Earlier this month, we found out that President Donald Trump spends 60 percent of his working hours, erm, doing whatever he wants. More than half of his schedule is blocked off for “Executive Time,” which is Trump’s opportunity to watch TV, call friends, sometimes hold meetings, and also think. Now, it seems that he has given himself another distraction from work: a high-tech golf simulator, which he recently had installed at the White House.
According to the Washington Post, Trump isn’t the first president to add one of these games to the White House; President Obama had one installed as well, but it was reportedly fairly unsophisticated. Trump had that device uninstalled, and reportedly paid $50,000 out of his own pocket to have a way more intense-sounding one added to a room in his personal quarters.
Two sources told the Post that the new golf simulator will apparently let the president play virtual rounds on a screen that will show different courses from around the world. The simulator was reportedly installed in the last few weeks and hasn’t been used yet.
During the recent federal government shutdown (which he orchestrated in a bid to get funding for a border wall), Trump often complained about not being able to leave the White House (even though he, uh, literally did). But the Post notes that this winter, he actually did stay off the golf course for about 69 days. That’s notable as he has played golf at least 139 times as president, mostly on courses that he owns. So now that Trump has installed this high-tech golf simulator, we assume that he will be much happier about being stuck at the White House when his job requires him to work.
