Pebble Beach Tree..................

[Bob_Huntley]

The cypress tree is being moved from the first fairway to the 18th. The route taken was up the first and second, over to the third up the seventeenth and then the length of eighteenth. It is a big mutha, some 70 feet tall. Workers placed plywood in front of a 500 horsepower tractor to protect the fairways. Photo to follow.

[ChipOat]

I hope it dies.

[Johnny A.]

Thank you, I would like to see the picture very much. That sounds like something you don't see every day. Dead topics?....we're almost getting to the level of discussing the merits of individual blades of grass at NGLA, Merion, Rustic Canyon on other threads.

[A_Clay_Man]

Bob- I am curious, which tree from the 1st?

To my recollection the few that are grouped left of the fairway, almost to the ob line,(nearer the green) are amongst the likely candidates. Or did they actually move one of the few on the right ( behind 2nd tee) or one of the trees that protects casa palmero (closer to the tee on right)?

[Bob_Huntley]

Adam:

From the right.

[David Graves]

Bob,
Why would they not take it thru the parking lots that surround Casa and the Garden Rooms? Seems a longer than necessary route given the potential for tearing up the fairways.

[A_Clay_Man]

David, if I may speak for Bob. The equiptment was probably massive and there is no room the direction you recommend.

[TEPaul]

Amazing! Hope it works out OK. In the spirit of compromise somebody should fly Chip Oat out there to at least make sure that tree is placed correctly for ideal strategic ramifications!

For all those who discussed the various strategies of #18 with or without a tree in that position--come on---you have to admit a case can be made either way--with the tree or without the tree and with the tree at least has the benefit of years of golf history on that hole with a tree in that position. In other words, this is not going to be some new untried redesign concept with untried and possibly less than valid strategies.

But the tree is so damned expensive, I sure hope they place it correctly. Can you imagine pruning something like a big left side branch off that tree because it wasn't placed correctly and it started to corrupt already known strategies?

I mean loping a big branch off that tree would be like throwing $50,000 to the winds, right? The whole tree project was somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000, correct?

They should have let me in on that project--I would have gauranteed the thing for $240,000--and maybe I would have even negotiated that price a little!

[JohnV]

I was over at Spyglass yesterday playing in the NCGA team sectional and went over to Pebble and took the following pictures of the tree.

From behind the green:


From the right rough 100 yards out:

[ian]

Great photo John, thats the biggest tree I've ever seen moved.

Chipoat, thanks for the laugh

Why couldn't they have just moved the tree from the 18th fairway, it would have been a shorter trip?

[A_Clay_Man]

It's a little difficult to tell if the tree was placed in the exact spot of the previous one. From the rear photo it appears to be slightly right of the old spot. but, from the front it looks further out(away from green) and slightly left of the original.

I still say the major justification for the replacement is the fixture and ballast that they hang up there so all those looking out, can see the green at night.

[TEPaul]

That's a nice tree, but $250,000?? Woooo!

[JohnV]

I don't remember the exact spot of the previous tree, but this one is almost in the front bunker.  They have excavated right into the bunker.  Also, unless they are planning on building the ground up around the tree, I don't think they dug a deep enough hole.

[Bob_Huntley]

s so degraded that it wasn't worth showing. The position is not teribly faar from the oriiginal.

[A_Clay_Man]

John V- It is amazing how shallow the roots of those huge Cypress trees are in actuality. I once saw one that was about 30' feet in diameter, which had fallen, and the roots couldn't have been five feet long

As I recall, the old tree was just to the right of the bunkers edge.

[Peter Galea]

I hope the tree will adapt to it's new location. Besides the shock of transplanting, it will now be subjected to increased salt spray and winds it has never been in before.
I moved some big cypress trees from a semi-protected grove to the site at HMB Ocean, and while they looked good initially, they lost vigor and never thrived. From the photos, the shape of it on the right side looks as if it had a sister tree growing right next to it.

[Pete Lavallee]

Good point Pete, the symetery of the tree seems slightly off, it looks like they've oriented the heavy side to punish the golfer and anchor it against the sea breeze. I'd have to agree with John V. that the hole looks woefully shallow to keep the top of the root ball at ground level.  

[ChipOat]

JohnV:

Thanks for the pictures.  As you can imagine, I'd really like to see how the (stupid) tree effects the line to the ENTIRE green from the right edge of the fairway.

Actually, what I'd REALLY like is to play the course again so I can see for myself.  But a picture from you the next time you're there would be just fine.

Sounds like it's about where the old one was.

I hope it dies.

[A_Clay_Man]

Chip- Is your animosity towards the tree because you are unable to hit a fade?

If so, try swinging hard and looking up fast.

[ChipOat]

Adam:

I'm afraid a fade is all too easy for me - often involuntarily.  I even hit "snap fades" from time to time

At the risk of being repetitive, and since you asked, let me try again.

One of my core beliefs/preferences regarding golf architecture is that the "straight ball" should always be an option from the fairway and, for the first 150 yards or so, from the tee box.  I applaud those holes where the design of the green suggests a "shaped" shot is preferred.  I also think obstructed shots from the rough (or worse) are fine.

I don't like it when trees force a shaped shot.  If the architect wants to make that happen, let him put more thought into the design and construction of the hole.

Trees have their place.  However, I submit to you that 99% of the "great" golf holes (whatever that means) were originally designed without trees in mind for anything other than wayward shots - if that.

Come to think of it, that might be an interesting thread all by itself.

I still hope it dies.