Alex Dickson is a Washington, D.C., area golfer who, like many of us, struggles to maintain a single-digit handicap index. He dabbles in golf media with a podcast called “Beltway Golfer.” He likes to play with his 10-year-old son, and he has hopes that his 4-year-old son will soon join them. His facility of choice in Washington is East Potomac Golf Links.
Yes, you may have heard of East Potomac, as it has been in the news for the last few months. President Donald Trump has big plans for this place; his administration terminated the 50-year lease held by the National Links Trust, a high-minded non-profit organization created to oversee and upgrade East Potomac and two other down-on-their-luck public-access golf courses in our nation’s capital, all while adhering to the ethos of “affordable and accessible.”
It is understood that Trump wants to rename the facility – which is located in East Potomac Park and is home to a regulation 18-hole course and two shorter nine-hole layouts – and turn it into one exclusive, high-end course that could host a PGA Tour event or even a Ryder Cup.
This didn’t sit well with Dickson and another retail golfer in Washington, Dave Roberts. That’s why in addition to being serious golfers, they are both plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The short-term goal is to stop any redevelopment efforts while the case is being litigated. Longer term, they seek the reinstatement of the National Links Trust lease or at least guarantees that the facility will remain affordable and accessible to all.
The lawsuit was filed by the DC Preservation League, and it takes a wider view than just a golf course. It argues that the Trump administration’s efforts violate the U.S. Congress’ initial intent when it declared East Potomac Park a public park in 1897. Congress decreed that it would be “forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people.”
“Losing this golf course would significantly impact our shared history and limit public access to one of the District’s vital recreation and green spaces.”
Rebecca Miller, DC Preservation League
“The East Potomac Golf Links is a unique cultural landscape that reflects the history of recreation in the nation’s capital. Altering its historic character would undermine a site meant to be accessible to the public,” Rebecca Miller, executive director of DC Preservation League, said in a news release announcing the lawsuit.
“Historic preservation is about maintaining the qualities that make a site an asset – affordability, openness, and architectural significance – rather than allowing for exclusive redevelopment. Losing this golf course would significantly impact our shared history and limit public access to one of the District’s vital recreation and green spaces.”
The plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward, a pro bono legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education and regulatory engagement. The defendants are the U.S. Department of the Interior and its secretary, Doug Burgum, and the National Park Service and its acting director, Jessica Bowron.
A key point of contention is the dumping of dirt, debris, and wreckage on the golf course. This debris is from the demolished East Wing of the White House. In an effort to try to find a common ground with the administration, National Links Trust agreed to accept the debris. However, the lawsuit points out that this constitutes unlawful and possibly hazardous dumping, since the debris includes materials apparently untested for pollutants or contaminants.
Dickson and Roberts are unaffiliated with the National Links Trust, although they are completely aligned with its goals of “accessibility and affordability.” But there is another aspect of the lease that is important to them, as Dickson explained to me last week.
He acknowledged that East Potomac Golf Links historically has been in poor shape, and he cites the nature of previous lease agreements. They were all one-year leases that had to be renewed each year. There was no incentive for previous operators to invest in better conditioning, as they had no guarantee that the lease would be renewed. The beauty of National Links Trust’s 50-year lease, which was signed in 2020, was that the golf course would receive some much-needed investment. In addition, the agreement shielded the course from being caught up in White House turnover every four or eight years. And the early results of the new arrangement have been apparent to longtime users of the facility, who attest to the conditions being better than they ever have been.
The Trump administration’s assault on public-access golf in Washington is not helping the president’s chances of seeing his beloved Ailsa course at Turnberry return to the Open Championship rota.
Credit the National Links Trust for continuing to operate the golf courses even after the Department of the Interior terminated its lease in late December. This allows golfers to continue to play the course and prevents the entire staff from losing their jobs. But this comes at a cost; the Links Trust lost several hundred thousand dollars in doing so in January alone; this is not a sustainable model going forward, especially since spring is just around the corner and seasonal hiring is scheduled to begin soon.
The Trump administration’s assault on public-access golf in Washington is not helping the president’s chances of seeing his beloved Ailsa course at Turnberry return to the Open Championship rota. Officials at the R&A, who are believed to already have a dim view of the Trump family, are likely unamused by what they are hearing and reading about golf in Washington D.C.
As I wrote last month, a compromise is right there in front of the Trump administration. Join forces with the National Links Trust, help them raise some money, pour a ton of money into East Potomac Golf Links while maintaining an affordable and accessible business model for D.C. area golfers, and declare victory. Golf wins, and Trump’s reputation within the game is burnished a bit.
Dickson pointed out that East Potomac is typically littered with kids; this is where they go to learn the game. Here’s hoping that his 4-year-old son can take advantage of that opportunity in the years to come.
Top: A golfer tees off at East Potomac Golf Links.
Matt McClain, The Washington Post Via Getty Images