WASHINGTON (7News) — East Potomac Golf Links remains open for now.
That was in question over the weekend as federal officials had planned to close the place and the existing parkland for a massive overhaul.
A district court judge on Monday morning ruled that the government must provide reasonable notice if it plans to close the golf course or cut down as few as 10 trees.
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Over the weekend, lawyers for the D.C. Preservation League filed a motion to halt work at the course, and that seems to have worked.
Last Friday, 7News reported that the National Park Service was going to close the course, begin renovations and potentially move toward building a championship-style golf course.
The non-profit National Links Trust said it will continue to run the place as long as it can.
“Our mission as a non-profit to preserve and protect affordable golf and we’ll keep offering that to the community as long as we can,” said Mike McCartin, co-founder of the organization. “In our view, we’ve done exactly what we’ve been asked at every stage and it’s baffling to be told we didn’t move fast enough when we don’t control the timeline.”
National Links Trust bought the rights to this and two other public golf courses in 2019. The organization said it has put $11 million worth of renovations into all three.
McCartin said their lease was terminated late last year because the government said they weren’t moving fast enough with renovations.
The White House directed our questions to the Department of the Interior. 7News will keep you posted when we learn more.
“I’ve played here every Monday for the last 8 years or so,” said Chris Janiak. “I would say in last 8 years, the course has gotten considerably better. You used to come out here and if it rained an inch, you’d have 10 inches of water on the fairway. That’s not the case anymore.”