The president was seen carrying detailed plans on Sunday.
As President Donald Trump toured East Potomac Golf Links on Sunday, he carried what appeared to be detailed plans showing a far more extensive redevelopment of the municipal golf course than federal officials have publicly disclosed.
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The plans, visible in photographs taken during Trump’s visit, seem to stretch the redesigned golf course across nearly the entire East Potomac peninsula, extending play to the shoreline. The renderings do not appear to show several of the park’s best-known public amenities, including the riverside bicycle trail, the miniature golf course and Washington’s oldest grove of cherry trees.
The drawings offer the clearest glimpse yet of how the Trump administration wants to transform one of the nation’s oldest municipal golf facilities into a championship-caliber venue capable of hosting the U.S. Open, the Ryder Cup and other major tournaments.
The newly visible plans raise fresh questions about the scope of the project and what parts of the heavily used public park could be altered or displaced. Trump spent more than 90 minutes at East Potomac on Sunday morning, walking the property with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, golf course architect Tom Fazio and other administration officials during what is believed to have been his first visit to the waterfront course.
From what can be seen on the plan, the administration seems to have abandoned the short par-3 course that remained in the conceptual rendering that Burgum released in May. If built as shown, the redesign would reduce East Potomac from its current three-course, 36-hole layout to a single 18-hole championship course. It would also expand golf into roughly 50 acres of parkland now used for picnicking, fishing, cycling and other recreation.
The new details emerge as the administration pushes an aggressive timetable despite a pending federal lawsuit and a series of regulatory and engineering hurdles that could complicate Trump’s goal to begin construction on Sept. 1.
The redevelopment remains the subject of litigation in U.S. District Court, where plaintiffs argue that the administration’s plans violate the 1897 congressional act establishing East Potomac Park for the “recreation and pleasure of the people.” A hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday before U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes, who will consider the administration’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
During a May hearing, Reyes instructed National Park Service officials to notify the court before undertaking significant changes to the property and cautioned against removing more than 10 trees without first discussing the matter.
The White House, the Interior Department and the National Park Service did not answer questions about the plans Trump was seen carrying. On Monday, an Interior Department spokesman referred a reporter to Trump’s social media post from Sunday, in which the president described the region’s busiest course as “dilapidated, worn out, and very dangerous” and called the green “virtually unplayable.”
“As a private citizen, President Trump built some of the greatest golf courses in the world, and he is now extending his unmatched design skills and excellent eye for detail to D.C.’s East Potomac Golf Links,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. “The President and his extraordinary team will redevelop this decrepit golf course in our nation’s capital to restore its glamour and prestige.”
Trump also said the renovated course would be capable of hosting major tournaments while remaining open to the public. The plans underscore one of the challenges facing that ambition: East Potomac occupies a narrow, flood-prone peninsula where major championships would typically require substantial space for grandstands, hospitality venues, television compounds and other temporary infrastructure.
The administration has not released a cost estimate, but officials have said the renovation would be “supported by private contributions.” An organization called the National Garden of American Heroes Foundation, led by longtime Trump fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke, has been soliciting contributions for the effort.
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The course sits on federal land and is administered by the National Park Service. It had been operated by the nonprofit National Links Trust, which had its own renovation plans for the aging municipal facility, until the Trump administration terminated its long-term lease on Dec. 31.
The prospect of a major overhaul has worried local residents and park users, who fear that a redesigned course could become less affordable and less accessible while disrupting a waterfront park also used by non-golfers.
The plans visible Sunday are likely to deepen those concerns. The bicycle trail that circles East Potomac Park is not readily identifiable in the drawings. Nor is the East Potomac Miniature Golf Course, which has operated on the site for decades and underwent a $1 million-plus renovation in 2024.
Unlike the image Burgum released in May, these more-detailed plans appear to route golf holes to the southern tip of Hains Point, an area that draws birdwatchers at sunrise and families gathering for weekend cookouts along the Potomac.
“It’s deeply concerning to see that the president is carrying around plans that would essentially eliminate public access to [a] beloved park used by the public for fishing and recreation,” said Ed Stierli, a senior director overseeing the Mid-Atlantic region for the National Parks Conservation Association. “This is an admin that says they want to prioritize public access for recreation, and in this case that doesn’t seem to be what is being prioritized.”
Hundreds of cherry trees along the perimeter of the peninsula are not included in the drawing carried by Trump, and the fate of Washington’s oldest grove of Japanese cherry trees is also unclear. Fazio, Trump’s selected architect, has previously said he intends to preserve the historical trees, telling Golf.com that Trump has repeatedly emphasized protecting them during planning discussions. The trees, planted in 1910, currently sit on the White Course, an area that would be razed and incorporated into a practice facility, according to plans.
The plans also offer a reminder of one of the project’s biggest engineering challenges: flooding.
East Potomac Park sits on low-lying reclaimed land at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, and is prone to flooding after heavy rain and high tides. The apparent expansion of the course to the edge of the peninsula could further complicate those engineering challenges. Park officials have discussed reinforcing the seawall, a project that would carry a nine-figure price tag on top of the golf course costs.
Fazio has also said the soil already trucked to East Potomac from construction work at the White House represents only a fraction of what would be needed if large portions of the course ultimately must be elevated.
The redevelopment is expected to face multiple layers of federal review before construction can proceed. Significant changes to federally owned parkland in the nation’s capital are typically reviewed by agencies including the National Capital Planning Commission and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, in addition to environmental and historic preservation reviews conducted by the National Park Service.
The course remains open to the public. The administration and National Links Trust, the nonprofit that operates Washington’s three municipal golf courses, announced an interim agreement in May allowing the organization to continue managing East Potomac while the federal government pursues what it described as a “historic restoration.”
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Jake Spring contributed to this report.
