President Donald Trump’s administration terminated the 50-year lease for Washington’s three public golf courses on federal land, a move the National Links Trust said could dramatically alter the sites and end long-term renovation plans. The trust said the Department of the Interior ended its lease agreement for the courses, which include links overlooking the Potomac River and in Rock Creek Park, as well as a course site that is part of Black golf history.
The Department of the Interior said it terminated the lease because the National Links Trust had not implemented required capital improvements and had failed to meet the terms of the lease. The trust did not say what the administration’s next steps would be, but the Interior action places the future management of the courses in the hands of the federal government.
National Links Trust officials, in a statement, said they were “devastated” by the decision. They defended their management of the courses and said $8.5 million had gone toward capital improvements during the five years they have operated the public courses.
The trust also cited performance and access during its tenure, saying rounds played and revenue had more than doubled. Officials said the nonprofit has agreed to keep managing the courses for the time being, but long-term renovations would stop under the Interior Department’s lease termination.
The Interior Department’s decision came as Trump rebranded civic spaces in Washington and deployed National Guard members to the streets for public safety, the AP reported. It also followed other moves that highlighted Trump’s name in the capital, including the Kennedy Center’s decision this month—after its board of trustees, made up of Trump appointees—to change the name of the performing arts space designated by Congress as a memorial to John F. Kennedy.
National Links Trust officials framed the lease termination as a setback to continued public access. “While this termination is a major setback,” they said, “we remain stubbornly hopeful that a path forward can be found that preserves affordable and accessible public golf in the nation’s capital for generations to come,” according to their statement.