A little fall tree work

Fall tree work began today.  Thanks again to our little insect friend the Emerald Ash Borer, there were a few dead ash trees remaining on the golf course that needed to come down.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to get these things on the ground as they pose a serious threat to the golfers, neighbors, and golf course structures.  The trees we took down today were all dead except for one seriously decayed sassafrass tree that obstructed our ability to remove the dead tree.  These trees had been dead for at least 2 seasons, and they were all in key areas from a safety standpoint.  Fortunately, none of them were trees that impacted the play of the course in any way.

Trees were removed on 2, 3, 15, 6, and along our maintenance drive near #8.  The trees on #2 and #3 were along the fenceline and leaned towards our neighbors.  I needn't remind you that dead trees are a legal liability which the club would be accountable for should they fall and destroy a structure or worse yet hurt somebody.  The dead tree on the left of 15 was leaning towards the green, and the tree between #6 and 16 tees was very large and had already dropped a dead limb right onto the cart path ealier this season which made for an obvious safety concern.  Overall, the trees will not be missed as integral golf course features.  We are finally on the downhill side of our ash removal.  Most of the dead ash trees that remain reside in our perimeter wooded areas.

After this batch is cleaned up, we will make our usual tour of the golf course and remove a handfull of dead pines as well.  The most obvious will be #9 and #16, which have been obvious eyesores for the majority of the season.

The tree on 3 leaning towards the fence line.

The telltale bark discoloration from the ash borer.

The base of the tree rotted and covered with ash borer 'trails'

The crazy tree company hanging from the boom.

The tree on #6 was tricky and took the full length of the boom to access it.  Several limbs had to be removed from neighboring trees since it was grown up through several of them.

Reaching the dead tree on #6 tee.

Evidence of insect destruction.

Tree company way up on #3