By Steve Scott, golf correspondent

AS THE song says, if you can make it there you can make it anywhere, and as Donald Trump has made more in New York, New York than just about anyone, it would be foolish to doubt his first venture into Scotland.

Foolish, even if the venture he’s proposing, at an estimated cost of £350 million, includes a golf course, hotel and property complex on 800 acres north of Aberdeen where a round will cost over £200 and where he hopes one day to host the Open Championship.

The multi-millionaire with the bulging portfolio of business interests in property, gaming, entertainment and sports jetted into Scotland yesterday to view the “unmatched” site of his project near Balmedie beach, travelled down to St Andrews by helicopter to meet R&A chief executive Peter Dawson and the Press, and then flew back north again to continue poring over his ambitious plans.

In between he strolled around the 18th green of the Old Course, signed a ball for a passing player, and spoke eloquently of his first business move into the country where his late mother was born.

Planning permission has still to be granted for the project, but with VisitScotland accompanying Mr Trump in his travels yesterday, and the lucrative nature of the project, it seems unlikely he will be denied what he wants. If he is denied, he stressed yesterday, he will walk away.

“If we get the permissions we need then great. If not, that’s unfortunate but we have an alternative. It’s a very good site, just not as good as this one.”

That alternative is not in Scotland, although Mr Trump would not say where it was, only stating that Balmedie Beach was his choice from a list of over 200 he and his associates examined.

“I love Turnberry and I love the way the hotel sits looking out to the ocean,” he said. “That’s something I’d like to emulate or maybe even surpass here.”

Earlier, in a Press conference at Aberdeen airport, Mr Trump said that during his stay he will brief his planning team and meet householders whose property lies near the 800-acre site.

Mr Trump said, “If for any reason the community groups, the community, the local representatives, the politicians feel that we are not doing the right thing, if they let us know, we will go someplace else.

“We are not looking to have any arguments; we are looking to take a great piece of land and make it better.”

He added, There are a few other sites where I feel this could be achieved, but I really wanted to come to Scotland.”

He later added, “If for some reason, in the wisdom of the officials and the wisdom of the people of Aberdeen and shire, they feel they don’t want this, I will not be insulted at all. I will go elsewhere.”

The 800 acres earmarked include a Site of Special Scientific Interest, home to important landforms and wildlife.

Scottish Natural Heritage said it is willing to co-operate, but stressed that the area’s heritage must be protected.

Mr Trump, whose mother Mary MacLeod was born in Stornoway, said his previous projects were all feted for their environmental standards.

He said a wind turbine farm planned for the area was incompatible with his project. “If they build a wind farm, I won’t build a golf course,” he said.

“The coastline of Scotland is one of the most beautiful in the world and shouldn’t be spoiled by wind farms. But I believe that the wind farm planned for this area will eventually be built a long way away.”

While primarily a golf project, with US designer Tommy Fazio brought in to create the two courses planned, there will also be a luxury hotel, restaurants, spa, banquet and conference facilities, a clubhouse and academy, and timeshare properties.

Professional tournaments, including the greatest of them all, are also on his agenda. “I would like it to be on the Open rota, and I think it’s a realistic hope. I just spoke to Peter Dawson and he promised me the Open Championship in three years!” he said.

“Seriously, what I can hope to do is hopefully build the greatest golf course anywhere in the world, but what I can’t do is build the history and legacy,” he admitted. “It’s called pedigree and it takes many, many years to build that.”

Mr Trump has no doubts that the luxury that has worked so well with his US leisure projects will translate to Europe and specifically dour old Scotland.

“The course in LA we opened is a public course, we charge over $300 a round and you can’t get on the course . . . I’ve found if you do something that’s really good, really top rank, as good as it gets, then it will attract a lot of people wherever it is.”

Jennifer Craw, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise Grampian, said, “This project has the potential to make a huge impact on the north-east economy and Scotland’s economy as a whole.”

VisitScotland chief executive Philip Riddle said, “Scotland is renowned as the traditional home of golf across the world. Donald Trump’s plans to invest in Scotland, above many other possible European destinations, reconfirms this reputation.”