Keeping Score

Trump administration strikes deal on D.C. golf courses, but questions loom at East Potomac

by Dominick Mastrangelo - 05/11/26 6:00 AM ET

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by Dominick Mastrangelo - 05/11/26 6:00 AM ET

Link copied

NOW PLAYING

President Trump’s administration struck a deal late Friday with the National Links Trust (NLT), the local nonprofit that operates Washington D.C.’s public golf courses, clearing the path for an overhaul of East Potomac Golf Links, a site the president has for months had his eye on for redevelopment.

The move came as a surprise to district golfers and staff at East Potomac, who had been unsettled in recent weeks by reports the administration was preparing to launch deferred maintenance and tree-clearing work at the location imminently.

The National Parks Service, which owns the land the course sits on, late last year terminated the Links Trust’s lease at East Potomac and two other district courses: Langston Golf Course and Rock Creek Park Golf Course.

Trump, who owns dozens of golf resorts and properties around the world, has mused about transforming the Hains Point location, which is home to three courses, walking trails, and scenic views of the Potomac River and Washington Monument, into a championship-style, 18-hole facility capable of luring major professional tournaments and the Ryder Cup.

Under the fresh agreement, the Department of the Interior granted the Links Trust a new long-term lease at Langston and Rock Creek Park Golf, while NLT will also continue operating East Potomac Golf Links “until the National Park Service is ready to commence a historic restoration there.”

In a statement, the NLT said it was “encouraged” that the Parks Service had promised it would “follow the established compliance process that we went through at Rock Creek Park Golf for any large-scale work at East Potomac.”

“With this agreement, East Potomac will continue to be accessible and affordable for those who use the course and facilities,” the nonprofit said. “We thank President Trump for reaching an agreement that keeps Washington, DC’s three public golf courses open, welcoming and affordable community gathering places for DC residents and all golfers.”

Friday’s news was a dramatic departure from a monthlong span of tensions between the Trump administration, NLT and critics of the president’s attempted takeover, a fight that landed in court earlier this year.

The DC Preservation League and two district residents sued over the president’s plans in February and asked a judge last week to grant an emergency stay blocking the work.

The news outlet NOTUS reported over the weekend that the legal case involving the government’s plans for East Potomac is expected to continue despite Friday’s deal.

“We don’t want what happened at the Kennedy Center to happen here,” said Will Bardwell, one of the plaintiffs in the case who works at the left-leaning Democracy Forward Foundation during a recent hearing.

Trump’s reported plans for East Potomac had roiled a community of D.C. golf enthusiasts, who felt they may soon lose a central gathering place and symbol of access and affordability in a sport that increasingly caters to wealthy players and private clubs.

Under NLT, D.C.’s courses had become a model for public, affordable golf centered on beginner and junior players, with greens fees rating at nearly half the price of those at other nearby courses in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs.

But in recent months, the organization had come under criticism by local golfers and the Trump administration over course conditions and a lack of progress with renovations it was promising at the Hains Point site.

“I would say my views are somewhat mixed. I’m supportive of NLT, however as a golfer, I’ve been disappointed with the pace [of improvements to the course]. It’s a real issue,” Bruce Saul told The Hill in between shots at the East Potomac driving range before Friday’s deal was announced. “The course conditions aren’t really better. Part of it is political, but even apart from that I want a place that’s affordable, and I really feel strongly about community. It’s a really great community here.”

Some players and critics of the administration were angered to learn that tons of dirt, which had been removed from the White House grounds as part of the president’s East Wing ballroom project and dumped on the Hains Point property just feet from the executive white course, had tested positive for toxic material.

The White House directed questions to the Department of the Interior (DOI).

The DOI told The New York Times the material it dumped on the property was “tested, multiple times by multiple parties, and this project passed all standards set by law,” and it insisted the dirt