East Potomac Golf Course Closes Nov. 15 for Renovation
The east potomac golf course will close Nov. 15 for a 15-month renovation, President Donald Trump announced Sunday on social media — pressing ahead with his overhaul of the 106-year-old public course despite an ongoing court challenge.
Fazio Redesign, Major Ambitions
Trump said the closure will let the redesign by golf architect Tom Fazio begin, and shared an artist’s rendering of the new layout. He wrote that the finished course will remain “open to the Public” while being “designed to the Highest Level of Golf and able to hold World Class Tournaments such as the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup.”
The US Golf Association, PGA of America and the PGA Tour have already been notified, the president added. The plan includes repairs to the course’s seawall but is also expected to eliminate picnic areas, bike lanes, playgrounds and other recreation areas, according to Golfweek. Trump called the current course “old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect,” citing falling and diseased trees and “a collapsing and hazardous seawall.”
A Court Fight Trump Didn’t Mention
Trump’s post said nothing about the lawsuit now in federal court. On Oct. 12, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes temporarily blocked further tree-cutting after National Park Service crews felled about 430 trees at the course on Oct. 10, telling government lawyers she was “furious” and “deeply disappointed” in the government. Reyes later ordered renovation work paused until at least Oct. 26, and on Friday the Justice Department asked for her removal from the case, citing “open hostility” toward the government.
The D.C. Preservation League sued earlier this year, arguing the project raises environmental concerns and exceeds Trump’s authority; the group says it will keep working to protect the course from what it calls “unlawful and harmful intrusion.”
A Century of Public Golf
For more than a century the East Potomac facility has offered affordable green fees near Washington’s famous monuments, and residents fear an upscale overhaul will mean higher prices and lost public space. The redesign is one of several D.C. projects Trump has pushed in his second term — including a White House ballroom, the Kennedy Center and a proposed memorial arch — many of them facing their own court battles.
Source: Golfweek