The interior secretary released the first official plans as the president seeks to remake and upgrade the historic D.C. municipal course. The idea has sparked outrage and legal action.
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East Potomac Golf Links, the century-old municipal golf property that has offered 36 holes across three courses accessible to generations of Washington golfers, could soon see a drastic overhaul, transformed under a planned redesign into a par-72, 7,660-yard, 18-hole course with a short pitch-and-putt course and expanded practice area.
The Trump administration on Thursday morning released the first official design of plans to turn the popular municipal course into what President Donald Trump has said he wants: an upscale, “championship-level” course capable of hosting major tournaments.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared the image on social media. The design proposal, branded “East Potomac Golf Links” and bearing the logo of golf course architecture firm Fazio Design, shows the 18-hole layout running much of the length of the Hains Point peninsula, with views toward the Washington Monument and the surrounding waterfront. A hole-by-hole listing notes the course could play as short as 5,700 yards from the closest tees and 7,660 yards from the championship tees, enough length to potentially host professional tournaments. The Blue Course at East Potomac currently plays at 6,599 yards from the back tees.
“Like iconic public courses of Bethpage Black & Torrey Pines, East Potomac will offer locals — of the National Capital Region — championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates,” Burgum wrote Thursday.
While the statement suggested that players who are not D.C.-area residents would pay higher greens fees, the image did not detail what those rates would be, nor did it include a timeline for construction or completion. It also remains unclear what public access to the broader Hains Point area would look like under the redesign. East Potomac Park is a popular spot for recreation, drawing picnickers, cherry blossom enthusiasts and fishermen, and its roads and paths are used for a variety of competitive racing events.
An Interior Department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. Tom Fazio, the designer handpicked by Trump, also did not respond to requests for comment.
The design bears little resemblance to the original layout, designed by Walter Travis. It also differs from a rendering included in earlier fundraising documents obtained by The Washington Post, which showed an expanded golf footprint extending closer to the edges of Hains Point. Those earlier images depicted new water features, a redesigned clubhouse and a course occupying much of the park’s existing bike paths and open recreational space, with a putting green shown at the southern tip.
The Fazio design appears to preserve green space at the tip of Hains Point, including what appears to be a path, and to the north it stops at Buckeye Drive, the current property boundary. But the image does not make clear whether a perimeter path would remain open and accessible to the public, including cyclists and runners.
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In addition to the 18-hole course, the rendering appears to show a large practice area and a shorter nine-hole course situated on what is now the property’s nine-hole White Course.
In a statement, National Links Trust officials, who have operated the course since 2022, said they are “excited” that East Potomac “will remain affordable for local DC, Maryland, and Virginia residents.”
“This pricing model is successful at great municipal facilities like Memorial Park in Texas and Bethpage State Park in New York, which serve as accessible, welcoming, and world-class community assets,” they said in the statement.
Any overhaul of the federally owned parkland probably would be subject to further review and permitting before work could begin. The course also remains the subject of an active federal lawsuit, in which a judge has directed the government not to move forward with extensive renovations without first notifying the court and the plaintiffs.
While National Links Trust, a nonprofit that preserves public golf courses, saw its lease terminated in December, it is continuing to operate East Potomac on an interim basis. Under a deal announced last Friday, the nonprofit will retain oversight of Langston Golf Course and Rock Creek Park Golf, where the group is expected to resume long-held renovation plans.
Under terms of that deal, the National Park Service will renovate East Potomac and “invest in necessary major infrastructure projects.” Funding for the project has not been disclosed.
National Links Trust also had plans for a redesign of East Potomac and had enlisted noted designer Tom Doak to restore the course’s historic character. Travis, one of the premier golf course architects of the last century, took inspiration from the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland to design the original 18 holes next to the Potomac, consistent with the city’s aspirations for the park. The original layout was designed to be reversible, creating variety for golfers and spreading out wear and tear across the course.
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