President Trump said the overhaul of the historic East Potomac Golf Links south of the National Mall will begin on Nov. 15 and should be completed in about 15 months.
Mr. Trump posted a revised design of the golf course Sunday on social media, boasting that the overhaul will produce “a World Class Championship Golf Course” designed to host the U.S. Open and other major tournaments.
The image appeared to expand the length of the course slightly and reshuffled the location of the 18 holes from a version Interior Secretary Doug Burgum released in May.
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Mr. Trump announced the timeline for the renovations amid a court battle over the project.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes this month ordered a halt to tree-cutting at the public golf course until Oct. 26.
The Department of Justice responded by asking Judge Reyes to recuse herself after she yelled at department lawyers and demanded senior officials appear and testify on whether President Trump prodded them to cut down trees so he could rebuild the golf course.
Mr. Trump’s lengthy Sunday post about the project said the current course is “old, broke, dilapidated and of no further use or effect.”
The trees were “falling, dangerous and disease-infested,” he said.
The course, when it opened in 1920, “was famous for no trees, with views of Washington D.C. for all to see, but now it is completely overgrown dysfunctional and unsafe,” the president added.
Fazio Design is leading the overhaul of the golf course. The company has designed more than 200 courses, 46 of which Golf Digest lists among the top courses in the U.S.
Mr. Trump said he has alerted the PGA and other golf officials about the course so that they can plan major tournaments at the site when it opens.
“This Course will create many Jobs, and have a tremendously positive Economic Development impact on Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area. Millions of Dollars will inure to the Capital area,” he said.
It will remain a public golf course when it reopens, he added.
The D.C. Preservation League and local residents, represented by the left-wing advocacy group Democracy Forward, sued to block the renovations. They say the president wants to convert the public course “into an exclusive, high-end golf course” and will damage the environment.
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