I think the UK view is slightly different to the USA or indeed ROW.
Golf courses and trees are an important part of the ecology here as we have less land space, a lot of our open green space is made up of golf courses. One of the plusses of golf courses to the ecologists is simply the amount of trees in what are often urban areas and the habitats they create often by density. When we are planning a new course it is a real positive to say we are planting 10,000 trees.
Golf to the masses is seen differently than the GCA minor view. In my opinion strategic golf does not really exist to golfers say 6 handicap or better and plenty of 12 cappers can invoke enough spin to mitigate what used to be the strategic problem. Armed with lasers I can't fool anybody by creating some dead ground with a hollow, its 154 and a lot of golfers can hit it within 144 and 164. The only time strategic golf can work is when it is both windy and firm and fast, so about 5-10% of the time. I think the golf world worked this out 60 years ago as golf became more aerial, so golf courses just became more semi-penal with trees and the game became corridors for inland golf. The top players play 20 metre corridor golf, typical club golf is 50 metre, with some clubs looking to move it to 35 metres for the top days.
That is not to say that clubs should not take some out when some are close or to allow specimens to develop, but by and large many golf courses have all taken on the same look by filling every space over the last 50 years.
I think you have to work with what you have and in the UK certainly for most inland courses, there isn't the room. Sadly some of the great examples of placement golf say Cleeve Hill is well off the radar, hence the green fee price. The truth is water and trees are the best sellers.