Donald Trump declared East Potomac Golf Links, one of Washington, DC’s most popular public golf courses, “old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect.”That last claim will come as news to the golfers who reportedly played roughly 125,000 rounds there last year.

But there’s no time to argue. Trump’s National Park Service has already cut down more than 400 trees in what it calls maintenance, and the president has announced that the entire facility will shut down for a 15-month overhaul. The goal is to transform East Potomac into a championship-caliber golf course capable of hosting the US Open. On Monday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social that work will begin “IMMEDIATELY!”

The courts will have something to say about that. But the stakes for golf are much bigger than the trees. Trump’s plan threatens the century-old mission behind East Potomac and municipal golf courses across America: bringing an exclusive sport within reach of everyone.

He isn’t the first president with strong feelings about public golf courses. William Howard Taft was also an avid golfer, and his passion dovetailed with a growing movement to make outdoor recreation more accessible to the emerging middle class. In 1913, he wrote in support of building courses in Washington: “I think all our parks should be opened for golf unless there is some specific objection in public needs.”East Potomac Golf Links opened in 1920 amid a nationwide boom in public courses. For just 25 cents, a player could enjoy two rounds. More holes soon followed, as well as mini golf and a driving range.

Yet during its first two decades, East Potomac’s promise of being for the public was undermined by segregation. That changed in 1941, when three Black golfers challenged the color barrier by playing a round while hostile White players looked on. Weeks later, the Department of Interior ordered the desegregation of all federally controlled DC golf courses.

Today the course occupies a unique place in the capital’s golf culture. There are 36 holes spread across three courses, including two nine-hole courses suitable for beginners, intermediate golfers and those who don’t want more. That variety, combined with fees as low as $20 for nine holes on the weekend, attracts a cross-section of the city’s recreational golfers, bringing White and Black residents together in a city still divided by race.

The experience of playing there is undeniably Washington: planes roar overhead from nearby Reagan National Airport, and the Washington Monument looms within sight of many of the course’s holes.

Yet East Potomac isn’t without issues. Built on reclaimed land, it’s long struggled with drainage issues, as well as aging facilities.

So, in 2020, the first Trump administration signed a 50-year lease with the National Links Trust, a nonprofit devoted to affordable public golf. Among other investments, the trust committed to restore the original 18-hole course, redesign and rebuild the nine-hole courses, and maintain affordability and accessibility.

It was a good plan celebrated by preservationists and DC golf lovers alike. But after Trump returned to office in 2025, the administration reportedly embraced a plan to build a Washington National Golf Course on the site, and then terminated the trust’s lease. In May, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared a rendering showing a revamped 18-hole course and just one nine-hole course. A drawing shared this week by Trump eliminates the remaining nine-hole course and features an entirely new 18-hole course.

The president is unambiguous about his intentions: “We’re going to basically build a better golf course,” he said on Monday. “You could call it a renovation.”The trust’s plan preserved golf for the diverse group of players who had made it their own. Trump’s new plan measures success by whether elite competitions want to host events there.

In fairness, the president insists that this new course will preserve public access. It’s a plausible claim; other championship-quality courses, including last year’s Ryder Cup host, the Bethpage Black course on Long Island, continue to provide relatively affordable fees and access.

But even if a future Washington National Golf Course remains affordable and you ignore the president’s complicated relationship with the truth, the site’s proposed 18 holes — down from today’s 36 — won’t provide the same variety of playing opportunities as East Potomac. Price, after all, is only part of access. Eliminating East Potomac’s courses reduces opportunities for beginner, intermediate and casual golfers, as well as families who might enjoy mini golf. And that raises a question that Taft was asking a century ago: What public need is being fulfilled?

Trump argues that it’ll bring Washington both prestige and business. Perhaps it will. But none of those goals preserve or expand upon the original purpose of public golf courses. If anything, they subvert it.

The good news is that Trump could be forced to change his mind again. On Monday, administration officials testified that they were unaware of his threatened Nov. 15 construction start date, and wouldn’t be ready for it, anyway.

Generations of Washingtonians have played East Potomac. With a little luck, the next generation might get a chance to walk its fairways, too.