I have walked the property as well. As for the trees, a canyon or rim routing, whether it was Gil and Geoff's original, or Graham's have that distinguishing feature of some pine trees as you approach the rim. So, it is that which makes it different than the endless sand hill treeless offerings both on the Lehman course and the other sand hill courses of the region. That one person might denote that the trees are 'in the way' based on a photo, seems like a stretch, given the designer is a world class golfer, highly familiar with great dunes or links style golf around the world, and isn't exactly a novice to shot values, quality, and the notion of a fair and playable hole for all skill levels of golfers. Maybe, if the tree is within the realm of 'in the way' it was decided to go with it as strategic value, and what is the worse thing that could happen if it is not received well after a significant amount of play.... they chop it down?
The one thing I would question in routing courses across this land is the desire to keep it walkable. I have no idea if they made a judgement on routing that traded off finding what they believed were the best hole corridors for the consideration of keeping tees next to greens. While by comparison Graham Marsh's routing at Sutton Bay seems to follow that principle of getting to the best hole corridors as priority to keeping the routing a little more walkable, the land at Sutton Bay has more physical restrictions where that was necessary. Frankly, the varied and frequency of land rumple at Prairie Club would suggest to me, that walkability should not be sacrificed, nor need it to get to great hole corridors. But, in fact they may have kept it very walkable. One would have to play there, obviously, to make that determination.
But, it is a golf culture thing too, along with a cart revenue issue, I guess. We have avid walkers here on GCA.com, but it seems like even the folks you'd think are raw boned, tough outdoorsman and such in the Sand Hills, and Nebraska in general, seem to put a great deal of stock in cart ball, and even owning or leasing your own cart at your club, despite having a perfectly walkable course like I have seen so often at Wild Horse. South Dakotans and northern Nebraskans may be the same way...