President Donald Trump announced plans Sunday to transform a historic public golf course in Washington, D.C., into a “world class” championship venue capable of hosting some of the sport’s biggest tournaments.
Trump said the Department of the Interior, led by Secretary Doug Burgum, is working with famed golf course architect Tom Fazio to overhaul East Potomac Golf Links, located along the Potomac River near the National Mall.
“When completed, it will be open to the Public while, at the same time, designed to the Highest Level of Golf,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president said the redesigned course would be capable of hosting events including the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Trump said the United States Golf Association, PGA of America and PGA Tour have already been notified of the plans.
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Trump, an avid golfer, vowed the project would create jobs and deliver an economic boost to Washington and the surrounding region.
The existing course is expected to close Nov. 15, when restoration work on Fazio’s design is slated to begin. Trump said the new course could open approximately 15 months later.
Trump did not acknowledge the ongoing legal fight in his post, which included an artist’s rendering of the proposed course redesign.
Hours after Trump’s announcement, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes took judicial notice of the Truth Social post and ordered the government to clarify by 8 p.m. Sunday whether it still stood by its position in a court filing two days earlier that “there is no final agency action” and that, at most, Trump had given “preliminary thought” to rebuilding the course.
Reyes also ordered two government attorneys who have appeared in the case to attend an evidentiary hearing in person Monday morning.
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Trump, meanwhile, sharply criticized the condition of the existing course, calling it “old, broken, dilapidated” and pointing to what he described as dangerous and diseased trees and a deteriorating seawall.
East Potomac Golf Links sits on federally owned land at East Potomac Park and has been part of Washington’s public golf scene for more than a century.
The redevelopment has also drawn scrutiny over tree removal at the site. Reyes recently temporarily halted additional tree cutting amid a legal challenge over work at the property.
Trump said the overhaul would restore views of Washington while creating what he predicted would become “one of the Best and Most Spectacular Golf Courses anywhere in the World.”