BALMEDIE, Scotland (AP) – David Milne loves the view of the North Sea from his home high above the roiling surf, but he finds his eye often falling onto the golf course next door and, when it does, on the tiny figures below.
He counts the people coming off the buses in the parking lot and the people swinging at the 1st tee and the 10th tee and he counts the people walking the fairways and after all this counting he’s convinced of something that must be satisfying given his tussles with the owner, Donald Trump.
There aren’t enough people.
“The carpark is rarely even half full,” said Milne, 53, looking out again on Friday under clear blue skies. “For what was supposedly the best golf course in the world, I don’t really think this is a resounding success.”
A few hours after Milne spoke, he got some confirmation. A financial report that Trump’s company filed with the British government shows he has lost millions of dollars at the resort, called the Trump International Golf Links, as well as at a second one on the other side of Scotland overlooking the Irish Sea.