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Former President Donald Trump’s love of golf has long posed a protective challenge for the Secret Service, which prefers armored vehicles and enclosed buildings to golf carts and the wide-open expanses of fairways and greens.

Although members of Trump’s protective detail are always close at hand, the agency’s approach to guarding the former president on his courses has been inconsistent, even during appearances at semipublic events such as invitational golf tournaments.

In some instances, Secret Service personnel accompanying Trump have used hand-held magnetometers to screen people for weapons. In others, spectators, vendors and reporters have walked alongside Trump without being searched at all. Agents sometimes warn people from getting too close to Trump, but the former president has usually embraced a laid-back atmosphere, inviting people to pose for pictures or talk with him.

Trump’s courses are generally considered among the best in the world, golf-wise. But they include security vulnerabilities that any course would have — vast spaces and often few places to take cover.

Trump generally drives his own golf cart, which, aside from the presidential seal, looks much like any other golf cart, devoid of bullet-resistant glass or other overt protective measures. He is often alone, with the nearest agents yards away in their own carts. Only occasionally can the service’s black SUVs get close enough to the holes to be seen nearby while Trump is playing.

Some agents monitor for threats beyond Trump’s immediate area. At his course near Washington, some scan the Potomac River, particularly when a boat passes nearby. Others stand behind Trump, peering back toward areas he just traversed, looking for any trouble.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2024 The New York Times Company