A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Trump administration is threatening to take over and make over public golf courses in the nation's capital. Matt Blitz of member station WAMU hit the links to find out more.
MATT BLITZ, BYLINE: It's a busy Easter weekend at Langston Golf Course in northeast Washington, D.C. Golfers mill around the non-frills clubhouse, organizing the clubs, eating breakfast and chatting with friends as they prepare to play the historic 18-hole course.
RANDALL THOMPSON: Driving range is full, we've got kids out with parents, traditional golfers who are playing. So it's just - it's a communal space.
BLITZ: That's general manager Randall Thompson, talking with me in between helping a threesome start a golf cart and saying hi to regulars. Langston first opened in 1939 as one of the only courses in the country available to Black golfers. It was small and built on an abandoned city dump but belonged to the community. Thompson said Lee Elder, the first Black golfer to play the Masters tournament, grew up on these greens and later became the course's manager.
THOMPSON: There's a great deal of pride that comes with the history of Langston, but also what came of that history, what today looks like, what the future could look like.
BLITZ: Today, Langston is one of the district's three public golf courses. The others are in East Potomac Park and Rock Creek Park. A round of 18 can cost less than $40, cheaper than most private courses. But that's being threatened. In December, the Interior Department terminated the lease held by the local nonprofit National Links Trust. President Trump is signaling he wants to redevelop the courses to become championship level. This worries cofounder Mike McCartin of the trust. We talk at the nearly century-old East Potomac Park golf course, overlooking golfers taking their shots and pops of pink from D.C.'s famed cherry blossom trees.
MIKE MCCARTIN: I have to imagine that the next step is to shut down the course and to renovate it into whatever that future form is. Knowing the history of this place and knowing what it means to the community, that's a hard place to be.
BLITZ: The administration has already started making its mark. For the last six months, trucks have been dumping dirt from the controversial White House East Wing renovations. The pile is now so tall that it blocks iconic views of the Washington Monument.
MCCARTIN: You know that it means something about the future of this place. And it's all big question mark. And so I think you can really feel that uncertainty when you're out here and looking at the pile.
BLITZ: Local golfers have taken notice. D.C. area native Alex Dickson is one of three plaintiffs suing the Trump administration over their plans. He says, beyond turning these courses into something that's no longer for everyone, he worries about the precedent.
ALEX DICKSON: Do these golf courses then become part of this kind of political football?
BLITZ: In a statement to NPR, the Interior Department said in part that President Trump is committed to keeping the course accessible, and affordability remains a priority. Back at Langston, I meet Brent Howard (ph), who came to this course as a kid with his brother and dad. Langston was the only golf course his dad, who is Black, could play when he first moved here from the South in the 1950s. But his father recently suffered a stroke, so Howard is missing his regular partner. And he's hoping the course doesn't close before his dad can make it back out.
BRENT HOWARD: It would definitely tug on my sleeve a little bit and mark the end of a time that, you know, I wish would never end.
BLITZ: The courses remain in limbo as the court case plays out and the Trump administration decides what they want to do next. For now, Langston and East Potomac Park remain open, but it's not known for how long.
(SOUNDBITE OF GOLF BALL THUDDING)
BLITZ: For NPR News, I'm Matt Blitz in Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF QUINCY JONES' "SUMMER IN THE CITY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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