Trump's East Potomac Golf Course Overhaul: The Inside Scoop and What It Means for D.C. Golf
So, the President wants a golf course makeover. And not just any golf course, but one smack-dab in D.C., with views of the Washington Monument. This is East Potomac Golf Links, a D.C. muni that’s been around forever. Now, word is, President Trump’s got his eye on it, and he’s brought in the big guns: Tom Fazio. This ain’t your average Tuesday golf chat, folks. This is politics, money, and golf all rolled into one messy ball. And let me tell you, it’s got people talking. And not all of it is good.
The Initial "No" and the Unexpected "Yes"
Here’s the kicker. When Trump first pitched the idea to Fazio – you know, the guy who’s designed more famous courses than most people have played holes – Fazio said no. Yeah, you heard that right. A quick, flat-out “no.” Why? Because, as Fazio put it, he doesn’t “deal with aggravation.” And let’s be real, municipal projects? They’re aggravation central. Permits, approvals, endless red tape. It’s enough to make a saint curse. Plus, there were already plans in motion. The National Links Trust (NLT) had a lease, a solid 50-year deal, to manage and spruce up East Potomac and its D.C. muni siblings, Langston and Rock Creek. They’d even tapped another big-name designer, Tom Doak. So, Fazio stepping in? That was always going to stir the pot. Local golfers were already gearing up for a fight.
But then, bam! Fate, or maybe just a well-timed trip, intervened. Fazio’s wife, Sue, had a visit planned to D.C. She nudged Tom to tag along. He was swamped, initially balking, but eventually caved. And while he was there, he decided to check out East Potomac. Sitting on that peninsula, sandwiched between the Washington Channel and the Potomac River, with the Monument peeking over? He was floored. “Holy mackerel, this is awesome,” he said. He immediately called the President. “I told you no,” Fazio told Trump, “but you were right.” The site. It was just too damn good to pass up.
The Trump Connection and Early Signs of Change
Fazio and Trump? They go way back. Fazio’s designed four courses for Trump’s portfolio, including the very first one at Trump Bedminster. His nephew, Tommy Fazio, and Tommy’s dad, Jim, have also got Trump courses under their belts. They’re golf guys, so they talk shop. Mostly on weekends, by phone. Trump’s a busy guy, running the world, right? But this East Potomac thing? It started showing up on the radar way before any official announcements. Back in October, dump trucks started rolling up, hauling dirt from Trump’s own East Wing renovation project. They were dumping tons of debris near the 4th and 9th holes on the executive course. Keep in mind, this place isn’t just one course; it’s an 18-hole regulation course, a nine-hole executive course, and a nine-hole par-3. So, yeah, dirt moving was an early indicator.
Then came the big shake-up. At the end of December, the Interior Department pulled the plug on the NLT’s lease. Their reason? Allegations of missed rent payments and underperformance on course upkeep and improvements. The NLT? They vehemently denied it all. This left the future of all three D.C. munis in a serious limbo. An awkward, unsettling stall that dragged on for months. Finally, in May, the administration offered some clarity. They announced a deal. A deal with a mix of private and public players, including Fazio Design, to kick off “immediate renovations” at East Potomac. Meanwhile, the NLT got the green light to go back to work on Langston and Rock Creek.
The Backlash and the Fight for East Potomac
Now, you can’t make big changes like this without ruffling some feathers. And boy, did these feathers get ruffled. Back in February, a couple of D.C. golfers, teaming up with the D.C. Preservation League, filed a lawsuit. Their beef? They claimed the administration was messing with East Potomac’s role as a public park. Just this month, a federal judge weighed in. The administration could proceed with *maintenance* work, sure. But overhauling the place without proper notice and approvals? Nope. Not happening. There’s this group, “Save East Po,” an advocacy outfit that’s been protesting Trump’s plan. They’re basically people who love East Potomac and want to keep its character intact for the next generation of D.C. residents.
Some of that public pushback? It’s landed right in Fazio’s inbox. He’s gotten emails, requests. People telling him, “Don’t work on that project.” Some of them, he says, were downright insulting. Others, he calls ridiculous. But hey, he figures that’s part of the game when you’re dealing with a lot of different opinions and personalities. Whatever criticism Fazio has to swallow, whatever hurdles he needs to jump, he’s convinced the payoff will be worth it. The site, he believes, is just that special. He’s comparing it to Pebble Beach land, in terms of its environment and setting. And Trump’s idea? To turn it into a literal national monument. Fazio thinks there’s no reason it can’t be.
What Does This Mean for the Everyday Golfer?
Here’s the million-dollar question for most golfers: What happens to the East Potomac they know and love? Fazio gets it. He knows what the current course means to D.C. residents. He’s got friends whose kids grew up playing there. They’ve told him their worries. Will green fees, currently capped at a reasonable $48, skyrocket? Will the new design, potentially stretching to nearly 7,700 yards – a length Trump apparently wants to see host majors and Ryder Cups – push out beginners and shorter hitters? Will the place start feeling upscale, exclusive, alienating the regulars? Will it lose its connection to its history, to the original Walter Travis design from way back in 1921?
Fazio admits it’s controversial. “Anything he’s involved with becomes controversial,” he says of the President. But, he stresses, it’s too early to jump to conclusions. “Facts have been not put out yet,” he says. And he’s right. The administration has been pretty tight-lipped about the specifics. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently shared a preliminary design from Fazio, but with minimal details. The message? Something along the lines of: “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.” Fazio doesn’t know what those rates will actually be, but he suspects they’ll be subsidized for locals, similar to other high-profile muni rebuilds like The Park in West Palm Beach or Memorial Park in Houston. He’s even worked on a redesign in Augusta, Georgia, that fits this model.
Fazio himself admits he doesn’t have a ton of experience with municipalities or “the processes that go along with getting lots of different opinions.” But his job, as he sees it, is to build the best damn golf course and facility he can within the boundaries set by the Interior Department. And ideally, he wants to do it fast. That aligns with Trump’s wishes. “The president happens to be a guy of action,” Fazio says. “He wants to get this thing done so people can enjoy it play it, and not one of these ‘10 years down the road and drag it out forever’ things. He wants to get it done now.” This is Trump’s MO, after all. He likes to leave his mark, physically, on the city. But at East Potomac, Fazio can’t just snap his fingers. Engineering, environmental, legal clearances – they all need to happen before they can even think about breaking ground. He figures they’ll know more about the timeline in about a month. Best-case scenario? Construction starts later this summer, grass goes down next summer, and it’s ready to play in spring 2028. That’s the optimistic schedule, he says. And if Trump pulls off a third term, his last day in office is January 20, 2029. So, the clock is ticking.
Design, Drainage, and the Dirt Debate
When Fazio and his team finally get rolling, one of their top priorities is going to be fixing the drainage. This place is low-lying, and it takes a beating from rain and tidal surges. “I don’t know what we’re going to do yet,” Fazio says. They’re deep into studies, figuring out how to stop the flooding and how to get grass to grow consistently. The President’s already asking about costs. Fazio doesn’t have a solid number yet. He needs to assess all the conditions and site constraints. More rules and regulations, he notes dryly, mean more cost. They’re crunching numbers on how much dirt needs to be moved to elevate those flood-prone areas.
Now, about that dirt from the White House renovation. We’re talking over 30,000 cubic yards. According to National Park Service data, it’s got low levels of lead, chromium, and other “toxic metals.” Some savings, Fazio says, but not much. “It’s nothing,” he says, regarding the volume compared to the whole project. The President, he adds, was “shocked” when Fazio told him that. Fazio plans to use some of that debris to build a couple of greens and bunkers, but it won’t be enough to raise the land and prevent flooding. That’s a whole other beast.
The current layout has the first two holes – parallel par-4s – kind of off on their own in the northwest corner. A big practice range sits by the 2nd hole, and beyond that, the par-3 course. The other 16 holes are basically on the footprint of the existing course, with about half of them following the old corridors. The current holes all run north-south. Fazio wants to change that. “We like to bend and twist and create some variety in different sun angles and those kinds of things,” he says. With limited land, it’s all about “space allocation.” He’d have loved to extend the course further down the peninsula, but “that’s not the criteria that I was given to work with.”
From the back tees, it’ll play a hefty 7,660 yards. That, combined with Trump’s desire for it to challenge the world’s best, has some locals sweating about playability. Fazio’s trying to ease those fears. “I’ve never done a golf course that’s not playable for [a high-handicapper],” he insists. He plans for at least two sets of forward, middle, and championship tees. “If we only put the third tee from the front,” he says, “guys who are serious players would say, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a short golf course and I’m not interested in that.'” But yeah, he’s definitely aiming for it to challenge the elites when stretched out. He wants it to be the equivalent of places like Aronimink, Quail Hollow, and Shinnecock. Quality, with or without a major event.
Trump wants that big event, and Fazio’s planning has factored in how galleries would flow and how contouring could create natural viewing spots. Getting tens of thousands of people, vendors, and staff in and out of that peninsula? That’s a logistics headache for the experts. Still, Fazio notes, the D.C. area could use more tournament-ready courses. There are plenty of courses that *can* host PGA-quality events, he says, like Congressional or TPC Avenel, but most don’t want to because it means shutting down for the event. It’s a tough balance.
Preserving History vs. Modernizing the Game
Preserving Walter Travis’s original design? It wasn’t exactly Fazio’s top priority. For starters, maps and references from Travis’s work are scarce. More importantly, the existing layout just isn’t suited for modern golf. “There won’t be any holes that are exactly the way they are now because they’re not acceptable in today’s golf standards,” Fazio states bluntly. He argues that if the old masters like Donald Ross or A.W. Tillinghast had today’s budgets and equipment, they would have done things very differently. It’s a fair point, but one that still stings for traditionalists.
The current clubhouse, with its monument-like pillars, will stay and get a facelift. A second clubhouse down the line? That’s a possibility. “Our job and my job always is to look at options and possibilities and what can be done over time,” Fazio says. The driving range is getting a major upgrade too. It’s moving from the northwest corner to run south-to-north. Why? So golfers won’t be hitting into the setting sun late in the day. “When you hit a golf ball, especially on a practice tee, you kind of like to see it land.” This new range will extend to 400 yards from the back tee, with balls flying toward the Washington Monument. “The president loves practice ranges,” Fazio adds, so they’re really leaning into that dramatic setting. He poses the question: “Where’s the greatest practice range you’ve ever seen?” Then he answers it himself: “Well, if you stood on the practice tee at the East Potomac and hit balls, that could be as good as any place in the world.” High praise, no doubt, especially with that iconic backdrop.
The par-3 course, currently on the east side, is getting the boot. It’ll be replaced by another nine-hole short course on the northeast corner. Fazio expects the yardages to be similar to the current course, where the shortest hole is 64 yards and the longest is 208. The miniature golf course, though? The country’s oldest continuously operating one, listed on the National Register of Historic Places? That’s staying. Fazio confirms it’ll remain. So, some history is being preserved, at least.
Changes are definitely coming. And local golfers can expect them sooner rather than later, with the ultimate seal of approval from the highest office in the land. As the President himself apparently puts it, as a golfer, he’s just not happy with courses that have “very little grass on it, with bad drainage, with bad putting surfaces, with not quality experiences.” His solution? “He’s going to fix it.” Whether that fix is what everyone wants remains to be seen. It’s a complex project, with a lot of moving parts, a lot of opinions, and a whole lot of political weight behind it. One thing’s for sure: East Potomac is about to become a lot more interesting.
For more on golf course developments and news, check out resources like USGA Course Design.