The Interior Department has terminated its lease with the nonprofit organization that ran Washington, D.C.‘s public golf courses, making way for President Donald Trump to possibly renovate the courses.
The National Links Trust, a nonprofit, signed a 50-year lease with the National Park Service to operate the district’s East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek golf courses in 2020. But the contracted relationship has been on the rocks in recent months, as disputes over the nonprofit organization’s lease obligations ultimately led to the Interior Department terminating the agreement.
The Interior Department said the National Links Trust did not make capital improvements to each of the courses, as required by the lease agreement. The department said it issued the nonprofit organization a lease default notice on Oct. 29, 2025, which gave the group 45 days to come up with a plan to cure its defaults. The department said the National Links Trust has not produced this plan and also alleged the nonprofit organization owes several million dollars in rent payments.
However, the National Links Trust said it is “fundamentally in disagreement with the administration’s characterization of NLT as being in default under the lease” in a statement. The group said it was “devastated” by the lease termination and that it “consistently complied with all lease obligations.”
“We have invested over $8.5 million in capital improvement projects at the courses, including critical short-term improvements that have paid significant dividends, more than doubling rounds and revenues while keeping green fees well below the market average for area public courses,” the National Links Trust said.
The National Links Trust also disputed the Department’s assertion that it failed to pay millions of dollars in rent, saying the NPS approved offsets of its rent payments with its course improvements, according to the Washington Post, which reported the lease termination news. The Interior Department served the nonprofit organization its termination letter on Tuesday, according to the outlet.
The lease termination comes on the heels of Trump expressing interest in renovating the courses. Trump, who owns dozens of golf courses around the world, told the Wall Street Journal in mid-December that he was looking to “build something different” and “build them in government,” referring to the course renovations.
“If we do them, we’ll do it really beautifully,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal. He said the East Potomac course would be the first course in the district that he would renovate and that residents would pay a lower rate at the courses if the administration took control.
The Interior Department moved repurposed dirt from the White House ballroom construction to the East Potomac Golf Links in October.
The Interior Department did not say what the administration’s future plans for the courses are, but gave a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“The Trump administration prides itself on getting the job done for the American people and partnering with others who share that same goal,” an Interior Department spokesperson said in the statement.
The White House referred the Washington Examiner to the Interior Department for contract questions and to Trump’s December interview with the Wall Street Journal for comments on the courses.
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Though the lease termination was effective immediately, the National Links Trust said in its statement that the group has agreed to remain as operators “for the time being” so that the courses can remain open. The nonprofit organization also confirmed that it would cease its long-term renovations on the Rock Creek Park rehabilitation project.
“We will continue to seek a dialogue with the administration to offer our experience, institutional knowledge, and strong community relationships to explore shared goals for these historic public assets. While this termination is a major setback, 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,” the National Links Trust said.