Mayday - whether trees are best as a visual is a matter of opinion. I prefer the treeless vista and think facsinating golf courses have a variety of both. ....Both open and framed vistas have their advantages in golf.....check out a portion of the piece I wrote below on "trees as a visual landscape".
"When assessing the length of an impending shot, your eyes can play tricks on you. How often do you feel that a marked distance does not look the yardage? Oddly enough, much of it depends on the scenery left behind the green. Backdrops of trees, for instance, can be most accommodating.
Initially, trees may direct golfers toward the target by operating as points of visual reference. During pre-shot routines, a golfer's intended ball flight can be visually connected to specific trees beyond the site-line of the pin. Ultimately, these trees aid golfers in establishing their aim and alignment. A framework of trees also gives greens a visual sense of scale and dimension that appear most comforting to the golfer's eye.
Visual Depth: Without a background of trees, however, a green can appear much like a basketball hoop without its backboard. Can you imagine? In any sport, it's quite difficult to find your range without definitive objects of reference behind the target. This boundless effect is best achieved in golf when vast expanses of continuous color and space loom beyond the hole.
Whether the panorama consists of an open body of water, a broad span of terrain, or an ambiguous skyline, golfers often lack visual orientation and must trust their sense of depth and distance in the approach shot to the hole.
As flagsticks typically appear as part of the distant horizon, even accomplished golfers are inclined to use a stronger club. Consequently, approach shots may carry the green despite all the handy yardage information available.
Higher handicappers normally have a different impression of treeless depth. They tend to approach the boundless target more timidly, and often wind up playing short of the hole. Much like a pitcher would throw weakly to home plate without the security of a backstop, the lack of visual containment behind the green can discourage higher handicappers from playing as aggressively toward the hole. After all, their worst nightmare is knocking it through the green in an unknown area of trouble.
Visual Width: The visual width of golf holes can also expose the frailties of the human eye. For instance, a green typically looks much larger than it really is when the perspective is carved through a narrow corridor of trees. Likewise, a green often appears much smaller than it actually is when positioned in an open breadth of space.
Pat Ruddy, one of Ireland's outstanding architects, explains that these delusions are enhanced when different presentations are offered in a single round. Ruddy says, "give a variety of enclosed settings in trees followed quickly by panoramic vistas over miles of countryside or sea, and the eye will fairly quiver sending the wrong information back to the command post."
Like different light settings, a golfer’s vision can adjust to any one perspective even if it's practically dark. However, if golfers move back and forth between bright and dim settings, they may lose their sense of orientation. Shifting between treed and treeless areas of play has a similar effect on a golfer’s ability to focus on sizes and distances".