Trump-branded golf properties have "benefited from a burst of free publicity this year, with TV cameras rolling" as PRESIDENT TRUMP visits the courses that bear his name, according to Eaglesham, Schwartz & Ballhaus of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The extra attention comes at an "important moment" for Trump’s clubs. Amid a "general slump in the golf industry, the value of those properties hasn’t kept pace with the amount of money he has invested to make long-term upgrades." Sources said that a number of the golf clubs have "frozen or reduced initiation fees in recent years." The Trump Organization’s 18 golf clubs in the U.S. and overseas are a "core part of his business empire, which the president continues to own via a trust run by his adult sons." The properties account for "more than half the total revenue" Trump reported last year in a federal financial disclosure filing. According to tax records, the "most recent valuations" of Trump’s 10 U.S. clubs with tax assessments -- most of them for '16 -- total $266M. That is up $24M, or about 10%, from their value in '12. However, that increase in value "falls well short" of the $310M that Trump’s company claims to have "spent on renovating the properties during that same period," including $250M on upgrading the Doral resort in Miami. That means the net value of the clubs after investment has "declined significantly over the last five years." But a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said, "Our clubs are performing incredibly well." Eaglesham, Schwartz & Ballhaus note since his inauguration, Trump has "paid 14 visits to his golf clubs" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/6). Despite Trump meeting with Chinese President XI JINPING at Mar-a-Lago, CNBC's Kelly Evans said the "two leaders will not be hitting the links." CNBC's Eunice Yoon said Trump "has used golf diplomacy before" but not for this because in China Jinping "has declared a war on golf as part of his war on corruption" (“Closing Bell,” CNBC, 4/5).
