President Donald Trump’s plan to turn East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., into a “championship-level course” took a step forward Friday after half a dozen private and public entities reached a deal to overhaul the site.
In a Friday night statement, the National Park Service said it will partner with National Links Trust, Fazio Design, First Tee of Greater Washington, D.C., Western Golf Association and the Evans Scholars Foundation to begin “immediate renovations” of East Potomac, as well as Langston Golf Course and Rock Creek Park Golf. It said the group will turn them “into the country’s premier public golf courses, while keeping them affordable and accessible for all.”
“Following this renovation, which will incorporate themes of the original Walter J. Travis design, East Potomac Golf Links will offer a top-tier 18-hole championship golf course capable of hosting pre-eminent tournament golf and offering players — of all abilities — an incredible experience in the heart of the Nation’s Capital and the National Mall,” the statement said.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum will oversee the project. The announcement indicated that the National Park Service will renovate East Potomac Golf Links and make other infrastructure improvements across East Potomac Park, while National Trust Links will be involved in renovations at Langston and Rock Creek.
The statement also referenced a potential partnership with the Washington Commanders at Langston, tying it to the NFL franchise’s plans to build a stadium. Alongside the course reworks, the statement announced the creation of a caddie academy by the Evans Scholars Foundation at East Potomac and a training school at Langston overseen by First Tee.
“We are pleased that Washington, D.C.’s municipal golf courses … will now remain open, accessible, and affordable for the residents and communities that depend on them,” National Links Trust co-founders Mike McCartin and Will Smith said in a statement released Friday night. “National Links Trust will continue operating all three courses, and we are committed to building on the progress we have made over the past five years.”
The Trump administration’s efforts to redevelop East Potomac Golf Links date to December 2025, when it moved to terminate a 50-year lease NPS granted the National Links Trust in 2020 to operate the course. Management of Langston and Rock Creek likewise fell under that agreement.
Those plans have faced legal challenges, with opponents referencing Congress’ 1897 declaration establishing the course. The legislative decree stated East Potomac would be “forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people.” Trump administration officials have justified their plans by saying NLT failed to complete necessary renovations on time, but lawmakers and the nonprofit have said those claims conflict with the lease terms.
The DC Preservation League and two Washington residents filed for an injunction to block the plan in February, arguing that the proposed changes would create a venue with inflated maintenance costs. They also said it would be beyond the skill level of most recreational players, putting it in conflict with Congress’ initial intent.
“For months, the administration has said over and over again that it had no plan for redesigning East Potomac. This agreement lays bare the administration’s plan to destroy East Potomac and build a professional-style course on its ruins. There is still active litigation that will continue,” a source involved in the litigation told The Athletic, speaking on background because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Beyond the access concerns, the lawsuit included photographs showing the National Park Service had begun dumping 30,000 cubic yards of “unlawful and possibly hazardous” fill at East Potomac. The plaintiffs contended that the fill contains wires, pipes, bricks and other material from Trump’s ongoing demolition of the White House’s East Wing.
That debris, the plaintiffs said, contains lead and asbestos, common building materials at the time of the East Wing’s construction and its most recent renovation in 1942. They cited an ongoing lawsuit against NPS that challenged the lack of an environmental assessment to identify carcinogens and lead in the East Wing project, as well as comments by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said on “Meet the Press” in October that “parts of the East Wing could have been asbestos.”
Trucks have been dumping debris from the East Wing renovation at East Potomac since last fall. (Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images)
Democracy Forward, a legal organization “that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy and public education, and regulatory engagement,” has been representing the plaintiffs in that case.
Washington news outlet NOTUS reported last week that the administration intended to shut down East Potomac on May 3, to the surprise of leaseholder NLT. In response, the DC Preservation League and Democracy Forward requested an emergency stay on Sunday to halt those plans. The case is being heard in the District Court for the District of Columbia.
Administration officials have maintained that they have not solidified what the course redesigns will look like, which opponents have seized on as evidence that the plans are being handled carelessly from both a legal and environmental standpoint.