A nonprofit called the National Garden of American Heroes Foundation shared unapproved plans to reshape the East Potomac Golf Course in Washington, D.C. The nonprofit announced the proposal at a fundraiser put on by President Trump.
Golf course architect Tom Fazio has been hired to lead the project per reporting in NOTUS. Fazio has completed over 200 golf courses, including Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck, New Jersey.
Golf Digest said President Trump wants to convert the public golf course into a venue equipped for hosting the Ryder Cup, among other “major tournaments,” and recreational use.
Renderings show a New England Colonial-style club house in the middle of the golf course. Per the visuals in a fundraising brochure, all of the golf course’s existing public amenities—the minigolf course, bike paths—would be eliminated.
An aerial view of the proposed golf course shows another vision by Trump, a triumphal arch across from the Lincoln Memorial. The National Garden of American Heroes, a Trump proposal from 2021 that was later canceled by President Biden, would also be built at the golf course.
The National Garden of American Heroes Foundation has allegedly been circulating the renderings for the past several weeks to attract potential donors, like how the Trump administration initially said it would pay for the White House East Wing Ballroom.
After Trump said he would close East Potomac for construction on May 1, the DC Preservation League filed an emergency motion on May 3 to stop work on the golf course. Democracy Forward and other legal groups are aiding the DC Preservation League in the motion.
The emergency stay is being heard in the District Court for the District of Columbia. Skye Perryman, Democracy Forward president and CEO, called the golf course proposal “another of the president’s pet projects to benefit himself.”
“We are asking the court to act urgently to save this important part of our national park system from being another casualty of a reckless administration,” Perryman added. “We are honored for the partnership of our plaintiffs in fighting back against this unlawful assault on our valued public spaces, and we are eager to argue this case.”
The DC Preservation League and two DMV residents—Dave Roberts and Alex Dickson—filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration last February to stop its plans for East Potomac Golf Course.
The plaintiffs alleged that the golf course project violates parts of the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the 1897 congressional act that created the park.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) and other groups are now fighting to save the East Potomac Golf Course from desecration. TCLF recently listed East Potomac as “in the crosshairs.”
