A new Trump golf course is officially coming to Scotland

Trump International Golf Links

Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen debuted to the golf world in 2012 and has ranked among our Top 100 Courses in the World.

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Get ready, Scotland. Another Trump golf course is headed your way.

Eight years after Trump International Golf Links debuted along the shore of the North Sea in Aberdeen, another course has been officially approved for development by local officials. As first reported by the Associated Press, Aberdeenshire council planners gave full permission on Friday for Trump Golf to develop a second course in the area.

The prospective course has seen plenty of opposition from environmentalists in recent years, as Trump’s first course in the area was carved out of coastal dunesland and the adjacent Foveran Links, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Trump International Golf Links has also notoriously struggled to make a profit, showing losses since its inception.

That said, the potential economic impact of a second course is rather intuitive. Scotland is largely considered one of if not the greatest golf destinations in the world, with many visitors taking once-in-a-lifetime tours from course to course to course. Aberdeen is just 90 miles north of St. Andrews and well within driving distance of many of the top golf courses in Scotland. Through that alone, making Trump’s Aberdeen stop a two-course destination has some obvious economic incentives. The initial course was last ranked No. 100 in GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the World.

This new course is expected to be built south and west of, but very near, the first course. For a tease on what those plans look like, you can find more information here. The most interesting information confirmed right now might be its name. The course is expected to be named MacLeod, after President Trump’s mother Mary Anne MacLeod, which would fit well with the name of the resort lodging: MacLeod House and Lodge.

You can get a sense of where the new course will be built with the red, dotted ellipse below. 

Trump Macleod Aberdeen
The red ellipse is a rough estimate of where the second course at Trump International Golf Links is expected to be built. Google Maps

Sean Zak

Golf.com Editor

Zak is a writer at GOLF Magazine and just finished a book about the summer he spent in St. Andrews.