Has there EVER been a good willow tree on a golf course?

[Dan Herrmann]

Just curious - has there ever been a good/strategic willow tree on a golf course?

Personally, I hate willow trees on a golf course - to me, they're the biggest weed out there and should be removed.

(OK - they DO suck up a lot of water, which could be useful in very wet areas - but other than that, I hate them all!)

[Carl Nichols]

Dan-
I had thought about starting this very thread two weeks ago (can't remember the picture that triggered the thought), and then was about to do it in response to the thread about Oak Hill. I've never seen a Willow Tree on a golf course that I liked. And I had one in my backyard growing up that I used to climb, so it's not like I have terrible memories of them generally.

[Pete_Pittock]

Oakland Hills #16?

Broadmoor in Portland OR had willows on the hole next to the Columbia Slough which kept the fairway dryish and kept my hook from getting in the hazard. But I beeched every time I had to recover from underneath.

[Powell Arms]

Dan,

This is the only one I know of:



It is thrilled to now be able to be noticed as a specimen tree

[photo credit to Joe Bausch]

[Bill_McBride]

Didn't Gary Player win a U. S. Open at Oakland Hills by hitting an approach over a willow tree for a birdie?

[Dan Herrmann]

Powell - I'll sure grant you that one!

Peter - Yeah, I know those trees at Broadmoor, but they're against the slough and probably prevent excessive water from getting onto the course.  For a complete contrast - check out the course virtually across the street - Riverside.  Riverside #11 is a potentially great par 3 ruined by willow trees. 

[Kyle Harris]

Yes, when these guys show up...

http://www.willowtreeservice.com/

[Mac Plumart]

Is this a willow tree?  Is it good?

[Alex Miller]

Has there EVER been an evil willow tree on a golf course?

[Chris Cupit]

Stanwich in CT had numerous on their par five 15th as well as on 16 and 17 if I remember correctly. They simply confirmed my antipathy towards the course in general.  Beatifully manicured, lightning fast greens and yet an incredible sameness to it all.  Willow trees are just huge weeds. On an opposite side of a lake away from play they are OK visually.  They are a trash tree with very weak limbs.

Also, I think it is willows along the lake on Winged Foot East #4.  Without the trees the modern scratch player could really cut across the lake and I am not sure what would be a better solution but the willows really seem out of place on that course (though natural along a lake in general).  

[Don_Mahaffey]

Nope. Chris said it perfectly, nothing more than a big weed.

[Tom_Doak]

Superintendents unanimously hate them because they drop branches and leaves all over the course.

I kind of like the look of them, but only as a backdrop for a hole, not when they are between you and the target.

P.S.  The willow tree Gary Player hit over in the 1972 PGA has long since been removed.

[Jim Colton]

I played a course yesterday for the first time (an award-winning Maddox design, according to their website) and the opening par 5 had two huge willow trees on the inside corner of the dogleg of the second shot.  I hit a big drive and was thrilled to hit a towering (for me) 7-iron that carried both the trees.  I thought I was in perfect position for an easy up-and-down birdie, but unbeknownst to me, there was a hidden 15-yard wide creek that bisected the fairway about 30 yards short of the green and my heroic shot never had a chance.  Colton 1-down after 1.

Not a big fan of willow trees.  Or hidden water hazards.

[Dale Jackson]

Is this a willow tree?  Is it good?

probably yes and definitely no

[Mark Chaplin]

http://www.flossmoorcc.org/renovation/hole_17.html

removed ones yes.

[Bradley Anderson]

WILLOWS SUCK!!!

I put one man on a mature willow several years ago and he kept track of every minute picking up sticks and blowing leaves. 50 manhours.

Thats basically about $500/year labor for every mature willow tree on the course, and that doesn't include trimming large dead interior branches that will develop several times in the life span of the tree.

And then when its time to take it down you'll spend approximately $1,000 per tree to remove it. They are the costliest trees to remove, and dangerous to drop.

And then theres the roots that clog drain lines. Don't even get me started on that. 

[Sean_A]

Not in my experience.  Willows are right next to gorse in the evil category of plants on golf courses.

Ciao

[David Whitmer]

I kind of like the look of them, but only as a backdrop for a hole, not when they are between you and the target.

Along this line, there is a creek that runs through the golf course at Scioto Country Club...it probably touches 6 holes or so. There are many willow trees next to the creek in spots that do not come into play. I always thought they looked really cool, and I also thought it was cool they did not affect play. There might be a few that do come into play...I have not played there in 10 years or so and don't remember every one. But, the ones that don't come into play give the property a little more beauty, in my opinion.

[SL_Solow]

Best use is to screen unsightly areas on borders of a course.  Out of play and dense hiding ugly houses, roads etc

[Peter Pallotta]

If you guys were driving to a golf course that you hadn't played before, and on the drive you noticed miles and miles of lovely rolling countryside, and crossed several small bridges over gently running streams, and past large patches of tall wild flowers/grasses swaying in the breeze, and dotted throughout your drive, you saw large healthy willow trees tall and strong....well, if you saw all that on your drive to the course, when you got to the course and started playing, wouldn't you expect -- even want -- to see  a golf course that was routed along and over rolling hills, along and over gently running streams, past patches of wildflowers and hard against large and healthy willow trees?

Peter

[Carl Nichols]

Peter--
No, but that's because I think they're ugly.

[Greg Ohlendorf]

Yes. A dead one lying on the ground being hauled away...

[Bradley Anderson]

Peter,

Willow trees in the country generally have large dead branches with vultures and crows perched on them.

Whenever you see a pretty willow on a golf course you are generally looking at a tree that has had a lot of expensive pruning done to it every three years or so.

[Mike Cirba]

Dan,

A few weeks ago I played a public course in upste NY called Willowcreek.

The design itself was pretty good, but there were so many trees on the property, particularly willows, that it was like one of those bad dreams where you are playing golf and there is absolutelu nowhere to hit the ball safely.

Willow trees are worse than weeds..