the other Thursday night in CNN’s Atlanta studios but rather to acknowledge what golfers from sea to shining sea have been texting, tweeting and talking about in the wake of the much-watched nationally televised event: the roughly 30 seconds President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump spent sparring over their respective golf games. As Charlie Warzel wrote for The Atlantic, “It wasn’t until the mention of Trump’s average distance off the tee that America got a glimpse of two men fighting like they had something to prove.”

The unlikely golf banter commenced toward the end of the debate when moderator Dana Bash asked Trump about concerns about the age he would be — 82 — at the end of a potential second term. In response, Trump said that he has “aced” two cognitive tests and that he’s in “very good health” before claiming that he recently “won two club championships — not even senior — two regular club championships.” 

Trump appeared to be referencing at least one of the titles he had posted about on Truth Social in March: “It is my great honor to be at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach tonight, AWARDS NIGHT, to receive THE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY & THE SENIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY. I WON BOTH!”

In response to that post, Biden tweeted in jest, “Congratulations, Donald. Quite the accomplishment.”

At the podium Thursday evening, Trump continued of his self-proclaimed golf prowess at the club level: “To do that, you have to be quite smart, and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way. And I do it. He doesn’t do it. He can’t hit a ball 50 yards. He challenged me to a golf match. He can’t hit a ball 50 yards.” Alas, with no Golfzon on the stage, that allegation went unverified.  

Biden replied: “Look, I’d be happy to have a driving contest with him. I got my handicap, which, when I was vice president, down to a 6. And by the way, I told you before I’m happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it?”

Trump: “That’s the biggest lie, that he’s a 6 handicap, of all.”

Biden: “I was an 8 handicap.”

Trump (edited for brevity): “Yeah…never…I’ve seen your swing, I know your swing.”

News

It’s not often that presidential debate fact-checkers must reference the Golf Handicap and Information Network (GHIN), a handicapping service provided by the United States Golf Association that computes and manages the handicaps of approximately 2 million golfers, Biden and Trump among them. But it’s also not often that golf takes center stage in such a high-wattage forum. A GHIN search shows that Biden, whose home club is Fieldstone Golf Club in his home state of Delaware, hasn’t posted a score in nearly six years, but his Handicap Index from his Veep days checks out: 6.7. (Trump, who hasn’t posted a score in three years, is listed in GHIN as having a 2.5 index playing out of Winged Foot Golf Club, just outside New York City.)

In a debate filled with weighty issues, from the economy to abortion rights to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, no one will dispute that the unexpected pivot to golf was trite and trivial. But it also garnered intense publicity. The Washington Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal all wrote about the exchange. So, too, did Fox News and the Associated Press and Slate and The New Republic and the Los Angeles Times.

If social media was any barometer, Trump and Biden’s golf chirping also was not lost on a broad swath of the electorate. “THey talking bout golf im crying braH,” rapper Schoolboy Q tweeted to his 2.5 million followers. Tweeted political pundit Ben Shapiro to his flock of 6.6 million: “Trump hammering Biden on golf is one of the funniest things I have ever seen in politics.” Even two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau let it fly, writing, “Let’s settle this whole handicap debate, I’ll host the golf match on my YouTube.”

None of it carries much clout, of course — the handicaps, the club championships, the smash factors — or at least it shouldn’t when it ultimately comes time to deciding the next commander in chief. But to any golfers who have debated such frivolous matters about their own games, perhaps in golf-buddy text groups or over grill-room beers, the squabble likely resonated because it was so relatable. As former Masters champion and lead CBS golf analyst Trevor Immelman succinctly noted on X, in capturing the swirl around the viral tiff: “Everyone loves golf.”

That might be a stretch. But at the very least the debate did get everyone talking about golf.