WaPo On Trump's Move To Cash Acquisitions: $240 Million "In The Hole So Far" For Doonbeg, Turnberry

 Jonathan O'Connell, David A. Fahrenthold and Jack Gillum take a close look at the Trump Organization's shift from loans to cash or mostly-cash purchases in recent years. 

The President's company has infused way more of his own money into golf than he has with is past real estate ventures. The Trump Organization did not dispute the figures listed in the story.

Of most note were the figures associated with Trump International Aberdeen ($62.5 million to date), Doonbeg and Turnberry.

He began buying up land near Aberdeen, on Scotland’s North Sea coast. Trump ultimately paid $12.6 million for the property. He’s spent at least $50 million more to build a golf course there, which was wrapped up in land-use fights and didn’t open until 2012.

In 2014, he shelled out $79.7 million for the huge golf resorts in Doonbeg, Ireland, and Turnberry, Scotland — both of which were losing money at the time. 

The Trump Organization pursued pricey renovations of both courses, during which time the properties have continued to suffer losses. Under Trump, the two courses are at least $240 million in the hole so far, according to British and Irish corporate records. 

While the story is obviously focused on the shift in philosophy, the expenditures at Turnberry involved an aging luxury hotel that is obviously far more expensive to renovate than the two golf courses there, both remodeled in stellar fashion by Martin Ebert.