Name: Trump eyes renovating public golf courses in Washington, D.C.
Uploaded: 2025-12-18T00:18:15.311Z
Duration: 4 min 33 s
Description: President Trump has built several elite golf courses and clubs throughout his career. According to the Wall Street Journal, he now appears interested in overhauling public golf courses in Washington, D.C.

President Trump has built several elite golf courses and clubs throughout his career. According to the Wall Street Journal, he now appears interested in overhauling public golf courses in Washington, D.C.

Washington

President Trump is expressing strong interest in renovating three public golf courses in Washington, D.C., including the historically significant Langston Golf Course. The Trump Organization's involvement could alter the current management by the nonprofit National Links Trust, which has held a lease since 2020 to keep the courses affordable and accessible.

The Interior Department recently notified the National Links Trust of a loan default, potentially paving the way for federal intervention and Trump's preferred designers. Trump has stated that any renovation costs would be covered by private donations, similar to other recent White House projects. The future of these courses remains under discussion, with both Trump and Interior Secretary Burgum actively involved.

Trump eyes renovating public golf courses in Washington, D.C.

Welcome back. President Trump has built over his career many elite golf courses and clubs. He's very good at this. That's almost a bipartisan consensus. It now appears he's interested in overhauling public golf courses here in Washington, D.C., low-cost courses where beginners try to learn the game. In an exclusive report from The Wall Street Journal, Trump wants to play a big role in the future of these three courses in particular, and one of them has a very special history here in the District of Columbia. White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal Meredith McGraw joins me now. So Meredith, why does the president have this interest, and why is one of the courses now the site of dump truck fulls of debris from the demolished east wing of the White House? Well, as you said, President Trump has a long history of being interested in golf. He plays golf almost every weekend. He's friends with a lot of professional golfers and— As well as golf course architects and designers. Yes, as well as golf course architects and designers. And the Trump Organization has built and developed golf courses all over the world. This is really a passion of his. You know, he will personally go out and check sprinklers on the golf courses and make sure that sand traps are up to par, if you will, when he's at some of his clubs. But he's taken a particular interest in D.C.'s public courses, and this goes along with Trump's desire to beautify parts of D.C. He's done things like, you know, directed people to get rid of graffiti, or he wants to— Remove people who are homeless. Remove homeless people. He wants to revitalize the National Mall. He has a big vision for how he wants Washington to work—or to look, excuse me. And renovating D.C.'s public courses is part of that. And Langston is one of those golf courses, and Langston has an important history in the District of Columbia. It does. Langston Golf Course is a historically black golf course, and it's been very important to, especially the black golfers over— Could not play anywhere else. Could not play— That was the course that they could play. Yes. Exactly. And these D.C. public courses have been beloved. Low cost. They're low cost. They're affordable. And they've been owned, or they're controlled by the National Park Service. But in 2020, a nonprofit named the National Links Trust won a lease with the National Park Service to take control of this. And part of their aim was to renovate and revitalize these courses, but also try to keep them low cost and affordable for the D.C. community. Now Trump is trying to get away into that space and possibly cancel that and retain them for the federal government, which would give him at least a lot of leeway to do whatever he wants, it sounds like. It would. I had an interview with the president on Friday, and he was extremely animated when talking about these golf courses in the Oval Office. The Interior Department, which runs the National Park Service, told the National Links Trust that they are in default of their loan. And so, it's really going to pave the way for the president to potentially put in his own designers, take control of any sort of effort to renovate these courses. And I think we're going to see more there. It sounds like the National Links Trust is trying to get support from the broader golf community, but this is something that Trump really cares about. It's something that Secretary Burgum at the Interior Department has gotten involved with as well. And I think he's very determined to put his imprint on this. Very quickly, Meredith, would that require some taxpayer money to do this? I mean, if Trump wants to redesign these courses, that costs money. It does. When I asked him about that, he said that all of the money for this would come from private donations. Much like the renovation of— Similar of the ballroom and everything else that he's done in the White House so far. $400 million now and growing. That is the new announced cost for the East Wing ballroom, of which there is a new architect the president has brought in, because the first architect was uncomfortable with the size and grandeur of the plans for the president. We'll see if the size and grandeur of his plans for these public golf courses, the District of Columbia follows that trajectory. Meredith McGraw, thank you so much for coming in. Appreciate the reporting.

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