US President Donald Trump reacts as he plays golf at the Trump Turnberry Golf Courses, in Turnberry on the south west coast of Scotland on July 26, 2025. [AFP]
US President Donald Trump played golf under tight security on the first full day of a visit to Scotland Saturday, as hundreds of protesters took to the streets in major cities.
Trump played at his Turnberry resort with son Eric and US ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens, waving to photographers following his arrival in his mother’s birth country on Friday evening.
His presence has turned the picturesque and normally quiet area of southwest Scotland into a virtual fortress, with roads closed and police checkpoints in place.
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Police officers — some on quad bikes and others on foot with sniffer dogs — patrolled the famous course and the sandy beaches and grass dunes that flank it.
Secret Service snipers were positioned at vantage points while some other golfers on the course were patted down by security personnel.
The 79-year-old Trump touched down Friday at nearby Prestwick Airport as hundreds of onlookers came out to see Air Force One and catch a glimpse of its famous passenger.
The president has professed a love of Scotland, but his controversial politics and business investments in the country have made for an uneasy relationship.
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac, Trump immediately waded into the debate surrounding high levels of irregular migration, and lashed out at renewable energy efforts.
“You better get your act together or you’re not going to have Europe anymore,” he said, adding that migration was “killing” the continent.
“Stop the windmills. You’re ruining your countries,” he added.
Trump’s five-day visit, which is set to mix leisure with business and diplomacy, has divided the local community.
Several hundred protesters demonstrated outside the US consulate in the capital Edinburgh and in the city of Aberdeen, near where Trump owns another golf resort.
The protests were organised by the Stop Trump Coalition. Participants held placards with slogans like “Scotland hates Trump” and waved Palestinian flags.
Trade talks
“A lot of people don’t trust Trump and I’m one of them. I think the man is a megalomaniac,” retiree Graham Hodgson told AFP near Turnberry.
“He’s so full of himself. I think he’s doing a lot of damage worldwide with his tariffs. And I think it’s all for the sake of America, but at the moment I think America is paying the price as well for his policies.”
But at Prestwick Airport a boy held a sign that read “Welcome Trump” while a man waved a flag emblazoned with Trump’s most famous slogan — “Make America Great Again”.
“I think the best thing about Trump is he’s not actually a politician yet he’s the most powerful man in the world and I think he’s looking at the best interests of his own country,” said 46-year-old Lee McLean, who had travelled from nearby Kilmarnock.
“Most politicians should really be looking at the best interests of their own country first before looking overseas,” he told AFP.
Police were also monitoring any other protests that might spring up near Turnberry, but there were no signs of any by early Saturday afternoon.
Trump is due to discuss trade with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday and meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, before heading to Balmedie in Aberdeenshire where he is expected to formally open a new golf course at his resort there.
He is due to return the US on Tuesday.