Purposely planted lone tree...

[Ian Mackenzie]

Have the great fortune of being able to play Shoreacres from time to time.
Played Friday with my wife and another couple. Fantastic as always.


Got to 18 - a par 5 of about 557 (?) yards with cross bunkers in play at the ideal landing area for an aggressive tee shot. (Firm, fast fairways almost always.)


20 years ago, a player could opt to line up to the left and drive down the 9th fairway giving a much better angle into the green and cutting off about 40 yards. I think it was within the last 10 years (Tom D?) that 18 was changed and the bunkers brought more into play left and long off the tee.


Anyway, now there  is a tree that blocks the 9th hole option from the 18th tee.


Is this a lazy adjustment to a timeless course?


[size=78%]Also, for those who remember the 1989 PGA at Kemper Lakes, they did the same thing there. 18th hole, silly dog-leg left par 4  over water and Greg Norman, in the Grand Slam of Golf, looked at the hole and all the water and ust belted it successfully right on the green.[/size]


Now there are trees there and you cant do it.

[Tom_Doak]

It's a solution to a safety problem, though admittedly not an elegant solution.


Years ago, had you taken the short cut, they might well have kicked you out of the club, or at least not invited you back.  Now that golfers have no shame, a tree will have to do its work.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Ian,


I had moved to Texas by that time, but worked on Kemper Lakes as my first project out of college.  Agree 18 is (was, I know its gone through some renovations) the weakest hole out there and a disappointing finish.  It was intended as a classic cape hole, but then Mr. Kemper insisted we leave more room for some fantastic clubhouse he was planning on building and he told Killian and Nugent to move the hole.  What could go wrong?

[Tommy Williamsen]

Or course there is the infamous Hinkle tree at Inverness.

[Jeff_Brauer]

The OP should read like this after the three dots......"always gets hit by lightning or disease and rarely survives."

[Ian Mackenzie]

One last rant on a lone tree...


Have played Calusa Pines about a dozen times most with a member/buddy from Chicago who always plays the tips.
I think CP plays around 7150 yards and Hole #1 is close to 475.


There is a lobe f**king tree on the right side of the FW about 200 yards from the tee.


WTF..??!!!


I have hit it twice with really, really good tee shots. Obviously not good enough.
But, instead of having 180-190 into the green, I am fighting to save a bogie from 275!!


What is the purpose of this stupid lone tree?

[Thomas Dai]

Where I play most often there is a downhill 160 yd par-3 with a tall, wide evergreen tree about 10 yds short of the putting surface slightly on the right. It wasn't planted, it was there, although smaller, before the hole was built nearly 50 yrs ago.
About 30% of tee shots from the back and middle tees hit it. Those hit by lessor strength players from the front tees go under its branches.
Absolutely crazy but no-one dare touch it for fear of an uprising by the members who consider it a 'feature'.
One day old age or lightning may ........
Take trees out when they are little or preferably don't even let them grow in the first place.
atb

[Tom_Doak]

I have hit it twice with really, really good tee shots. Obviously not good enough.
But, instead of having 180-190 into the green, I am fighting to save a bogie from 275!!

What is the purpose of this stupid lone tree?

More often than not, those are trees which the owner refused to allow the designer or contractor to cut down  . . . like the ones that used to be in the fairway on #7 and #18 at Butler National.  I don't know about Calusa Pines though.

[Jeff_Brauer]

One last rant on a lone tree...


Have played Calusa Pines about a dozen times most with a member/buddy from Chicago who always plays the tips.
I think CP plays around 7150 yards and Hole #1 is close to 475.


There is a lobe f**king tree on the right side of the FW about 200 yards from the tee.


WTF..??!!!


I have hit it twice with really, really good tee shots. Obviously not good enough.
But, instead of having 180-190 into the green, I am fighting to save a bogie from 275!!


What is the purpose of this stupid lone tree?

The apex of a golf shot's horizontal and vertical parabola is about 70% of its total length, i.e., about 200 yards for a 294 (average PGA Tour driving length last year).  My guess it was put there to force a fade without forcing the initial shot line too far left.  It's always better when there is enough width left to suggest a fade, not force it.


Or, as Tom said, someone had heartburn about cutting it down.

[Greg Gilson]

Morfontaine #13. Par 3 with a lone tree directly in line from tee to green. sounds crazy but it works somehow or other. And its nowhere near the quirkiest hole on the property. that's the French (or Tom Simpson) for you.

[Ian Mackenzie]

I have hit it twice with really, really good tee shots. Obviously not good enough.
But, instead of having 180-190 into the green, I am fighting to save a bogie from 275!!

What is the purpose of this stupid lone tree?

More often than not, those are trees which the owner refused to allow the designer or contractor to cut down  . . . like the ones that used to be in the fairway on #7 and #18 at Butler National.  I don't know about Calusa Pines though.

Or #3 at Old Mac..?..;-)

[PCCraig]

It's a solution to a safety problem, though admittedly not an elegant solution.


Years ago, had you taken the short cut, they might well have kicked you out of the club, or at least not invited you back.  Now that golfers have no shame, a tree will have to do its work.

Today, hitting down the 9th at Shoreacres is an easy way to get a talking to as a guest or a letter home as a member. Still a no-no.


When I was younger and fighting a snap hook off the tee, I could sometimes manage to snap one around it and find myself in a pretty good angle toward the 18th. However a handful of years ago when Mr. Doak restored those bunkers between 9/18 and combined the fairways that play became much more dangerous.


A straight drive down the 18th fairway isn't really the worst play...

[Ronald Montesano]

The ghost tree is a timeless sentinel. It was found, not planted. So much room to each side of it, that if you nail it, you've had bad luck.

[Peter Flory]

It's a solution to a safety problem, though admittedly not an elegant solution.

Beats a net or interior OB. 

[Kalen Braley]

It's a solution to a safety problem, though admittedly not an elegant solution.

Beats a net or interior OB.

I'm not so sure, at least internal OB removes the thought of someone thinking they can hit a hard slice or draw to circumvent the tree....

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Or course there is the infamous Hinkle tree at Inverness.

Cut down just this spring, IIRC.


Edit: Yeah: https://apnews.com/f1173678464a6acc8c48a7191bc51468

I'm sure everyone's heard the story about the super who names his chainsaws "wind" and "lightning."

[Anthony_Nysse]

Have the great fortune of being able to play Shoreacres from time to time.
Played Friday with my wife and another couple. Fantastic as always.


Got to 18 - a par 5 of about 557 (?) yards with cross bunkers in play at the ideal landing area for an aggressive tee shot. (Firm, fast fairways almost always.)


20 years ago, a player could opt to line up to the left and drive down the 9th fairway giving a much better angle into the green and cutting off about 40 yards. I think it was within the last 10 years (Tom D?) that 18 was changed and the bunkers brought more into play left and long off the tee.


Anyway, now there  is a tree that blocks the 9th hole option from the 18th tee.


Is this a lazy adjustment to a timeless course?


[size=78%]Also, for those who remember the 1989 PGA at Kemper Lakes, they did the same thing there. 18th hole, silly dog-leg left par 4  over water and Greg Norman, in the Grand Slam of Golf, looked at the hole and all the water and ust belted it successfully right on the green.[/size]


Now there are trees there and you cant do it.

#12 at Pine Tree. Fun fact-This was originally 3 palm trees.

[Jeff Schley]

#11 at Olympia Fields South is a short par 4 with a large tree in the middle of the fairway and must be carried going right or far left for a bail. Particularly when there is wind a decision and commitment is needed. I really enjoy this hole.