More on #12 at Stanford...
Originally, the hole featured three oak trees. The largest oak tree was positioned in the left half of the fairway, about 150 yards from the tee. Either you drove over the first tree and tried to get to the left side of the two remaining oaks, or you took the risky route down the right side, near San Francisquito Creek.
Up until about 10 years ago, there were two large oaks guarding the center of the fairway. One of them died, and was replaced by the little guy that's there now.
The big third oak fell down 40-50 years ago. It was finally replaced in early 2003, restoring the original configuration of valley oaks in the 80 yard wide fairway. There is a small plaque under the new oak which simply says "The Bill Kirk Tree".