But where are the treesmashers here? 
Doug
Doug:
In all sincerity, I don't see that many trees depicted in Sean's photos that look like they might interfere with play (with the admittedly huge caveat that my reading, like yours, is based solely on Sean's viewpoint and camera angles and whatnot...) The trees seem to be much less in play than the overgrowth seen on the Lulu thread.
For instance:
-- On the fairway of the 2nd, there is a large tree on the left side of the fairway, in the rough between the 2nd and 5th fairways, that fronts a bunker by -- guessing here -- 50 yards? I don't think that bunker is reachable from the tee, but I could be wrong. I'm not sure cutting it down would do that much to improve either the 2nd or the 5th (the bunker to the left of the large tree on the right side of the 5th fairway is in play off the 5th tee, I believe.)
-- I suppose one could argue the tree or tree branches encroaching from the right side on the approach to the 7th could be cut; the angle of the photo suggests those branches could prevent a ball from going into the bunker just below (which, does not look like a fun bunker). But, again, hard to tell from the angle.
-- I do wonder about the chute effect of the 10th tee shot, which is a very short, dogleg hole (315?ish) and presumably could be driven by today's players. Perhaps the chute maintains the integrity of how Wilson and Co. wanted the hole to be played.
-- I actually really like that big old tree sitting right behind the green at 13 (the basket flag is right in the middle of the trunk). It's often said trees help frame shots; just a guess here, but I think that tree adds to the visual deception of the hole, because I think it's further behind the green than what appears in the photo. That big lip on the fronting bunker, it seems, can partially hide many a pin position, and the threat of hitting what looks like a close tree long would seem to wreak havoc on a golfer's thoughts on the tee. Is 13 regularly included among the list of great short par 3s in the country? It surely ought to be.
-- I also like the stubby little tree just past the fairway bunker on 16. Does it come into play? I'm guessing it does, for those wanting to cut the corner. But maybe the preferred way to play the hole is just short of where the fairway makes that abrupt right turn up the hill.
Looking at the (very good) Google aerial of Merion East, I'm struck by how tightly confined the course is, fitted within two corridors of what is essentially a backward "L." It seems logical on a course in a residential setting to have many trees on the perimeter of the course (I sort of hope Lederach grows a few, to avoid the numerous views into people's living rooms from that course). But the aerial shows modest numbers of trees in the interior of Merion, particularly for a course with what appears to be playing corridors quite close to one another.