DC workers are historically in the dark about Trump’s reported recovery plan

The news that President Trump’s administration will begin renovating Washington, DC’s historic East Potomac Golf Links as soon as Monday came as a surprise to those charged with maintaining the golf course.

“I woke up last night and saw this story and that’s all we’ve heard,” said Lorenza Robinson, course manager. GOLF.com in a phone interview Saturday morning.

According to the story, published Friday evening by the DC-based, non-profit news agency NOTESThe National Park Service will begin landscaping and clearing trees at the site next week in preparation for a major renovation by renowned course designer Tom Fazio.

The report is the latest development in what has been a strange and stressful period of limbo in East Potomac and two other DC munis — Langston and Rock Creek — until recently operated by the National Links Trust. In December, the government controversially terminated NLT’s lease to manage, operate and renovate the three courses, effectively taking control of the facilities.

The NLT was also caught off guard on Friday’s report. “We are completely surprised,” the organization said in a statement. NOTES it also reported that the government had granted NLT a renewed lease for Rock Creek, which NLT disputed. “We have not received a lease offer at Rock Creek Park Golf (or any indication of what the future holds for Langston Golf Course),” reads the NLT statement. “As of the time of this posting, we have not been in contact with anyone from the Department of the Interior or the National Park Service regarding these matters.”

The Interior Ministry did not directly comment NOTES‘ the report. When asked by GOLF.com Although work on East Potomac will begin next week, a DOI spokesperson responded with a statement that read in part: “DOI and NPS are committed to continuing the relationships we have built with local golf communities to ensure these courses are safe, beautiful, open, affordable, fun, accessible and world-class for people living in and visiting the greatest capital city in the world, unless the president will do the job.

Talk to East Potomac regulars, and they’ll tell you the uncertainty about the area’s future is not resolved. The same goes for the people who keep the 106-year-old study going. Will the subject lose its mass appeal? Will green fees rise? Will the staff be replaced?

“It was bad, man, because you don’t really know what’s going on,” Robinson, the operations manager, told GOLF.com. “But you still work well when you come to work every day and do everything right. Smile the same, bring the same joy, no matter what.” He added, “The same way we came in, that’s the way we’re going to come out: the right way.”

East Potomac, sitting on a piece of land between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel and offering views of the Washington Monument, is home to two nine-hole courses and the main draw: an 18-hole structure designed by Walter Travis. In 1923, it was the site of the second US Public Links Championship. In the 1940s, it was at the center of efforts to desegregate the city’s public golf courses, and to this day it attracts golfers from many neighborhoods and demographics. The course made national headlines in October when it became a dumping ground for President Trump’s East Wing renovation project; with each passing month, that number has continued to grow.

Since the Trump administration terminated the NLT lease, the three munis have continued to operate but staff have been cut. In East Potomac, golfers were greeted with NLT signs that read in part: “You may see an impact on operations, staff and hours of operation. Thank you for your patience.”

“It hurts a lot,” Robinson said.

Robinson, who is 43 and goes by the nickname “Country,” has worked in East Potomac for 16 years. When he started, he cleaned the carts and took out the trash. “I read, I read, I read,” she said. “I continued to work.”

When Robinson was asked what East Potomac, where 18-hole prices start at $29, means to DC muni golfers, he said, “It’s like a world away from the world, man. There’s a peace and a sanctuary here. When you’re on this golf course and you’re in this place, you don’t see the chaos. You don’t hear anything.”

Robinson said golfers were buzzing about it NOTES report to the lecture on Saturday morning, some asking questions about what they have read and heard – questions, for now, that have no answers. To regular players, Robinson said, “The first thing they say is, ‘Until they close the door, I’m still going to support you. Anything I can do, I can do.’ Our golfers are amazing, man.”

Robinson feels the same way about his contributions. Until he is told otherwise, he will continue to show up for work and give back to the courses that have given him so much. “I don’t believe in what should happen,” he said. “I know what the news is saying, what the report is saying, I’m just praying man, I hope the golf course will be open on Sunday.