WASHINGTON, D.C. — The public golf course on the island park in Southwest Washington could shut down next month. President Donald Trump said Sunday that East Potomac Golf Links will close on Nov. 15 for roughly 15 months while it is rebuilt, a timeline he set even though a federal judge has put the work on hold for now.
Trump made the announcement on social media and attached a drawing of the new layout. He said the finished course would stay open to the public and be built to host top events, naming the U.S. Open, the Ryder Cup and the PGA Championship among them. He called the current course broken down and pointed to diseased trees and a failing seawall. His post gave no cost figure.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and designer Tom Fazio, a golf course architect, are steering the project. The drawing lays out 18 holes from one end of East Potomac to the other, taking in the Hains Point recreation area.
The plan is being fought in federal court in Washington. Judge Ana C. Reyes last week stopped tree cutting at the course through Oct. 26 after the government began clearing trees over a holiday weekend with little notice. Late Sunday she turned down a Justice Department request that she step aside from the case.
In a Sunday night filing, the government, through Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr., argued that the plans are not final, that the National Park Service has not finished its review and that a course redesign is not something courts can review. Plaintiffs, represented by Democracy Forward, say the park belongs to everyone. Cyclists, runners and other park users have also objected to losing space at Hains Point.
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