Will East Potomac Golf Links, part of East Potomac Park in Washington D.C., continue to be an affordable option for golfers?
That's the question as work around the city, course and park continues. The park was the creation of a congressional act in 1897 for the "recreation and the pleasure of the people." The golf course would open 23 years later in 1919 and it's been a popular locale for 100 plus years. But changes appear to be coming, as the Trump administration plans to overhaul the golf course.
“When completed, this course will have the ability to host major golf tournaments, including the U.S. Open, the Ryder Cup, the PGA Championship and other top PGA Tour events,” Trump posted on social media in June.
Trump's Interior Secretary Doug Burgum
said the revamped course would offer “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates.”
But what would such a big vision for the course's future mean to those who have spent countless afternoons playing it? The Associated Press recently caught up with a few people at the course who worry that plans to upgrade the course will put it out of reach of the average golfer.
“It takes away the history of the links here as well as deprives people of having a reasonably inexpensive place to play that is readily accessible to everyone,” Joe Foley told the AP. In his 70s, Foley said his nine-hole round, including a cart, was $36.
When crews demolished the East Wing of the White House, they hauled the debris away and piled it up near the East Potomac golf course. The National Park Service later reported that the debris tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals. The Trump administration has also cut down dozens of trees from the park.
Foley said the region has many “championship caliber courses already” and said he was worried about the president’s plans.
"No one knows what he’s going to do. Are the incredibly popular bike paths in jeopardy, too? Just look at how many bike riders are coming through Potomac Park and the golf course area at noon on a Wednesday,” he said.
“This is seen as a relatively safe place to come and kind of stay out of the way of traffic and everything else," Jason Levitt, 54, told the AP. "Let’s just hope that they make changes that are beneficial for everyone rather than just a certain type of golfer.”
“The most important tenet of it is that golf should be an approachable game for people that come from all walks of life," Ryan Bates, 44, told the AP.
The golf course renovation was reportedly set to begin Sept. 1, but it hasn't started yet. The reimagined course will be designed and built through Tom Fazio Design and modeled after New York's Bethpage Black Golf Course and Torrey Pines Golf Course in California.
A nonprofit organization and two residents in Washington sued the Trump administration to try to block the project. The administration and the nonprofit, National Links Trust, reached a deal in May to allow the organization to continue operating East Potomac Golf Links until federal officials overhaul it.
Todd Kelly is the assistant managing editor of Golfweek.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Golfers hope East Potomac changes are 'beneficial for everyone rather than just a certain type of golfer'
