FILE – President Donald Trump’s motorcade arrives at the Trump International Golf Club, January 2, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Alex Brandon/AP
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Alex Brandon/AP
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants to turn one of his Florida golf courses into a presidential retreat where his successors can spend quiet weekends on the greens, describing it as “a kind of Camp David” that he said would already have many of the security features needed to host presidents and world leaders.
The proposed retreat at Trump’s private golf course in West Palm Beach would tie the presidency to Trump’s business ventures beyond his term, and is the latest example of Trump looking for ways to leave his mark on the presidency.
“It’s a great idea, and it will be used a lot,” Trump said, saying it was suggested by the U.S. Secret Service. “It seems like all presidents play golf.”
The plan has already been submitted to local authorities. Trump, an avid golfer, touted the benefits of property within a short drive of his Mar-a-Lago home during an unrelated Oval Office event, noting that it is near an airport and some distance from apartment homes and high-rise buildings, posing security risks.
He did not mention that the golf course was the scene of an unsuccessful assassination attempt in 2024. Trump was playing at Trump International Golf Club during a campaign break when a Secret Service agent spotted a gunman in the trees lining the club’s fence. The man was arrested after a chase, then convicted of trying to kill Trump and sentenced to life in prison.
Past presidents have used Camp David, a rustic resort in Maryland, as a weekend retreat and as a venue to host presidential meetings. Trump spent less time there, often opting for his own properties, including golf clubs in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia.
Palm Beach County sees what it calls a ‘historic opportunity’
Trump’s proposal follows other plans by the longtime real estate developer to build a White House ballroom, gild the Oval Office, erect a triumphal arch, renovate the Kennedy Center, renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and rebuild a golf course in East Potomac Park. He also began planning a future presidential library in a Miami skyscraper.
In a letter to Palm Beach County commissioners last month, first reported by the Palm Beach Post, a lawyer who represents the golf course said Trump was proposing to designate it as a “U.S. Presidential Golf Course.”
“Just as Camp David, Windsor Castle or the Elysee Palace are known around the world, so too will the Palm Beach County Presidential Golf Course be,” Harvey Oyer said in the letter.
Palm Beach County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo said in a statement that local officials are eager to explore what this “historic opportunity” could mean for the community. “This would likely further cement Palm Beach County’s place on the national and international stage for generations to come,” Abruzzo said.
Oyer’s letter said the West Palm Beach golf course could be used by current and former presidents, as well as visiting foreign heads of state. The Trump Organization owns the golf club but leases the land to the county, which will have to approve any changes.
Under the proposal, the club would pay to build new presidential housing and then work with the Secret Service and other agencies to provide free access to the federal government. The retreat would have a separate entrance to the private club, which earned Trump nearly $37 million in his first year back in office, according to his financial disclosures.
“This is a gift the President would like to share with his successors, the American people, and his fellow citizens of Palm Beach County,” Oyer wrote. “It should be noted that President Trump will leave office before the proposed project can be completed, so this is a gift to his successors.”
Oyer pointed to past U.S. presidents who deeded land for public use. Dwight Eisenhower donated his Gettysburg, Pennsylvania farm to the National Park Service, and Franklin D. Roosevelt donated part of his property in Hyde Park, New York.
Years before its takeover by Trump, Mar-a-Lago itself was proposed as a “Winter White House.”
Businesswoman and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post left the house to the National Park Service when she died in 1973, but the agency returned the house to its estate in 1980 due to high maintenance costs. Trump purchased the property in 1985 and it later became his primary residence.
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