Twitter: GeoffShac
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Main | Lamenting… »
Friday
Dec312004

Apocalypse Now: Trump Edition

In his final contribution to Golf Magazine, former editor Kevin Cook interviews the ubiquitous Donald Trump. And it's all about money.

“The state's spending $400 million on a highway (Widening and improving interstate 95), but didn't build me an exit, and I put up quite a fuss about that. They ended up building a $30 million exit (Florida Department of Transportation says the exit cost even more, $40 million) that goes to my $45 million course.”

Other gems:

Q: You love water features. The signature hole at your Westchester course is a par 3 with a 100-foot waterfall. What do you say to people who call it a big gimmick?

A: I say they're people who can't afford to build a $7 million waterfall.

Q: How's your relationship with Tom Fazio, who built your course in Bedminster?

A: He had already designed a wonderful course there before I bought it. My organization made it bigger, better, more beautiful. There's a new lake on the fourth hole and another one on the 11th--I wanted those there. They had 1,200 sprinklers before. Now we have more than 2,000. Tom Fazio is a great architect, and I'm a pretty good golfer who understands the game. We have a great relationship. He tells me, "You know, Donald, I have owners who'll send their G5 to pick me up and fly me to Texas or California to plant a small tree. But Donald, you don't call me--I just get here and there's more lakes than we planned on!