Tree Cutting Season is upon us!

"As beautiful as trees are, and as fond as you and I are of them, we still must not lose sight of the fact that there is a limited place for them in golf. We must not allow our sentiments to crowd out the real intent of a golf course, that of providing fair playing conditions. If it in any way interferes with a properly played stroke, I think the tree is an unfair hazard and should not be allowed to stand."

- Donald Ross, from Golf Has Never Failed Me

About this time every year I am inspired to sit and write something to the members about tree management.  Most likely because I just removed several of them from the golf course and need to do what I can to defend....errr....explain why.  

Let me start out with one fact that you probably won't believe - I love trees.  There, I said it.  I bloody well love trees.  I am at heart a moderate environmentalist with roots in the Pacific Northwest which is arguably  the "tree-huggiest" of all the "tree-huggiest" places on earth.  You couldn't get me out of the woods as a kid.  Being a child of modest means, vacation was often spent in the trees camping or hiking or fishing or any other activity that involved shorts and wool socks.  This love of the outdoors was one of the major reasons I pursued a career in the green industry in the first place.   I see my job as much as an "environmental manager" as a golf course superintendent.  A "Steward" of the land, if you will.

Now that you realize I am a tofu-nibbling tree hugger, I want you all to know that I don't just drive about the course with my "paint can of death" marking trees for the slaughter to suit my mood that day.  There is a great deal of thought, discussion, and education as to the intent of each removal as well as discussions for possible replacement if deemed appropriate.  Just this past month I took the grounds committee out to each area I wished to remove some trees and made my case in person for each stem.  Once the committee understood my reasoning, they even started coming up with suggestions for further improvements down the road.  In the process, they unanimously approved the removals without hesitation.  A little education goes a long way.

Education is important becaus let's face it - people get very emotionally attached to trees.  They are impressive giants of the landscape that almost instantly bring a sense of nostalgia or imply some sort of inherent wisdom within.  This is a big reason most "city folk" join clubs like ours.  Unfortunately for you sensitive types, trees are just plants.  And just like plants in the landscape, there are some that need pruning, some that need attention, and some just need to be yanked out.   While trees can be beautiful and offer a great aesthetic or environmental benefit,  some are just hard weeds that got too big.

Today, we removed several "hard weeds" for the betterment of aesthetics, playing c0ndition, safety and a long-term improvement of our tree stand.  The top priority was to remove the large oak behind #5 green as seen below.   This is the "sister" tree to the one that fell and damaged the green over the summer.  With many of the trees having fallen around it over the years, this misshapen oak was "hung out to dry" by itself.  My biggest fear was that given the growth habit of the tree and the fact that it had almost no protection it would be prone to falling and damaging the green even worse than it's "sister".  Since it used to be part of a thick stand that has since fallen, mostly due to ash borer, the growth habit was all towards the green, putting almost all of the trees weight right where we don't want it.

Noticably "one sided" tree.  We could have pruned it to relieve the weight, but would have been left with an "upside down feather duster"

The branches hung straight towards the green.

After the oak on #5 was down, we focused our attention to the stand of trees surrounding #3 green.  There are several reasons #3 needed attention.  #1.  This green struggles to stay healthy every year.  Lack of morning sun and air circulation make it difficult to grow quality rough let along a top-performing green.  #2 Several of the trees around the third green are Basswood trees that tend to have poor growth habits in large stands.  Also, basswoods (some people around here call them Lindens-incorrectly I think) are very soft wooded trees that have a tendency to rot and subsequently split when they reach a certain size.  Several of them have fallen during my time here, and I vowed to stay ahead of any potential safety issues.  #3 Several of these basswoods were interfering and competing with more desirable hardwood trees like oak and maples that were lost in the shadow of the "hard weed".

Huge roots and bare ground directly adjacent to the green.

Tough to even have nice rough with so many large trees in the area.

Basswoods tend to like to rot as is seen with the hole in this very large, leaning tree.

Because of the thick stands, the basswoods tend to twist and lean to find sun I presume.  Here an old, rotten basswood is masking and outcompeting a very nice little oak tree.  Hopefully this oak will be here another 200 years.  The basswood would have likely rotted and fallen in the near future if we hadn't removed it - probably wiping out not only the oak tree, but the fence and potentially hit our neighbor's home.

Same species, same habit except leaning toward #3 green.  

A better picture of the basswood leaning towards the oak and the home.

As we suspected, the trees were rotting from the inside out, as they tend to do.  Time to cull the weak!

A new gap for sunlight and air to help the green and the surrounding rough be much healthier.  The two innermost trees in the gap are a lovely little oak on the right and a fairly mature maple on the left that were completely masked by those dangerous basswoods.

As you can see in the last picture, the landscape has changed somewhat dramatically.  We have, however, gained a better growing environment for our green and surrounding rough as well as uncovered two brilliant little hardwood trees that will fill the gap eventually with beautiful, specimen quality plants.  There are more that will be removed over time in this area.

This winter, I will also be looking at options for a professional "tree plan" or inventory of sorts.  This property is at the point where many trees have outgrown their area or never should have been planted in the first place.  I think it is crucial that we continue to improve our stand and even have a sensible plan to re-plant where necessary.  Until we have the time and money to complete our plan, we will continue to remove or plant the "no-brainers".    

I could go on about trees and probably end up with a friggin novel.  For another viewpoint that is likely more thorough, better written, and certainly backed with more knowledge, I encourage you to try the link below for an interesting and certainly more professional viewpoint from the USGA:

http://www.usga.org/course_care/articles/management/trees/Man-s-Friend-or-Golf-s-Enemy-/

Five years ago I was hired to manage this property the best that I could with the member's best interests in mind while applying my 20 years of experience, bachelor's degree, and love of the game.  I feel I have and will always do that to the best of my ability.  Unfortunately, to do that it will occasionally involve cutting old, live, mature trees.  Getting top-quality turf conditions for a demanding membership involves a delicate balance between turf and trees that must be managed with great care.  After reading this, I hope you have a little better understanding of the reasons why we remove a tree.  If you would like more information, don't hesitate to call or email.  If you are the type of person who has to go purchase a new mouse because you just crushed yours in anger looking at the slaughter and tree carnage in front of you, I would encourage you to join the grounds committee and get involved in the process.