“You know, it’s interesting, nobody has ever told me I don’t know how to buy property before. You’re the first one. I appreciate your advice.”

Fred A. Bernstein in the New York Times looks at The Donald's "Adventures in golf" and shares some fun new anecdotes from the recent hearings in Scotland.

During his two-and-a-half-hour appearance, Mr. Trump praised the site — which is in Balmedie, 13 miles north of Aberdeen — for its natural beauty. But when the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds argued that the landscape should be preserved, according to accounts in the British press, Mr. Trump said that 25,000 birds were being shot each year over his property and that residents were dumping garbage there.

“It’s a total mess,” Mr. Trump was quoted in The Guardian as saying. “When you walk on the site right now it’s sort of disgusting. There are bird carcasses lying all over the place. There are dead animals all over the site that have been shot. There may be some people that are into that. I am not.”

Mr. Trump later added: “It’s a killing field. They’re shooting birds. And all we’re going to do is shoot birdies and eagles.”

According to British press accounts, David Tyldesley, a planner hired by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, asked Mr. Trump about Scottish “rambler laws” that would allow birdwatchers and hikers to walk across the site.

Mr. Trump told the inquiry that golfers “would have a problem with people walking all over the course.” Ramblers, he added, could get hit by a golf ball, or break a leg and sue him. (Back in New York, Mr. Trump said, “We go by the laws of Scotland.”)

He was perhaps most combative when he was asked by Martin Ford, a member of the Aberdeenshire Council and an opponent of the project, how he had managed to buy the land without knowing it had been classified by Scotland as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. “You have little understanding of the property you bought or the environmental status of it,” Mr. Ford told him, according to a report by The Associated Press.

According to the Guardian account, Mr. Trump, who said he did know about the site’s designation, replied: “You know, it’s interesting, nobody has ever told me I don’t know how to buy property before. You’re the first one. I appreciate your advice.”

According to reporters at the hearing, Mr. Trump provoked guffaws when he told the inquiry that his proposed golf resort would “enhance” rather than harm the sand dunes. “I consider myself to be an environmentalist in the true sense of the word,” Mr. Trump said.

“We could even name the first hole after you"

I've been part of and seen some awkward group site visits, but this one at Trump's site in Scotland described by Emma Christie takes the prize.

The group stopped to listen to the Trump Organisation’s project director, Neil Hobday, who said the spectacular view towards the sea from the green would remain “unchanged” if the course was built.

Pausing to admire the dunes, Mr Trump’s right-hand man George Sorial shared a light moment with Martin Ford, the councillor whose casting vote scuppered the US tycoon’s plans.

Mr Sorial asked Mr Ford if he played golf – he does not – before saying he could be made an honorary member of the club, should it get the go-ahead.

“We could even name the first hole after you,” joked Mr Sorial, a suggestion Mr Ford said would make him feel uncomfortable.

The 13th hole, a par three, crosses the vast swathe of mobile sand dune known as a ‘sand sheet’ or ‘the dome’.

The vast majority of the sand sheet would be planted with marram grass in order to stabilise it. Golf course architect Martin Hawtree pointed to some existing grass growth on the dome, which he said had appeared naturally over the past year.

“This dome wants to be green,” said Mr Sorial, in reference to the same site.

But Mr Ford disagreed, and said the beauty of the sand sheet reconfirmed why the decision of the infrastructure services committee was the right one.

He said: “This has simply reminded me that this is a magical wild place with a real sense of wilderness. That’s something we don’t want to lose.”

There goes the honorary membership.

"But on initial examination, the layout would not constitute a links course and is certainly not a championship course."

Hardly a shocker here, nonetheless The Scotsman's Frank Urguhart reports that The Donald has rejected an alternate routing for his Scotland course by a gent named Mike Wood. The new sequencing of holes would have avoided the most sensitive portion of the site.

DONALD Trump last night rejected an alternative golf course design that environmental groups claimed would allow him to go ahead with his project without destroying the protected dune system at the Menie Estate.

RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) revealed they had commissioned Mike Wood, a respected golf course architect, to come up with a new plan for the Aberdeenshire resort.

They claimed the alternative showed Mr Trump could have a "championship level" course at Menie without damaging the vulnerable sand-dunes on the Foveran site of special scientific interest (SSSI) – the focus of the environmental objections to the £1 billion golf resort and housing development.

Mr Wood's design is to be formally submitted this week to the public inquiry into the Trump International Golf Links development as a potential way forward.

Anne McCall, the head of planning at RSPB Scotland, said: "The developers continually claimed they could not change the course design, but have said they might do so to take account of environmental destruction. Rather than the minor tweak that their new indicative plans would mean, we hope they will now agree with us that it's entirely possible for them to have a top golf course without building on the SSSI in the north or the sensitive dunes to the south."

Who is Mr. Wood you ask? 

Mr Wood, who chairs the environment committee of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, said: "I believe there is ample room on this site to accommodate a golf course designed to the highest modern standards without using the valuable mobile dunes."

But George Sorial, the Trump executive in charge of the Menie development, said: "We sincerely appreciate the RSPB's efforts at golf course design, but on initial examination, the layout would not constitute a links course and is certainly not a championship course."

Does not constitute a links eh? Someone's going to have fun with that remark. 

Trump In Vanity Fair

There's no chance I'm going to read this online since it's seven pages long and there's a whole lot more to read about right now than a man with limp combed over hair, but Alex Shoumatoff profiles Donald Trump and it appears to be mostly golf related.

Thanks to reader Jon for the warning so that I can really look forward to my May issue when the forklift delivers it to my front doorstep.

"You're looking at the shortest golf window along the entire North Sea."

Golf World's John Huggan weighs in on the viability of The Donald's Scotland project moving forward. This lept off the page...

All of which presupposes that the course actually will be built. While the odds are currently heavily in favor of the project gaining official approval, nothing yet is certain. Indeed, the story of Trump and the Menie Estate already has taken many twists and turns. As a "Site of Special Scientific Interest" that is home to many varieties of plant and wildlife, the area always was going to be difficult from a planning standpoint. American Mark Parsinen, who developed the highly acclaimed Kingsbarns course near St. Andrews, was one who previously rejected the site because of possible environmental restrictions. "I looked at this location, but it is on a Site of Special Scientific Interest," says Parsinen, who is now building another project at Castle Stuart, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. "These things take a lot of time. I settled here with my family to slowly build up relationships with the local community. I want them with me, not angry with me."

Meanwhile in last week's Golfweek, Bradley Klein writes of the project:

Didn't any of The Donald's consultants tell him that the site for this proposed 36-hole golf resort and real estate spread north of Aberdeen is on the East Coast's coldest stretch of land? Between the frequent morning "haar" or fog and the early afternoon shadows cast by the Grampian Mountains to the west, you're looking at the shortest golf window along the entire North Sea.

Scots Vying With Irish...

...for the site of Donald Trump's next self-proclaimed masterpiece and perhaps the coveted Isle of Stupidity crown. Because as Eddie Barnes reports, the Scots may be falling for this Leveraging 101 nonsense where The Donald is still going to visit Northern Ireland to consider his alternatives should one of these corruption probes or common sense overtake the Scottish government.

Meanwhile, Geoff Runcie, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, has warned that Scotland has "played out an amateur production on the world's stage".

He said: "Our big name star – Donald Trump – has auditioned and made known his ambitions for the show but has come to the stage only to find himself playing alongside the amateur dramatics team. The words of our bard Robert Burns 'to see ourselves as others see us' have clearly not registered with many and we still put petty and party politics before serious economic opportunity."

Oh they're amateurs alright. 

"The entire business 'smelled of sleaze'"

I'm not well versed in Scotland's political system, but by the sounds of this Kate Devlin story in the Telegraph, The Donald's victory in Aberdeenshire is going to be scrutinized and could unravel.

The SNP leader is accused of breaking regulations by meeting representatives of the developer the day before his ministers announced they would make the final decision on the project, previously rejected by Aberdeenshire county council.

Damagingly, the proposed development is in his Gordon constituency and Mr Salmond claims he met the Trump team only in his capacity as MSP.

He also insists that he had no knowledge that his ministers were about to "call in" the application because, as a local MSP, he is barred from knowing anything of the process.

It also emerged that members of the Trump Organisation were in the office of Scotland's chief planner when he called the council to discuss ways to resurrect the application.

Last week Mr Stephen, himself an MSP for the Aberdeen area, told the First Minister that the entire business "smelled of sleaze".

Update on 2007-12-20 03:20 by Geoff

This Bloomberg story explains things better for those of us not up on Scottish politics.

The Donald Can Help You Make Millions In Foreclosures!

L.A. Times business columnist David Lazarus is in trouble with The Donald!

The column in question involved a seminar held recently at the Pasadena Hilton. It was one of a number of such events held in the region by Trump University, Trump's online business school, founded in 2005.

An ad in this paper quoted Trump as saying that "investors nationwide are making millions in foreclosures . . . and so can you!" It also promised two hours of "priceless information . . . all for free."

Yes, the USGA should definitely do business with this man!

The column included a pretty flattering photo of Trump standing before a poster of himself at a recent event.

In his letter, Trump seemed particularly upset with my observation that his "primary claim to fame these days has been hosting 'The Apprentice' on TV." He wasted no time rebutting this notion.

"I am worth many billions of dollars, am building large-scale developments all over the world, am considered by many to be, by far, the hottest name in real estate," Trump wrote, "and I have to read an article by a third-rate reporter in your newspaper that my 'primary claim to fame' is hosting 'The Apprentice.' "

Show of hands: How many people think of Donald Trump as, by far, the hottest name in real estate? How many think of him as the guy who fires people on TV?

Thank you.

"Unlike many other people that make their money giving seminars," Trump continued, "I made my money in real estate and, as your reporter should have known, I never filed for bankruptcy."

Look what his first...so sorry...Trump card was:

He noted that his Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes is "one of the most successful and highly rated golf courses in the state of California," and that he bought it for "a mere fraction of its current worth."

Wow, no better than Pebble Beach reference. The Donald is off his game.

Anyway, read the rest of the column it's a beauty.

"The handling of this case has raised a number of matters of principle."

As shocking as it may seem, turns out that the sudden approval of The Donald's Scottish golf course may not have been entirely on the up and up.

Eddie Barnes reports for Scotland on Sunday:

In a highly unusual move, the national director of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has written to Finance Secretary John Swinney, reminding ministers of the need to be "politically impartial" and "transparent" when handling planning applications. Dr Veronica Burbridge warns Swinney that her members have been in contact to "express concerns" about the way the case has been handled.

The move follows a week of turmoil after ministers decided they, not the local council, would decide whether plans by American tycoon Donald Trump to build a huge golfing complex in Aberdeenshire should go ahead.

It emerged that a day before the decision, First Minister Alex Salmond, who is also the local MSP for the area, met two of Trump's representatives to discuss the case.

It then emerged that the pair had also met the Scottish Government's chief planner on the day the decision was made.

The matter led to a bitter political row which continues to rage, with opposition parties accusing Salmond of "sleaze", while the SNP accused them of risking an investment of up to £1bn.

In the RPTI letter, Burbridge states: "The handling of this case has raised a number of matters of principle. Members of the institute have expressed concerns that the manner in which this case is handled should not appear to damage the integrity of the planning system."

It adds: "They stress the need to ensure that procedures are transparent, respected and clearly understood by all those involved. Members of the institute are concerned that the approach to scrutiny of this case should be politically impartial and according to planning law and planning policy."

Opposition parties seized on the letter last night, claiming it supported their own concerns.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Nicol Stephen said: "This is an exceptional move which underlines the seriousness of the institute's concerns. This matter has grave implications for the conduct of Government.

"Ministers are ultimately responsible for the actions of Government and there is a fundamental lack of transparency and openness in the SNP Government's approach to this issue."

Swinney is expected to make a statement to Parliament this week answering questions about the Government's handling.

No one was available for comment from the Scottish Government.

The Donald Wins! The Donald Wins!

Andrew Hough reports on the stunning turnaround in Scotland where the chairman was also ousted for having voted down The Donald's links course and housing development.

Aberdeenshire Council also dumped the committee chairman, councillor Martin Ford, who had used his casting vote to break a 7-7 impasse that threatened to scupper the plans on environmental grounds.

The Scottish government said last week it was intervening because the project to build two championship golf courses, around 1,000 homes, a luxury hotel and 36 villas on a pristine stretch of northeast coastline, was too "important" to be dealt with by the local council.

Trump said he was very pleased by the decision.

"It's unprecedented what happened," he told Reuters by telephone from his office in New York. "The people of Aberdeenshire so loved the project that the council voted for it, unanimously."

And...

He said Ford was removed as chairman of the council's infrastructure and services committee at the emergency meeting after a vote of no confidence was supported 26-10, with 29 councillors abstaining.

A Scottish government spokesman said the move would not affect the review as ministers would make the final decision.

Neil Hobday, director of the Trump project, said the group felt vindicated by the council's action.

"For us it is a validation or affirmation and it (the decision) did not surprise us as we have support of the people of this region and I think the politicians who are representing them listened," he said.

Ford could not be reached for comment. But at the time of the decision he defended his vote against Trump, saying the risk to the local environment was "too high a price to pay".

"The Isle o' Lewis Is Pining For Ye Trump"

The WSJ's Alistair Macdonald found some Scots who actually desire face time with The Donald: his mum's Isle of Lewis.

Lewis is heavily dependent on employment in the public sector, retail and construction, and fishing, though a fraction of its former size, remains a key employer. In Lewis, the island's only golf course, the 117-year-old Stornoway Golf Club, held a meeting a few weeks ago at which it debated ways to honor Mr. Trump. The club discussed naming one of the course's 18 holes after him and offering him life membership, says the club's honorary secretary, Ken Galloway.

Local councilor Murdo Macleod, no relation, wrote the real-estate mogul asking him to help turn Lews Castle, a deserted and frayed grand Victorian estate, into a luxury hotel. "Every American loves a castle. He can play golf here, do a bit of fishing, shooting, a bit of relaxation," Mr. Macleod says.

He says Mr. Trump hasn't replied. The local council mailed Mr. Trump an invitation to visit a few weeks ago. It hasn't yet heard back from Mr. Trump, a council spokesman says.

Mr. Trump says he saw both letters and passed them on to his people. George Sorial, managing director of Trump International Golf Resorts, says that Mr. Trump receives so many requests daily that he can't reply to them all.

The trevails of a reality television star. 

"The development he has proposed is much more Myrtle Beach than Balmedie."

Alasdeir Reid pens a must read Telegraph piece calls the entire Donald Trump saga "Swiftean" and says the course should not be built because of the proposed surrounding development's very un-Scottish approach to the land. Then again, this is the same country that approved a grotesque looking hotel on the Road hole, so they aren't entirely immune from acts of reckless taste.

Of course, the First Minister has kept a public distance from the wrangle between Trump and the Aberdeenshire planning authorities, but reports have suggested that he was furious over the Council's decision to reject the American magnate's plans. Certainly, the move to 'call in' the planning application for consideration at senior government level is not the sort of assistance the rest of us can expect when our plans for modest conservatory extensions are turfed out by local planning officials.

There are some whose opposition to Trump is probably based on nothing more than a visceral antipathy to the larger-and-louder-than-life figure he presents, the mouthy yank who would sooner push down any door than knock and politely wait his turn.

Those who witnessed his toe-curling contribution to the 2004 Ryder Cup's opening ceremony might suggest he should immediately have been served with a lifetime ban from any further involvement in golf. Yet if Trump has been guilty of hyperbole at times, it is still unquestionably true that the links of Balmedie offer a canvas on which a great course could indeed be painted.

Yet golf is a relatively small component of a development which, if implemented in full, would almost inevitably be known as Trumpton. In full, the proposal under consideration is for two courses, a training academy, a five-star hotel, 450 holiday homes and around 1,000 houses. Trump's most remarkable achievement has been to set an agenda in which everyone seems to be discussing golf courses, when even his own website suggests a construction project that could comfortably be seen from outer space.

And this really gets at the main concern many clearly have:

The fact of the matter is that Trump has come up with a plan that pays no heed whatsoever to local tradition. For all his moist-eyed claims about honouring the land of his mother's birth - Mary Anne Trump, nee MacLeod, came from the Isle of Lewis - the development he has proposed is much more Myrtle Beach than Balmedie. Golf was Scotland's gift to the world; it would do better to stick to the original version rather than re-import its American form.

The Donald Serves 30 Day Notice; Scottish Government Folds Like Beach Chair

Andrew Hough reports in The Guardian that the Scottish government is looking for ways to overturn the Aberdeen council's decision to vote down Donald Trump's proposed project.

The timing is curious considering Frank Urquhart's story of The Donald's purported 30-day option on a piece of land in Northern Ireland, along with Trump's threats to the council.

Last night, George Sorial, the Trump executive charged with masterminding the resort development, warned: "The clock is ticking. We are not going to compound one disaster with another."

Mr Sorial said: "There are several reasons behind our decision not to pursue the appeals process - the length of time it would take, the uncertainty of the outcome and also other business deals that we are actively pursuing. If we have an option to build what we want in another place it may be a better business decision for us."

He continued: "I have spent the whole weekend in Aberdeen and I have been reading about the public outcry [over the infrastructure services decision]. There have been two different surveys in which the support of the population has been put at 93 and 89 per cent.

"Over the past couple of days, an overwhelming number of the people have sent me e-mails and come up to me in the street and just expressed their complete dissatisfaction with the result and implored me to impress upon Mr Trump that the people really want this project. 

It's worth reading some of the comments of users following the Urquhart piece. (294 when I last looked). I'd say it's split more like 50-50. 

Donald Sends Out His Gumbas?

Granted, his gumbas would now be 59-year-old Scottish women, but either way, it looks like it's getting ugly in Aberdeen. Thanks to reader Alan for this Katrine Bussey story.

A councillor who voted against US tycoon Donald Trump's plans to build a £1 billion golf resort in Scotland claimed yesterday she had been assaulted after opposing the project.

Debra Storr said a woman came to her house outside the village of Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, this morning and pushed her.

The alleged incident happened the day after councillors narrowly rejected Mr Trump's proposals.

Grampian Police confirmed they were making inquiries into an incident at a house in the Balmedie area.

Ms Storr, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Ellon and District, said: "I heard a banging on the door and when I opened it there was a woman standing there who proceeded to hurl abuse at me, obscenities regarding the Trump application.

"She was very angry it had been refused and continued hurling abuse at me.

"I asked her who she was and if she would moderate her language. She told me who she was, but she did not moderate her language. She continued hurling abuse at me and then she stepped across the door, put her hands on me and pushed me."

A spokesman for Grampian Police said: "We can confirm that a 59-year-old female has been interviewed and charged in connection with a minor disturbance."

Meanwhile John Huggan just killed any chance of being the next architect The Donald fires after this Scotland on Sunday column celebrating the demise of Trump's project.

Step aside Seve. Move over Tiger. Take a seat Monty. I'm done with all of you. Your times have been and gone, as have your posters on my bedroom wall. This morning I have a new golfing hero to admire. Three days ago, one Martin Ford, chairman of Aberdeenshire Council, used his casting vote to throw out plans for what US entrepreneur Donald "My mother comes from Stornoway" Trump boasted would be the "best golf course in the world" on a spectacular and - thankfully - ecologically-important stretch of dunes land north of Aberdeen.

Mister Ford, I salute you.

Call me cynical, but this whole Trump thing rang alarm bells right from day one. I mean, consider the source. Anything emanating from that large hole below Trump's nose - let's not even get into that

“I think it sends out a devastating message that if you want to do big business don’t do it in the north-east of Scotland.”

Thanks to all the readers who sent the story of Donald Trump's planned Scottish course getting shot down by the Aberdeenshire Council. Here's the unbylined Guardian story, but this Louise Hosie and Matt Dickinson story for the Scottish Press Association was the most detailed, but I can't find it online to link.

The casting vote on whether to reject or defer the decision was made by committee chairman Martin Ford after a 7-7 deadlock.

Mr Ford warned members it would be a “grotesque mistake” to grant the application without any negotiation and voted to reject the application.

Shell-shocked George Sorial, Mr Trump’s right-hand man who was in Aberdeen for the meeting, spoke of his disappointment, also warning that the decision sent out a “devastating” message against doing business in north-east Scotland.

He said: “Obviously we are very disappointed.

“It is our position that the council has failed to adequately represent the voice and opinion of the people of Aberdeen and the shire who are ultimately the losers here.”

Mr Sorial added of the decision: “I think it sends out a devastating message that if you want to do big business don’t do it in the north-east of Scotland.”

Mr Trump’s team could now appeal to Scottish ministers, with the prospect of a lengthy public inquiry over the development a possibility.

Mr Sorial said they were “not sure” if they would make an appeal.

“I think we have been very frank all along – we do have options elsewhere in the UK and we will sit down now and look at that,” he said.

“We haven’t made a formal decision yet.”

This might explain what kind of people you're dealing with on the council:

Passionate arguments for and against the resort were heard during the meeting at the council headquarters in Aberdeen. Councillor Albert Howie said the chance for Aberdeenshire to have an international complex of this kind was an opportunity not to be missed.

“A golf course is a beautiful thing. They are an improvement to what, to me, is wasteland.

Beautiful dunes a wasteland? Obviously he hasn't been to Las Vegas.

But Councillor Alastair Ross said the council must play “hardball” with the Trump Organisation and refuse the application.“It is an economic investment – it is property speculation,” he said.“We are open for business but we have to do business that is good for Aberdeenshire – not at any price.”

His views were echoed by Councillor Debra Storr.“This is a very strange development, very outwith the ethos of the north-east of Scotland,” she said.“I have no faith in the application.