Trump Plans Closure of D.C. Municipal Golf Course

President Trump said Sunday that East Potomac Golf Links, a municipal course in Washington, would close within four weeks as his administration advances plans for a replacement. Designed by Tom Fazio, the new course, he said, would be playable in about 15 months. Trump called it a “world class championship golf course.”

His announcement puts a federal plan for a municipal facility at the center of an active lawsuit. In July, a federal judge ordered the administration to provide long-term plans and not carry out a surprise overhaul. The lawsuit challenges changes to the course.

A Municipal Course and a Federal Plan

In a social media post Sunday morning, Trump said he had finalized plans to transform East Potomac Golf Links. He also said he’d notified professional golf organizations that “they will soon have one of the best and most spectacular golf courses anywhere in the world to put on their list of great places to play, and hold major events.”

The announcement laid out a timetable: the existing course would close within four weeks, and the replacement would be playable in about 15 months. But the base account gives no construction schedule between those milestones and no further details about how the municipal course will operate during that period.

Trump said Tom Fazio designed the replacement. Fazio has planned other courses owned by the Trump Organization. Trump shared a rendering of the proposed course, but the account offers no further design specifications.

Court Challenge and Tree Removal

A historical-preservation group and two Washington residents sued in federal court to stop changes to East Potomac Golf Links. Trump’s announcement gave the lawsuit renewed urgency. The plaintiffs had warned that the administration might seize the existing course before they could meaningfully challenge the plan. His post appeared to confirm those warnings.

The judge’s July order required the administration to provide long-term plans and barred a surprise overhaul. According to the account, the order followed earlier changes Trump made at the East Wing of the White House and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Earlier this month, the Interior Department removed hundreds of trees over a holiday weekend. The court and the group suing to stop the changes had less than a day to respond. The account doesn’t say what response the court or plaintiffs made to the tree removal.

The planned closure would end public use of the existing municipal course on the administration’s announced timetable, while the lawsuit challenges changes to the site. Trump’s post named professional golf organizations as the intended beneficiaries of the redesign. He said they could add the course to their lists of places for play and major events. The account gives no estimate of the project’s cost and no details about the administration’s response to the lawsuit beyond its announced plan.

A rendering of the proposed course also appeared in a Friday photograph posted by Katie Zacharia, Trump’s press secretary, who was removed from the role after less than a week. The rendering Trump shared resembled a blurred-out image visible on his desk in that photograph.