Then you have the temporary plantings intended to fill in the space between trees planted until they grow which end up staying forever .

Pat,

Do they still have " Arbor Day" at Pine Tree ?

The major physical elements of our restoration were completed in 1997. Roughly 300 trees were removed in the initial phase along with tee leveling and rebuilding all the bunkers ect. We (the committee) took more abuse about the trees than any of the other elements.

 The more subtle elements of the Master Plan such as reclaiming the original green footprints and continuing tree removal have been ongoing every season since.

 Roughly 1200 trees have either been removed or fallen down of their own accord in the past 10 seasons. We (the committee) haven't heard a peep about " missing trees" in about three years now. Our turf is healthier, there are a ton more possible approach shots per round, and the golf course is playing to about the same stroke average for member rounds as it did when the tree encroachment had us in perpetual eclipse.

Be ever vigilent my bretheren GCAers. The results are worth it.

Mayday Malone asked:

"What is a nursery tree?"

Patrick Mucci responded;

"Mayday,
It's a tree you purchase from a nursery."

Mayday Malone thanked Patrick Mucci for his learned explanation.

Mayday, have you not yet learned that everything Patrick Mucci says is wooden-headed and just plain wrong?

The truth is a nursery tree is a teeny little tree who wears little knit booties and diapers and needs a nurse.

I still say you 2 guys could take your act on the road or maybe a radio call-in show on GCA.You'd smoke the Car Talk brothers.

I got this one at an Annual Meeting last week.
Member: "Why did you take down the tree between 6 green and 7 tee?It was a good place to sit in the shade."

Me: "We took it down because of the shade on 6 green and 7 tee."

Member: "I knew you'd give me a smart-assed answer."

You can't make this stuff up.

Ed Baker,

I'm there so infrequently these days that I'm not positive, but, my guess is that it's no longer a club event, especially since the club embarked upon a tree management program that was greatly expedited by Hurricane Wilma.

TEPaul,

My reply to Mayday was initially going to be all tongue in cheek, but, I didn't have the heart to just leave the one sentence as my reply.

JMEvensky,

We've already turned down several offers, some of which were very lucrative.

We're waiting for the call back from CBS and MSNBC to fill the Imus slot.  We can't go on the air until after June 1, 2007, because they're redesigning the studio such that all sharp objects are removed from the set.

They want me to perfect my ventriliquism skills before June 1st, since they perceive TE as having a rare form of Tourette's syndrome related to GCA, whereupon he blurts out phrases that only an idiot-savant would utter, and then he goes silent and unresponsive for 10 to 20 minute intervals.

This usually occurs when he's asked to explain himself, which to date, has never occured.

He's also been known to spontaneously break into song, usually his version of "Mammy" whereupon he substitutes the name "Coorshaw" for "Mammy".  Another one of his favorites is: "When the Shapers go Marching In".  He tends to sing this during lent, begining with Mardi Gras.  "Maintainance Meld over Miami" is another of his favorites.

When I told him that the very attractive weather girl on the show was rumored to be fast and firm, he insisted that that only meant that she had worked on the grounds crew at Huntington Valley.

When they talk about "High Density", they're not talking about the quality of the picture, they're talking about his head.

Paul,

Whenever I've observed, or been involved in a discussion related to tree removal, and I ask, why do you think that tree should remain, architecturally, agronomically and from the perspective of playability, I've never yet received a pointed,cogent answer.

The response tends to be in general terms having nothing to do with the specifics of the situation.

Recently, "Global Warming" and the need to preserve THAT specific tree has been given as a reason to spare an intrusive tree..

And, when asked when and why the tree in question was introduced to the golf course, the answer has often been, "what difference does that make".

I think golfers, like everyone else, resist change.
But, tree huggers tend to be tree huggers without examining the specifics of each situation, decrying that NO tree should be removed, no matter how harmful it may be to the architecture, agronomy or play.

At a golf course that I'm fairly familiar with, someone planted trees into the side of the footpad of some tees about 30 years ago.  Now, the limbs invade directly into the flight path of tee shots.  Yet, some members argue that the tree is in a good location since it shades all of the waiting golfers in the heat of summer.  

When I heard this, I suggested that we start planting trees into the sides of the greens so that we could shade the golfers while they were putting.  Do you know that he stopped to think about that for a while before dismissing the concept.

Now, that's scarey.

"What I'd like you to do in a meeting like that is ask the membership to ask you why you actually left a tree somewhere near a tee or whatever, and when they do your answer should be:

"So golfers can take a leak on it!""

Tom,

With all the tree removal at Oakmont and NGLA, where the heck do the guys take a leak?  Did they put in extra piss huts?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Wayne: You don't have to lift your leg so why do you need a tree?

“Oakmont is not just tough; it's impissable!”


Actually Mark Studer and the tree removers of Oakmont have recently come under intense fire for apparently failing to foresee this architectural problem. The word on the street is they may even get dragged into court in a class-action lawsuit by a group representing the full-bladder set.

NGLA does not seem to have this membership problem as the full bladder set over there seems content to piss on Shinnecock.

I think it's time to pass out some Flomax on the first tee.  "Here's to men..."

I knew there would be something like this mentioned on a thread sooner or later...but I didn't want to start a OT topic on this because I knew I would be crucified.

But on a wide open course without ample "facilities" where are you supposed to relieve yourself?  This is exactly the reason all those pesky "links style" layouts should be avoided in favor of the parksland ones.  

Of course,on a real links, you can pee in the gorse.  Care must be taken, however, to avoid serious injury.

I suspect that taking a leak next to a tree is just as 'visible' (if someone wished to look) and more obvious as compared to taking a leak in treeless rough.

At my home course, I have an endless supply of trees to choose from.  It reminds me of The Sorcerer's Apprentice (from Fantasia), where poor Mickey Mouse had to deal with the constant doubling of all of the pails of water, except we deal with trees!  Perhaps it is these 'leaks' that make the trees multiply so quickly.

James B

Edit - pail was mis-spelt as pale.  Thank-you 'big chief smokin Joe'.  see below.

It will be interesting to see how the announcers reference the tree removal program at Oakmont during the Open telecast.

Their perspective can have a positive or a negative influence on local golf clubs throughout America, depending upon whether they embrace or reject the concept.

Who will comprise the broadcast team ?

I am 99% sure NBC (Johnny Miller & Co.) will broadcast the US Open from Oakmont. It was only a few years ago that Oakmont hosted the US Am (won by Aussie Nick Flanagan, I think), which was also on TV.

The tree removal program was well underway at Oakmont by then. I cannot recall if it was discussed during the telecast.