In the Trump-Biden debate, the golf argument produces a very relatable moment

If you’re looking for debate or intelligent political analysis, you’ve come to the wrong place.

We’re here not to dissect which president won one Thursday night at the CNN studios in Atlanta but instead to let you know that golfers from sea to shining sea were texting, tweeting and talking about it after it was widely viewed across the country. televised event: about 30 seconds President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump spent discussing their golf games.

As Charlie Warzel wrote for The Atlantic“It wasn’t until the Trump midterms that America saw two men fighting as if they had something to prove.”

The impromptu golf spat began late in the debate when moderator Dana Bash asked Trump about concerns about his age — 82 — at the end of a possible second term. In response, Trump said he had “passed” two mental health tests and that he was in “very good health” before saying he had just “won two club championships – even the seniors – two regular club championships.”

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

In response to the post, Biden jokingly tweeted, “Congratulations, Donald. It’s definitely a success.”

At a rally Thursday evening, Trump continued his golf prowess at the club level: “To do that, you have to be really smart, and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way. And I do. He doesn’t do it. He can’t hit the ball 50 yards. He challenged me to a game of golf. He can’t hit the ball 50 yards.”

Alas, there was no Golfzon on stage, so, for now, those allegations will have to remain unconfirmed.

Biden responded: “Look, I’d be happy to have a driving competition with him.” I had my disability, which, when I was vice president, was up to 6. Also, I told you before that I’m happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Do you think you can do it?”

Trump: “That’s a big lie, that he’s disabled, of everything.”

Biden: “I was an 8 handicap.”

Trump (edited): “Yeah…I never…

Presidential debate fact-checkers rarely refer to the Golf Handicap and Information Network (GHIN), a handicapping service provided by the United States Golf Association that compiles and manages the handicaps of some two million golfers, Biden and Trump among them. But it’s also not often that golf takes center stage in such a fluid forum. A GHIN search shows that Biden, whose home club is Fieldstone Golf Club in his native 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 the GHIN as having a 2.5 index playing at Winged Foot Golf Club, just outside New York City.)

In a debate filled with tough issues, from the economy to abortion rights to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, no one would argue that golf’s unexpected pivot was small and narrow. But it also gained great fame.

The Washington Post, New York Times again The Wall Street Journal all write in exchange. So, too, does Fox News and the The Associated Press and Slate as well The New Republic as well as Los Angeles Times.

If social media was any barometer, Trump and Biden’s golf tweets were also not lost on a wide swath of the electorate. “They talk about golf im crying braH,” rapper Schoolboy Q tweeted to his 2.5 million followers. Political pundit Ben Shapiro tweeted to his 6.6 million followers: “Trump golfing Biden is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in politics.” Even two-time US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau let it go, writing, “Let’s settle this whole handicap debate, I’ll host a golf game on my YouTube.”

None of it carries much weight, of course – disability, club competition, damaging factors – or at least shouldn’t when it comes time to decide the next commander-in-chief. But for any golfers who have ever argued about trivial matters about their game, perhaps in a golf friend’s text group or over beer in the grill room, the argument probably resonated because it was so relatable. As former Masters champion and CBS golf analyst Trevor Immelman succinctly noted on X, when capturing the swirl around the viral tiff: “Everybody loves golf.”

That might be a stretch. But at least the argument got everyone to speak about golf.

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As editor-in-chief of GOLF.com, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the game’s most respected and heavily trafficked news and services outlets. He wears many hats – planning, writing, imagining, developing, dreaming up one day he breaks 80 – and feels privileged to work with an insanely smart and hard-working team of writers, editors and producers. Before taking over GOLF.com, he was the features editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.