A report that President Trump’s administration will begin renovations on the historic Washington, D.C. muni, East Potomac Golf Links, as soon as Monday came as a surprise to the people charged with taking care of the golf course.
“I woke up last night and saw the story and that was all we had heard,” Lorenza Robinson, the course’s operations manager, told GOLF.com in a phone interview Saturday morning.
According to that story, which was published Friday evening by D.C.-based, non-profit news outlet NOTUS, the National Park Service will begin landscaping and tree-clearing work on the site next week in preparation for a major renovation by noted course designer Tom Fazio.
The report is the latest turn in what has been an odd and stressful period of limbo for East Potomac and D.C.’s other two munis — Langston and Rock Creek — which until recently were operated by the National Links Trust. In December, the government controversially terminated the NLT’s lease to manage, operate and renovate the three courses, effectively seizing control of the properties.
The NLT also was caught off guard by the Friday report. “A complete surprise to us,” the organization said in a statement. NOTUS also reported that the government offered the NLT a renewed lease for Rock Creek, which the NLT disputes. “We have not received any offer of a lease at Rock Creek Park Golf (or any indication of what the future holds at Langston Golf Course),” the NLT’s statement read. “As of the time of this posting, we have had no interaction with anyone from the Department of the Interior or National Park Service on these matters.”
The Department of the Interior has not commented directly on NOTUS’ report. When asked by GOLF.com whether work on East Potomac was set to begin next week, a DOI spokesperson replied with a statement that read in part: “DOI and NPS are committed to continuing the relationships we have built with the local golf communities to ensure these courses are safe, beautiful, open, affordable, enjoyable, accessible and world-class for people living in and visiting the greatest capital city in the world. President Trump has made affordability a cornerstone of this administration, and this project will be no exception.”
Talk to East Potomac regulars, and they’ll tell you the uncertainty about the property’s future is unsettling. Same goes for the people who keep the 106-year-old course running. Will the course lose its populist appeal? Will green fees increase? Will staff be replaced?
“It has been rough, man, cause you don’t know really what’s going on,” Robinson, the operations manager, told GOLF.com. “But you still be professional when you come to work every day and do everything the right way. Smile the same way, come with the same joy, regardless.” He added, “The same way we came in, that’s the way we going to go out: the right way.”
East Potomac, which sits on a strip of land between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel and offers views of the Washington Monument, is home to two nine-hole courses and the main draw: an 18-hole layout designed by Walter Travis. In 1923, it was the site of the second playing of the U.S. Public Links Championship. In the 1940s, it was central in efforts to desegregate the city’s public golf courses, and to this day attracts golfers from a wide swath of backgrounds and demographics. The course made national headlines in October when it became the dumping ground for rubble from President Trump’s East Wing renovation project; with each passing month, that pile has continued to grow.
Since the Trump administration terminated the NLT lease, the three munis have continued to operate but with reduced staffing. At East Potomac, golfers have been greeted with NLT signage that reads in part: “You may notice impact to operations, staffing and hours of operation. We appreciate your patience.”
Signage at East Potomac Golf Links.
“It hurts a lot,” Robinson said.
Robinson, who is 43 and goes by the nickname “Country,” has been working at East Potomac for 16 years. When he started, he cleaned carts and took out the trash. “I leaned, I learned, I learned,” he said. “Kept working myself up.”
When Robinson was asked what East Potomac, where 18-hole rates start at $29, means to D.C.’s muni golfers, he said, “It’s like a world away from the world, man. It’s a peace and sanctuary over here. When you’re at this golf course and you’re in this area, you see no chaos. You hear nothing. This is a beautiful place to be.”
Robinson said golfers were buzzing about the NOTUS report at the course Saturday morning, with some asking questions about what they’d read and heard — questions, for the time being, for which there are no answers. Of the regulars, Robinson said, “The first thing they say is, ‘Until they close the door, I’m still coming to support. Anything I can do, I can support.’ Our golfers are amazing, man.”
Robinson feels the same way about his own contributions. Until he’s told otherwise, he’ll keep showing up for work and giving back to the course that has given so much to him. “I don’t put expectation on what’s supposed to happen,” he said. “I know what the news says, what the report says. I just say my prayers, man, and am hoping the golf course will be open on Sunday.”
