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Jim Hoak

  • Karma: +1/-0
Re: Who benefits from tree removal?
« Reply #25 on: September 03, 2015, 11:43:54 AM »
As with everything in life, moderation is the key to trees on golf courses. A few are beautiful; too many becomes an ugly mess.

Jeff Taylor

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Who benefits from tree removal?
« Reply #26 on: September 03, 2015, 02:22:03 PM »
Personally, I can't get enough moderation. Tree removal expense should be incurred during construction. No more planting, minimal expense going forward.

Jeff Bergeron

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Who benefits from tree removal?
« Reply #27 on: September 03, 2015, 11:11:02 PM »
Everyone! Great vistas, improved turf conditions and reduced year round maintenance.

RKoehn

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Who benefits from tree removal?
« Reply #28 on: September 04, 2015, 07:14:36 AM »
Everyone! Great vistas, improved turf conditions and reduced year round maintenance.

I will concede this is a matter of opinion, but it is important to realize that "great vistas" is a favorite red herring of architects looking to get into the pockets of historical clubs that can afford them.  These architects love to tell you things like, "hey, if we take down these trees, you'll be able to see from 14 fairway up to the clubhouse - isn't that great!"  This is silly, since when did golf course architects care about seeing the clubhouse?  In most cases, there were no plans yet drawn (at the time the golf course plans were drawn) for grand clubhouses back in the golden age.

Golf isn't about seeing for miles, it's about strategy and execution, the ability to think one's way around a golf course and play the required shots better than one's competitors.  Trees are natural, beautiful and fantastic hazards, and to the extent clubs have the architects' original landscaping plans, the traditionalist would say they should be employed, otherwise you are just re-designing.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2015, 07:43:29 AM by RKoehn »

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Who benefits from tree removal?
« Reply #29 on: September 04, 2015, 01:18:13 PM »
Everyone! Great vistas, improved turf conditions and reduced year round maintenance.

I will concede this is a matter of opinion, but it is important to realize that "great vistas" is a favorite red herring of architects looking to get into the pockets of historical clubs that can afford them.  These architects love to tell you things like, "hey, if we take down these trees, you'll be able to see from 14 fairway up to the clubhouse - isn't that great!"  This is silly, since when did golf course architects care about seeing the clubhouse?  In most cases, there were no plans yet drawn (at the time the golf course plans were drawn) for grand clubhouses back in the golden age.

Golf isn't about seeing for miles, it's about strategy and execution, the ability to think one's way around a golf course and play the required shots better than one's competitors.  Trees are natural, beautiful and fantastic hazards, and to the extent clubs have the architects' original landscaping plans, the traditionalist would say they should be employed, otherwise you are just re-designing.

RK,
 
Sorry, but I'm not buying this for a second.  Are you telling me that if you went to Bandon or Pebble Beach and were playing golf that wouldn't look out across the ocean, or off into the mountains of the rugged Oregon coast, or the beach below the holes on 8-10 at PB?
 
Where is Tom Huckaby when you need him!!

Dave McCollum

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Who benefits from tree removal?
« Reply #30 on: September 04, 2015, 02:13:43 PM »
Good points here and an equally valid question.  I got asked the other day about planting a tree as a memorial to a fallen member.  I said OK as long as it serves a purpose such as providing shade in an out of play area where golfers are likely to back up and forced to wait.  Trees aren’t native to our natural landscape, although we have plenty of them as result of 135 years of irrigation, artificial planting (a former orchard), and volunteers happily sucking up available water. 

The biggest problem we have is that specimen trees, Lombardy poplars and others, were used as strategic features in the design of the golf course.  My own theory is that fast growing poplars were planted all over the area, originally a sagebrush desert, to give a civilized appearance and attract settlers from more leafy regions.  Also as windbreaks.  The problem is that these poplars were all planted at more or less the same time and are now at the end of their natural lives.  Each one that falls to the wind or is removed for safety reasons alters the strategy of play, usually making the hole less challenging.  Replacing strategic trees will take many years to achieve same effect as their mature predecessors.  Alternate hazards like bunkers are expensive to build and maintain.  It’s a big problem and has convinced me about the questionable value using trees as an integral part of the design strategies.

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