Ira, I remembered the thread and decided to resuscitate it for new members. Plus, It parallels a bit the tree issue on #17 at CCBuffalo. The tree was not part of DRJ's original plans, but when they grow that big and beautiful, a quandary arises.
The issue at hand is access to the right half of the green, correct? I don't remember the tilt of the green, from left side to right side. If the putting surface does encourage rightward roll, that solves the problem. Use the ground game, unless the fairway run-up does the opposite.
Play Better suggests that golfers improve over time, and we know that this is not the case. We have less time to practice and we are more likely to spend money on new clubs than lessons and practice balls. Play Smarter suggests that golfers are not only capable of laying up with a 200-yard shot to the left, to remove the tree from the line; they are also capable of identifying that play as viable and implementing it at the proper time. Most golfers are unlikely to play better or smarter.
The vast majority of golfers are right-handed, and the mediocre to bad golfers push the ball or slice the ball to the right, no matter which club you put in their hand off the tee. The hybrid and the driver will both end up in the right-side trouble.
The optimal landing zone, in that left-side bump-out, some 100 yards from the green, is quite small. Does it gather or repel bounding shots?
The bunker was placed there to gather the under-club and the mis-hit. Those are pretty likely with our identified golfer. Right of the tree is out of bounds, so that option disappears. The fairway width is narrowest starting 30 yards shy of the tree, moving equal to the tree.
It's a tree that punishes the mediocre to bad golfer. It does not impact as much the good golfer who decides to lay back and left. It impacts the great golfer little, the one who controls a shot up the left side, no matter the length of the tee ball.