Steve,
Your "assumptions" about my experiences are misguided at best. I have 16 years horticultural experience--all the while a golf nut. The club I mentioned had a definite tree problem, if you consider 8 straight weeks of removal and trimming in phase one alone, and years more to come on top of that.
I am sure that there are current and "former" presidents of clubs that advocate going behind members backs. That sounds disrespectful to me. I guess it is always fine to go behind a memberships' back when it is an issue of tree removal, yes? How about if it is an issue of green renovation? Does the renovation crew just show up one day and the members start playing a temporary green? No questions asked? If a member is told up front when he/she is joining that he/she will not be consulted or given a heads up regarding any future course work, then fine. That would not be going behind their backs though, because they would have been warned to expect anything anytime.
I don't have a problem with tree removal at all (your example of removing misplanted trees is misplaced; you are preaching to the choir). I don't "know better" than the former president you mention. Maybe his former membership thrives off deception.
I also don't have a problem with growing healthy turf; again I am part of that choir. I do find people on this website however who don't believe the turf on a course has to be perfect.
I have a problem with an international golf architecture website advocating such a heavy handed approach to tree care. I would just like to see this thread be a bit more well rounded. In addition to the disrespect toward members I believe I am hearing here, I also have trouble with blanket statements like "if a tree needs trimming, it shouldn't be there". I can't imagine you or Brad or Dunlop really believes in such blanket statements. Maybe you do. If not, it would serve those looking in here to read a more thorough accounting of the possibilities in this area. Just my opinion. Again, I wish you all well.
[By the way, conifers are ideally suited to snow. Their close to 90 degree branching structure allows them to take on large amounts of snow that at some point slides off. A trip to the Rockie Mountains this winter will verify that. The major susceptibility problem for evergreens is not snow and ice. It is wind and drought. (DISEASED trees are susceptible to a lot of things.) Yes there are occasional ice storms that create problems but that is not the norm where I live in the Midwest and, in and of itself, should not be used to discount the value of evergreens. A normal Midwest winter does not harm the conifers around here in the slightest. And as for ice storms, it is often the native deciduous species themselves that get hit the hardest. Here in the Midwest, our most recent storms have taken a serious toll on the cottonwoods, ash, boxelder, silver maple, to name a few. Ash have been planted widely as golf course trees due to the fact that they do not surface root as much as many other trees.]