Turnberry’s renaissance continues at full swing – the Ayrshire complex has gone into profit for the first time in 100 years under Trump ownership and was also awarded the prestigious Hotel of the Year 2018 award. So how does Eric Trump maintain this course of success against a backdrop of constant pressure?

By Andrea Pearson. Main photograph by Gordon Terris


On a bright and windy Friday afternoon Eric Trump is relaxed and happy to be in one of his favourite places. Driving a golf buggy around the King Robert The Bruce course at Turnberry, he smiles as he weaves around families walking out to the lighthouse and golfers teeing off at the fifth.
“Good afternoon,” he calls out. “How are ya?” Most look round with an expression that reads: “Why is he greeting us? … Oh I see. He’s American.”
Unshaven, out of a suit, (Eric is 34 but looks younger in baseball cap and sportswear) he passes for just another player on one of the world’s most famous golf courses. The third child of Donald Trump, Eric was thrust into the top role at the South Ayrshire resort sooner than expected, in order for his father to be sworn in as President in January 2017. 
But Eric, a self-confessed “maniac golfer”, was already firmly at the helm by then in any case: “Turnberry was really my baby,” he says, smiling broadly.
Eric’s passion for golf had long been a driver in his father’s property empire. When he joined the firm in 2006 there were only a handful of courses in the portfolio. Now there are 19 worldwide. But it is Turnberry, the host venue for four Open championships, which is “at the very top of the list” for Eric.
Driving around the course it is clear Eric – he is referred to simply by his first name at Turnberry – knows every mound and blade of grass. He describes the structure of bunkers, the newly created wetlands, and the satellite-controlled irrigation systems in great detail as we trundle our way towards the eighth hole overlooking the lighthouse.
“Turnberry was always the best before we bought it then we made it better. We brought it to another level and you can see the result. Look how many people are out on the course,” he says.
The Trump Organization bought Turnberry for £35.7 million from Dubai-based Leisurecorp in 2014. Since then an estimated $200m has been invested in refurbishments, and this year the hotel is in profit for the first time in its more than 100-year history.

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Turnberry was also crowned Hotel Of The Year 2018 at the Scottish Hotel Awards, and both the redeveloped Ailsa and the new King Robert The Bruce course, have won dozens of international prizes and accolades.
He adds: “We have always been very macro people. If you build the best they will come. People will go out and rave about it and talk about it and they will come. And that’s what happened here.”
Watching the Trump-isation of Turnberry has been both exciting and slightly worrying for those of us who have held the place in great affection for years. Among the numerous changes have been the course alterations, accommodation upgrades, the conversion of the lighthouse-keeper’s house into a luxury suite and halfway house, and a new golf academy.
Most noticeable was the addition of a vast ballroom – a double height function space with crystal chandeliers and a blaze of glazing to make the most of views out to Ailsa Craig. Was that a step too far?
“The thing that Turnberry was always missing was a ballroom,” says Eric. “You know, 200 plus rooms but you never really had an unbelievable event space.”
Adding a ballroom gives Turnberry facilities for fully catered conferences, corporate training days and awards nights, with the bonus of accommodation or transport at the end of proceedings.
“And it looks beautiful, it is one of the greatest views anywhere. It’s spectacular,” beams Eric.

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It was in that spectacular ballroom just over a year ago that I had my first encounter with the US president’s son when he opened the newly developed King Robert The Bruce course. He arrived in Trump style by helicopter and I – perhaps others too – fully expected him to skip up to the podium and dole out the usual platitudes about how beautiful Scotland is, the historic home of golf etc etc.
But instead, Eric spoke at length, unscripted, detailing his very deep affection for Turnberry, for the staff, for the game, for the location, for the history. He then thanked a list of people by name – everyone from ground staff to his wife, Lara – and reiterated time and again how proud he was to be a part of Turnberry.
When we meet a year later he has lost none of his excitement. “There is no question that I feel like a caretaker here. Actually more than that,” he explains.
“You have the iconic RAF base which had a pivotal part in the war – and the hotel served as a hospital. You had every picture of Eisenhower and Churchill on top of the 1906 steps. And you have the castle of King Robert The Bruce – and who is more of a significant player in Scottish history than him?
“I felt sorrow in a certain way because I don’t think the people who had the property before did the property justice. The hotel hadn’t been kept to a standard that it deserves. The people who work here – who I care about deeply, and who are literally part of our family – will tell you that I had been to this property more times before we had closed on it, than previous owners had been during their entire tenure of their ownership.”

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The South Ayrshire wing of the Trump “family” is extensive. Now with 430 staff, Trump Turnberry is a major employer and one of the biggest private sector businesses within the mostly-rural Carrick area.
The majority of employees are local. Investment has created jobs, income and an economic boost. Turnberry uses local companies as part of the resort’s supply chain – the kitchen alone is linked into a network of around 50 local producers – making a difference for a lot of businesses in South Ayrshire. There is a programme of apprenticeships within the resort and, according to South Ayrshire Council: “Turnberry has also been very supportive of young people and giving them experience of the world of work. In conjunction with local schools like Carrick Academy, this gives pupils the chance to gain practical hands-on learning throughout the year in front-of-house roles, hospitality, office, golf and spa – all of which have had a noticeable impact and improved our young people’s confidence and communication skills.”
In 2016 golf tourism delivered more than £40 million for the economy in Ayrshire and Arran. And while golf club memberships across Scotland may be shrinking, golf tourism is growing and has become a significant contributor to the economy – adding £286 million and £154 million in GVA in 2016, according to VisitScotland figures. By far the largest contributor in Scotland is the US, which accounts for more than a quarter (27%) of the market.

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“This part of Scotland has been so phenomenal,” says Eric.
“The entire community was behind this project. And you don’t always see that. Sometimes you have great projects. They need the investment. 
“They need the love and you don’t have the love behind it … and it’s all different.” It certainly can be very different. Trump Aberdeen, The Trump Organization’s other Scottish resort at the Menie Estate on the north-east coast, has been a different kettle of herring and resistance to the new development there has been well documented. 
Eric was a schoolboy when his father split from his mother Ivana, and it was at Seven Springs – a luxurious mansion in New York State built in 1919 – that Eric and his older brother Donald Jnr spent summer holidays with their father. 
Eric explored the detailed craftsmanship of the house, mowed the lawns, learned how to repair marble slabs – and once described the holidays there as “probably the best experience of my life”.
The young Eric’s passion at school was for woodwork – he won several prizes and awards for his craftsmanship. Taking on the stewardship of a heritage property such as Turnberry puts Eric on familiar turf.
“I was flying here once every week or two weeks from the US as we were building the property. There is not an attic I don’t know, there is not a crawlspace that I don’t know, there is not a room that I haven’t laid out, there is not a bathroom that I haven’t literally laid out and spray painted.
“I mean we put our passion into it. We are meticulous.”
The level of detail is impressive – in repairing the famous Turnberry steps, the original limestone quarry was identified so that each step could be replaced like for like.

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The lighthouse was a major undertaking. The keeper’s house, built by David and Thomas Stevenson in 1873, had lain empty and neglected for more than 30 years. Its conversion was scrutinised by Historic Scotland which has responsibility for Turnberry castle, the ruins of which are within the site. 
When efforts to match 25 different samples of brick to the 150-year-old handmade originals failed, workers painstakingly stripped each brick of its ancient mortar so it could be reused. The spiral rail on the internal staircase – skilfully crafted by hand more than 100 years ago – was painstakingly sanded and varnished. 
“We put so much passion into that. I mean truly out of everything that I have built in my life, it was truly one of the most fun projects,” says Eric. 
The connection to the past, the iconic place in the game and quality of craftsmanship all seem to appeal to him. And in the dedicated staff at Turnberry, Eric has found kindred spirits. He describes the shapers, who maintain the delicate contours of the courses, as “Picassos with a backhoe”. He holds the caddies in particularly high esteem: “There are probably 20 caddies that have worked here for over 30 years. And they still love it, they are invested in it, they have ownership of it, they want to see it be cared for. They’re phenomenal.
“I talk to them all the time. I think they are my best source of information. A) they hear everything that people are saying, and B) they know the property better than anybody. They say the course condition is the best it’s ever been.”
Turnberry is an elite facility, but it is surprisingly non-elitist. A night in the Lighthouse suite may cost £3,500 but on the other hand an all-you-can-eat Sunday carvery is priced at £32, you can turn up and play the nine-hole Arran for £25 and enjoying the pristine mile-or-so walk out to the lighthouse is completely free.

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Juggling his responsibilities at Turnberry with his other duties across the Organization – and with his role as a father of a one-year-old boy – is quite a commitment. And it must be a distraction, to say the very least, that Eric’s father is currently the most scrutinised and discussed person on the planet. 
“Well, yes and no.” He says. “I think what my father is doing is great for our country.”
The day after our tour of the King Robert The Bruce course, the papers are filled with the latest eyebrow-raising revelations from Washington alongside further news of improving economic growth in the USA – and each side of the argument becomes further embedded in its particular political bunker.
Meanwhile Eric tweets: “I had an amazing time taking our 32 best members from @TrumpBedminster #NewJersey to @TrumpTurnberry, #Scotland! There is no more beautiful hotel and golf course in the world!”
While opinion is aggressively divided over whether or not Donald Trump is a good president for the USA, there can’t be many who doubt his son Eric is a great ambassador for Turnberry. 

This article first appeared in The Herald's Business HQ magazine. Read the September edition in full online