However, at least one reviewer says that Rock Creek's "weedy fairways, shaggy greens, [and] no frills" clubhouse is "honest" municipal golf.
[5] Citizens in the Brightwood neighborhood proposed building a golf course in Rock Creek Park in January 1905, some 15 years after its founding.
[6] The United States Army Corps of Engineers, which controlled the city and the parks within it at the time, approved the plan in November 1906 despite critics who argued that money should be spent on public health projects first.
[10] After a year, the concession was turned over to Severine G. Leoffler Sr.,[11] who had risen from extreme poverty to own a popular local restaurant and then begun managing National Park Service courses in the city in 1921.
[14] The 18-hole course re-opened in 1926;[15] the first golfers to tee off were four members of the United States Congress, who hit the first ball at 5:53 a.m.[15] A minor fire damaged the clubhouse in January 1933;[16] a major one burned it to the ground in March 1937.
[17] In 1941, recreational facilities in D.C. became integrated, in part because of activists who demanded equal access to the city's golf courses.
Golfers complained about the course so vehemently that U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands began an investigation and asked the Park Service to delay renewing the contract for Leoffler's firm.
[21] The number of rounds played at Rock Creek rose from 9,500 in 1979 to 41,500 in 1980,[21] but the following year, the National Park Service threatened to close the course.
[24] After eight years of debate and study, a new master plan was adopted which retained Rock Creek Park Golf Course.