Has Oakmont Tree Removal Begun a Good or Bad Trend?

[mike_malone]

I think the most important thing is how planting trees ruins the intended play. At my home course it was heavily treed from 13 to 18 originally. 13/14/16 are played straight through trees that appear to be out of play and parallel to play. Two of the holes are par threes.
15/17/18 are doglegs around long lines of dense trees which is the classic use of trees.
The rest of the course had fewer than 20 trees.


Referencing Jeff’s statement photos two years after opening show no planting. But the ten years later photos show extensive planting.


What happened was that the original lines of attack for recovery shots were compromised. Those trees are gone now.


Many of the trees from 13 to 18 are also gone for agronomic , health , and visual reasons. This is where new trees should go since the original design was done with the trees in mind.


Parkland courses should have trees. In fact our course has them on every hole. But they don’t ruin the play.


Like Oakmont you need good land to take so many trees out.

[Sean_A]

Sean: The question is whether Oakmont is really the ideal solution and I it certainly is not in all situations and perhaps it has made other clubs fearful that if they begin tree removal that it will have to result in the Oakmont model.

I am sure there are irrational members at every club who fear a bald course if a proper tree management program is implemented.

I don’t think there is such a thing as a blanket ideal tree solution. I wouldn’t like to see any parkland go the extreme route Oakmont took. Well selected, placed and managed trees can add beauty, challenge, intended visual blocks and shade.

Ciao

[Jim_Coleman]

    To use Oakmont as the North Star for tree removal is a mistake. Oakmont has 150 or so bunkers (dozens of which are fairway bunkers) to protect it from off line shots. Few if any parkland courses have anything like that.
   Trees often serve that purpose. Removing all of them on straight holes allows for unobstructed shots to greens after wayward shots. Some may think that’s a good thing. Reasonable minds can differ.
   

[Paul Rudovsky]

While I have no idea what the land Oakmont occupies was like prior to its founding in 1903, the trees at Oakmont were not present prior to the 1953 US Open there (won by Hogan).


Several weeks after the Open, Herb Warren Wind's New Yorker article about the event was published and in the article Wind wrote about how the City of Pittsburgh and Oakmont CC were made for each other.  Pittsburgh being a tough blue collar town and the home of a shot of whiskey chased down by a beer...and Oakmont being the hardest course in the USA and perhaps the world.  Wind went on to say that it was brutally hot all week and with no trees, there was no place to escape the sun.


The then president of the club read the article and told the Board of Governors he agreed with Wind's sentiments and proposed a major tree planting campaign which was approved and implemented.  I first visited Oakmont in February 1971 for a wedding (about 6" of snow on the ground) and it looked like a course in Westchester County NY.  Had read about the Wind article many years ago and it was confirmed to me in 2019 by the guy who was greens chairman when the tree removal program started (in the middle of the night) and president subsequently.

[Eric LeFante]

While I have no idea what the land Oakmont occupies was like prior to its founding in 1903, the trees at Oakmont were not present prior to the 1953 US Open there (won by Hogan).


Several weeks after the Open, Herb Warren Wind's New Yorker article about the event was published and in the article Wind wrote about how the City of Pittsburgh and Oakmont CC were made for each other.  Pittsburgh being a tough blue collar town and the home of a shot of whiskey chased down by a beer...and Oakmont being the hardest course in the USA and perhaps the world.  Wind went on to say that it was brutally hot all week and with no trees, there was no place to escape the sun.


The then president of the club read the article and told the Board of Governors he agreed with Wind's sentiments and proposed a major tree planting campaign which was approved and implemented.  I first visited Oakmont in February 1971 for a wedding (about 6" of snow on the ground) and it looked like a course in Westchester County NY.  Had read about the Wind article many years ago and it was confirmed to me in 2019 by the guy who was greens chairman when the tree removal program started (in the middle of the night) and president subsequently.

Very Interesting how a prominent writer inadvertently caused a massive change to the course.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I have played Philly Cricket, Oakmont, Baltusrol Lower, and Oakland Hills in the past few years. When I asked members about the tree removal, I was told that most members approved, but a vocal minority was very upset. Baltusrol and Oakland Hills did leave some beautiful specimen trees that are not in play. I liked it. Oakmont, in my opinion, removed too many trees. I thought the tree removal at PC was spot on.


I think it is a good trend if it is done judiciously. You can always remove trees later. It is hard to plant a hundred-year-old tree, though.

[Charlie Goerges]

Oakmont 1926 I believe (smaller and then large below):


Oakmont 1926 by goerges_family, on Flickr


Oakmont 1926 by goerges_family, on Flickr

[Charlie Goerges]

So based on the above image, Oakmont had relatively few trees early on (not treeless, but not tree-lined either).


That said, the location is naturally forested. It would have been in the middle of the great eastern forests pre European settlement. Without continuous intervention, the land would be forested again within decades. So I think it's a good thing to accept and acknowledge those natural facts in some way through the design choices that are made. I don't think it would be a good idea to go back to the fully-tree-lined course of the 50s-2000s, but some greater integration of trees might not be bad. I don't know what form it would take, I'm curious what others might think.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Has Oakmont Tree Removal Begun a Good or Bad Trend?

.......yes......

[Paul Carey]

I attended the 94 Open at Oakmont and it was miserable hot in the mid 90s.   I am glad they had big, shade trees.   

[mike_beene]

I think the slope down to the turnpike makes a treeless Oakmont unique—similar to Muirfield where you sense the whole course on first view. I assume that is why the trees by the turnpike went away. Part of the appeal is the uniqueness. It wouldn’t be so stunning if every inland course was treeless.

[cary lichtenstein]

I always loved trees but they grow too big

[Jeff_Mingay]

I attended the 94 Open at Oakmont and it was miserable hot in the mid 90s.   I am glad they had big, shade trees.   

I was at the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont and got burnt to a crisp. There was truly nowhere to hide! 

[Kalen Braley]

If only hats, sunscreen, umbrellas, and large tents had been around then this tragedy could have been entirely avoided. 

[George Pazin]

It was unusually hot at the 94 Open, I remember because I had just opened my biz and we were not fully prepared for printing t's in 90+ degree weather.


I don't remember the specifics, but I thought it was beautiful for the two recent Opens. Anyone getting sunburned has no excuse, that's like claiming you didn't know cigarettes were harmful....


There is no bigger fan of the tree removal at Oakmont, and frankly everywhere, than I. I think trees are an awful component of "strategy" in golf. But I also am wild off the tee, so I'm sure many would claim I'm biased.


Some people like isolation on a golf course. I call those people hermits and misanthropes. A huge part of why I enjoy golf is the social element.


It's funny to me that someone on here commented favorably on Oakmont's terrain. Superficially, it is no different than the rest of western PA. Yet there are tons of golf courses in these parts, and only one Oakmont. It speaks to the genius of Fownes.


I wouldn't advocate clear cutting a site like Medinah...but I probably wouldn't fight against it, either.

[Jim_Coleman]

   Having experienced major tree removal with no architect input, all I can say is - hire an architect you trust and trust him. Proper tree removal requires architectural expertise.

[Tommy Williamsen]

George, not every tree interferes with strategy. While we all can use sunscreen, standing at the tee under a tree while we wait for the fairway to clear is a nice thing.

[Jeff Schley]

George, not every tree interferes with strategy. While we all can use sunscreen, standing at the tee under a tree while we wait for the fairway to clear is a nice thing.

Being an amateur that is bothered by many things other than my swing..... You mentioned shade at the tee. I get very distracted by my own shadow over the ball when the sun is at my back.  With the swing moving my shadow over the ball it seems to distract me just enough to where I blame the bad drive on it.  Thus shade at the tee is welcomed for that reason. Of course I can't do anything about that the rest of the way. Afraid of my one's own shadow I suppose?

[Michael George]

Tree removal has officially "jumped the shark".  Certainly, tree removal is important in any renovation, but many architects have gone too far.  The superintendent would cut down every tree on the golf course.  Maybe, some architects do it as a way to ingratiate them to the superintendent and get him to accept harder maintenance elsewhere on the course. 

Inverness is one of the best examples now.  It looks like an uninteresting pasture.  The holes are still good, but the vibe of the golf course was ruined.  The trees helped create some definition there.

[Tim_Weiman]

While I have no idea what the land Oakmont occupies was like prior to its founding in 1903, the trees at Oakmont were not present prior to the 1953 US Open there (won by Hogan).


Several weeks after the Open, Herb Warren Wind's New Yorker article about the event was published and in the article Wind wrote about how the City of Pittsburgh and Oakmont CC were made for each other.  Pittsburgh being a tough blue collar town and the home of a shot of whiskey chased down by a beer...and Oakmont being the hardest course in the USA and perhaps the world.  Wind went on to say that it was brutally hot all week and with no trees, there was no place to escape the sun.


The then president of the club read the article and told the Board of Governors he agreed with Wind's sentiments and proposed a major tree planting campaign which was approved and implemented.  I first visited Oakmont in February 1971 for a wedding (about 6" of snow on the ground) and it looked like a course in Westchester County NY.  Had read about the Wind article many years ago and it was confirmed to me in 2019 by the guy who was greens chairman when the tree removal program started (in the middle of the night) and president subsequently.

Paul,


Your description of Oakmont for the 1953 U.S. Open is consistent with some old pictures I’ve seen and commentary that one could practically see the entire course from upstairs in the clubhouse (at least hole north of I 70.


Tim

[George Pazin]

George, not every tree interferes with strategy. While we all can use sunscreen, standing at the tee under a tree while we wait for the fairway to clear is a nice thing.

You are of course correct. I just prefer treeless landscapes, personally. And I work in a literal sweatshop, so heat bothers me not even a little bit.

[Jonathan Cummings]

A downside often to wholesale tree removal is from an acoustic standpoint.  And Oakmont is a good example.  Stand at the nineth tee and try to have a conversation somewhere below the shouting level.  The Turnpike, once muted by the tree canopy, is now deafening at 1 green and 9 tee and to a lesser degree elsewhere (2 tee).  There are other similar examples.  The back nine at SFGC, the front at Adios and others would be better served with a dense tree canopy buffering the nearby highway noise.