Trump's Scottish golf course didn't increase security due to men defecating in holes

Claims that a golf course U.S. President Donald Trump owns in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, had to increase security staff due to Scottish men breaking in and defecating in the course's holes circulated online in April 2025.

Social media users shared the claim across platforms, with multiple posts on Threads (archived, archived), X (archived) and Facebook (archived). Many posts celebrated the inherent humor of the claim.

Trump's Scottish Golf Course has had to up its security because Righteous Scottish men are breaking in and shitting in the holes. Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear kilts. pic.twitter.com/nZpUxe6TGF

— Dan's Art (@VolArtDan) April 11, 2025

However, claims that Trump's golf course near Aberdeen hired extra security due to Scottish men breaking in and defecating in the course holes were false.

A public relations adviser for Trump International Scotland called these claims "categorically untrue in every respect" and told Snopes via email, "I trust this response will put the matter to bed as any story suggesting there is merit in this claim would be completely wrong."

The claims appeared to have originated as a joke from stand-up comedian Russell Howard, who posted a clip of the bit on TikTok (archived) on April 8, 2025, promoting upcoming tour dates. Though there are some examples of this claim circulating earlier, many of the recent claims surfaced after Howard shared the clip on TikTok account. It was not immediately clear when Howard first delivered the joke on stage.

In the clip, Howard says, "Donald Trump's got a golf course in Aberdeen. They've had to put extra security staff on at that golf course because Scottish men keep breaking in and s******* in the holes. That's how we feel about Mr. Trump."

@russellhoward

I think we all know what the Scottish make of Trump's tariffs…

♬ original sound - Russell Howard

Howard has not yet responded to Snopes' request for comment. We will update this article if we hear back.

While this particular claim appeared to have originated from a comedian's joke, the premise tapped into real animosity locals have expressed toward Trump and his Aberdeenshire golf course.

Trump vs. the people of Scotland

Trump's 2006 purchase of an estate in Aberdeenshire that eventually became the resort featuring the golf course in question left him notoriously unpopular in Scotland.

Many locals opposed the development, with the Aberdeenshire Council rejecting the proposal following objectors' complaints that "the resort would have a major impact on wildlife and destroy a beautiful part of Scotland," according to the BBC.

The Scottish government later approved the plan in 2008. A 2016 report in The Guardian said:

Despite the bitter opposition of all Scotland's environment agencies and charities, Scottish government ministers, who were backed by local business and council leaders, decided the scheme was of national importance. In November 2008 they ruled that this allowed Trump to bulldoze through a third of the Foveran dunes complex, a legally protected site of special scientific interest (SSSI), and breach the council's structural plans, which defined Menie as green belt land.

Part of the cited "national importance" was Trump's promise of 6,000 new jobs that would be created by the resort. However, The Guardian further stated that in 2016 the resort had only 95 employees, many of them seasonal.

Trump's battle against local critics continued even after the approval. Trump attempted to seize surrounding properties through a process called compulsory purchase, which allows certain entities to "purchase land without the owner's agreement, if there is considered to be a strong enough case in the public interest in doing so," according to the official website of the Scottish government.

According to a 2009 report in The Guardian, Trump "issued an abusive attack" on Michael Forbes, a Scottish salmon fisherman and quarryman opposed to the development, "after Forbes's elderly mother began legal proceedings to prevent the local council seizing her home by compulsory purchase."

Eventually, "Trump's workers broke a crucial pipe that connected their homes to the only nearby water source," according to a 2016 report in The Daily Beast, and refused to repair it, "forcing the 92-year-old Molly Forbes to collect water from a stream she carted back to her home in a wheelbarrow. For four years."

After Molly Forbes sought legal recourse, per The Guardian's report, Trump issued a statement calling Michael Forbes "a loser who is seriously damaging the image of both Aberdeenshire and his great country."

The resort in Aberdeenshire opened in 2012. In 2024, the Scottish project director who helped facilitate the deal told the BBC that he felt "hoodwinked and ashamed that I fell for it and Scotland fell for it."

As a result of ongoing conflict with Aberdeenshire locals and scathing reports about Trump's negative effect on the community, some Scottish citizens have expressed their opposition to the U.S. president through vandalism.

Most recently, pro-Palestinian activists vandalized Trump's hotel and resort in Turnbull, Scotland, resulting in multiple criminal charges. Trump called the vandals "terrorists" on social media and wrote that he hoped they would be "treated harshly."

Though there were no credible reports of Scottish men defecating in the holes at the Aberdeenshire golf course nor a subsequent increase in security, there is an entire Imgur post dedicated to vulgar signs featured at Scottish anti-Trump demonstrations. Similarly, a popular Reddit thread features an image of a man appearing to urinate on the Aberdeenshire golf course sign.