Tony Ristola,
The problem with your thinking is that if there was no buffer and it was grass surrounding the trees, the mowers might hit and damage the trees, injuring or killing the trees and damaging the equipment and injuring the operator.
When you use minimum wage labor to groom a golf course you're not going to get perfection and accidents do happen.
That's why greens shrink and fairways move over time.
Sometimes you have to look at architectural features in the context of maintainance, not aesthetics or playability.
I would remove all of the trees planted in the last five or so years and restore the rough to its former self, but, I still haven't gotten the call asking for my advice.
And, I would have introduced the new, "Masters" competition ball.