Donald Trump’s new Aberdeenshire golf course to open next summer

Donald Trump’s new golf course in Aberdeenshire will open next summer, it has been announced.

The 18-hole MacLeod Course is named after the former US president’s Scottish-born mother Mary Anne MacLeod.

Bosses claim it will complement the existing championship links at Trump International near Balmedie in Aberdeenshire – to offer what they describe as the “greatest 36 holes in golf“.

Mr Trump and his son Eric broke ground at the site last year, which offers views across the North Sea.

Trump International described the links as “one of the most environmentally-friendly and sustainable courses ever built”.

As well as the two courses in Aberdeenshire, Mr Trump – the Republican presidential candidate – also owns Turnberry golf club in Ayrshire.

Mr Trump’s golf resort near Balmedie has prompted controversy in the past after the coastal sand dunes at the site lost their protected status in 2020.

The dunes at Menie, north of Aberdeen, had been a “high quality example” of a geological system characteristic of northeast Scotland, according to NatureScot.

But after Mr Trump’s golf resort was built, the dunes no longer merited being part of the site of special scientific interest.

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For the new golf course, Trump International said more than 10 hectares of vegetation had been translocated across the largest sand dunes in Scotland, allowing indigenous plants to thrive and expand.

Principal golf contractor Esie O’Mahoney, of Golflink Evolve, said it was “by far the most environmentally-friendly and sustainable golf project we have ever worked on” in his 30 years in the industry.

Last month, Ryan Routh was arrested after allegedly trying to assassinate Mr Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course in Florida.