Live updates: Shooting around Trump golf club; FBI investigating apparent assassination attempt

Law enforcement vehicles are parked after reports of shots fired outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.

Golf courses, and particularly Donald Trump’s properties, have long been a source of concern for Secret Service officials tasked with securing the courses while the commander in chief plays, according to people familiar with the matter.

A golf course is often the largest outdoor area a president can visit, and their design — often adjacent to public roads and containing features such as trees and hills that can hide potential assassins — makes them particularly difficult for the agency to secure.

Like other presidents before him, Trump’s presence on a golf course does not result in the club being closed to the general public, nor in the closure of nearby roads.

Instead, groups of agents in golf gear typically ride in golf carts in front of and behind the president as he plays and secure areas for a few minutes before he arrives.

Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach is adjacent to three busy roads: Kirk Road, Summit Boulevard and Congress Avenue. Palm Beach International Airport is also nearby.

An April 2021 file photo shows an aerial view of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

As president, Trump could often be seen from Kirk Road while he was golfing. But members of the media were not allowed to stand on the sidewalks near the golf course when Trump was playing.

After he left the White House, some of those restrictions were lifted. The public was able to get a clear view of Trump from the sidewalks of Summit Boulevard and Congress Avenue.

At a briefing Sunday, the Palm Beach County sheriff acknowledged that with Trump no longer a sitting president, the Secret Service was “limited” in its ability to completely surround the golf course.

When he was president, Barack Obama’s most frequent golf outing was on the grounds of Andrews Air Force Base, which by its very nature is on a military installation and has restricted access, both to the course itself and to the surrounding area.

President Joe Biden rarely plays golf.