[5] The 126-acre (51 ha) site consisted of two parcels of forest and farmland separated by a 100-foot-wide right-of-way held by the Baltimore & Ohio railroad.

For more than a half-century, club members would cross the tracks to golf alongside trains hauled by steam and then diesel locomotives between the B&O's busy Metropolitan Branch and Georgetown's industrial waterfront.

[citation needed] The club has employed only four head golf professionals in its century-plus of operation: Fred McLeod, William Strausbaugh, Robert Dolan, and Steven Delmar.

After B&O successor CSX ended service along the line in 1985, the government of Montgomery County bought the right-of-way to preserve it for use as a potential trolley route between Bethesda and Silver Spring.

They sued the county and the United States for damages after the trail was opened, alleging that repurposing the old freight line for use by hikers and bikers was an unconstitutional taking.

But it would require the club to alter several holes that had been expanded over the years onto land that was part of the railroad's right-of-way.

[5][17] Within two years, the club had spent thousands of dollars on lobbying against the proposal, while individual members had held fundraisers for sympathetic politicians.

[21] In 2008, the club's leaders said they were increasing their "community and government relations efforts at the state and federal level", including organizing "grassroots" opposition.

[22] By 2013, the club was "long viewed as one of the most well-financed and politically connected Purple Line foes", the Washington Post wrote.

"Other concessions include a one-year limit for construction vehicles to use club property, guaranteed four-foot sound walls and promises of meetings at least every three months to discuss ongoing work.

The county also agreed to give the club, at no cost, 'exclusive' use of two golf-cart underpasses and county-owned land where the golf course already exists", the Washington Post reported.

But the agreement did not bind individual club members, who continued their opposition by lobbying and giving money to elected officials for at least two years.

The natural topography of the area means that Columbia's course is very hilly, with tight fairways and small, undulating greens.

[26] Driving the ball long distances can get a player into trouble due to deep rough, side-hill lies, pot bunkers, and the aforementioned tight fairways.

In September 2022, Columbia completed an overhaul of its golf course that installed a modern irrigation and drainage system, renovated bunkers, and re-sodded the fairways with a hybrid Bermuda-rye grass mix.