WASHINGTON — The Potomac Grille at East Potomac Golf Links filled with laughter and questions on a breezy, overcast Thursday afternoon.“They’ll probably get rid of the Red and the White,” one retiree said to his playing partner over a burger.“Maybe it’ll be a links course?” another old-timer asked his buddy at the next table over.This is the discourse around golf in the nation’s capital these days: questions and uncertainty. It doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way. Maybe it won’t be this way.The Trump administration — in a message on social media from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum — unveiled a rendering of a potentially redesigned East Potomac from renowned course designer Tom Fazio on Thursday. We’ll get to the feasibility and appeal of the plan in a minute.
Excited to unveil the design for the East Potomac Golf Links renovation from Fazio Design.
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… pic.twitter.com/foLZAAcsj3
— Secretary Doug Burgum (@SecretaryBurgum) May 14, 2026“Like iconic public courses of Bethpage Black & Torrey Pines,” Burgum wrote, referencing elite municipal facilities in New York and California, “East Potomac will offer locals — of the National Capital Region — championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates.”Which … great. If it happens. Raise a skeptical eyebrow — and wait.This is just the latest development in a saga that has toyed with the psyches of the people who play public golf in the nation’s capital — which includes me, almost every week. Price to walk 18 holes at Langston Golf Course: $34, and $25 if you’re 55 or older. What a deal.At one level, who manages the District’s three municipal courses — East Potomac, Langston and Rock Creek — and what they charge to play are trivial matters.But the three courses have become symbols of what it’s like to live in the District during the second Trump term. National Guard troops still walk through our neighborhoods — with very little to do but talk to each other. Some parks in the middle of traffic circles are fenced off, marked by messages that President Donald Trump is making Washington safe and beautiful. The bottom of the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument has been painted blue. The Kennedy Center is threatened with renovation and closure for two years, sending the Washington Ballet and the National Symphony Orchestra looking for new homes. Life here is altered, and not for the better.Which brings us to the golf courses, which hosted more than 178,00 rounds in 2024. Golf has, deservedly, an elitist reputation. The close-in Washington suburbs are home to a handful of beautiful private clubs — all of them expensive. To keep the sport accessible and grow the game, the public tracks in the District are essential.
