The use of trees for strategic interest in golf seems to be generally opposed on this board, usually because they allow few recovery options and make finding balls a nightmare. I have played plenty of courses where this is the case. In this thread, I was hoping to get some discussion going on examples of good use of trees and why.
I'll start...
Memorial Park in Houston, 9th hole, Par 4, 410/380 yards
I don't have any photos, but an aerial will do the trick just fine.
A dogleg left par 4 with a tree-filled creekbed down the left off the tee and bunkers right.
One would expect most players would tend to favor the right side because of the creek on the left. However, from my experience most players miss left for a few reasons, 1.There is quite a bit of room left of the fairway before you get to the creek and there is generally not thick rough at Memorial Park, so left looks wide open, and 2. The fairway bunkers on the right are the first on the entire course and are quite intimidating for that reason.
However, the miss left usually leaves a blind or blocked second into the green due to tree cover unless a draw can be played. In reality, the closer one gets to those fairway bunkers off the tee, the better look you have at a well bunkered green.
I think this particular hole is made by the fact that the trees act as a hazard for the approach. Without such, this would be a hole where the only goal is to miss the fw bunkers and bomb it on to the green.
Any thoughts or other examples from the group?