Sen. Lindsey Graham has spent years publicly vouching for President Donald Trump’s golfing skills, often telling colorful stories about impressive rounds and unlikely victories. But transcripts obtained by New York Times suggest Graham struck a more skeptical tone behind closed doors.
The Times reported that it reviewed transcripts of Graham’s 2022 testimony before a grand jury convened as part of a Georgia election interference investigation. During that testimony, a prosecutor asked Graham a blunt and unexpected question: whether Trump cheats at golf. Graham’s answer, while not explicit, strongly hinted that the president may be generous with his scorecard.
“Some people say you may outdrive him, but you’re not going to outdrive his caddy,” Graham replied, adding, “It is what it is.” The remark appeared to suggest a well-known golf joke, implying that Trump’s caddy might help ensure favorable lies or outcomes.
That private aside stands in sharp contrast to Graham’s long record of publicly praising Trump’s abilities on the golf course. In October 2017, Graham famously recounted a round he played with Trump under difficult conditions, telling reporters that the president shot even par in rainy weather. Graham said Trump even missed a short putt that would have put him one under, emphasizing that the round was played “by the rules of the gods.”
“I thought it was all bullsh*t too,” Graham told reporters Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin at the time, explaining that he went into the round skeptical of Trump’s reputation. According to Graham, that skepticism vanished once he saw the scorecard. He even said Trump later offered tips to help improve his own game.
Over the years, Graham has continued to promote Trump’s golfing legend. As recently as March, he claimed he teamed up with Trump, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player to win a club championship at one of Trump’s courses in south Florida.
Trump himself has fueled the mystique, boasting that he won six club championships in 2025 alone and claiming a total of 38 club championships over his lifetime. Critics, however, have long questioned those figures and the circumstances surrounding them.
One of the most vocal skeptics has been sportswriter Rick Reilly, who wrote a book scrutinizing Trump’s golfing reputation. In a 2019 CNN interview, Reilly accused Trump of routinely cheating, using a colorful analogy to describe what he claimed were repeated and blatant violations of the rules.
Speculation has also been fueled by viral videos circulating online. One clip from last July appeared to show Trump’s caddy walking ahead of him and discreetly tossing a golf ball into short grass, after which Trump stepped up and played the shot. Supporters dismissed the clip as misleading or taken out of context, while critics pointed to it as visual confirmation of long-standing allegations.
The contrast between Graham’s private quip and his public praise highlights the mix of humor, exaggeration, and rivalry that often surrounds golf — especially when Trump is involved. Whether viewed as friendly ribbing or a revealing aside, the senator’s testimony adds another chapter to the ongoing debate over the president’s much-discussed exploits on the links.
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