Dan Moore, do you have a picture of the offensive willow on #6 at Spring Valley?

Dan, NO!
 The weakest design element isn't controversial, it's a pity.

Why would someone design around something as impermanent as a tree?

Adam;

To avoid permanence problems, put a Redwood about 70yds out in the middle of the 18th fairway. They live hundreds of years if rapacious humans do not cut them down for convenience or out of pique. "The play here is a high PW over the tree" ...... ROFL

Trees are good Adam. You may be evil  .

Doug

Revenge also has it's place in bringing about the ultimate punishment for a misguided tree. Consider the case of A.W. Tillinghast who:

      In February of 1931, Tilly wrote an article in Golf Illustrated titled, “Trees on the Golf Course.” He wrote how, “More than twenty years ago, Mr. Chandler Egan won the championship of the United States at Baltusrol. I played him in the first round of that tournament and at the end of the eleventh enjoyed a lead of one hole. After poor drives to the twelfth it looked for a brief moment as though my lead might go to two for my ball rested in the fairway within a short pitch to the green, while Mr. Egan had unleashed an unholy hook into a real jungle. How he ever got a club to that ball, or what manner of club it was, matters not, but that ball came out plenty. It would have continued its mad flight for a lot more than the player had hoped had it not come into violent contact with a lone tree, which grew immediately by the side of the green for no good purpose. After sampling nearly every branch of that tree for a good place to alight, the ball finally decided on a nice spot on the green itself very close to the cup. The birdie three evened the match which it had looked like two down a moment before. In memory that tree was coupled with one of my life’s darkest moments. Some years later, I had been retained by Baltusrol to remodel the course and extend it to its present thirty-six holes. One day the late Mr. Louis Keller, then of the Green Committee, heard the sound of axes eating into a half dead tree and hurried over to investigate. Nearby he found their golf architect looking on and smiling contentedly as he stood on the old twelfth green.”

Ahhhh! Revenge can be so sweetly enjoyed on occasion!  

Brad,

Indeed, Macdonald was no fan of trees.  But I think a tree could be controversial for the right reasons, which is why I thought it an odd choice of words.  

Here is one insipid, out of place tree we encountered on the Langford Moreau Tour, one the architect would not approve.   I believe someone stated upon seeing it for the first time, "What the **** is that tree doing there."  There was no controversy over this one; we all agreed it has to go, even Mother Nature who took half of it away in the August storms.  The cape hole characteristics are blocked out with the tree located on the ideal line.

Spring Valley 6th


On the other hand, the architect did approve of this one which unfortunately is dying.  A new tree has been planted to take its place when it finally drops.

Lawsonia 13th


Some of us debated this one.  A 250 hitter can clear the tree with ease.  Should it stay or should it go?  

Lawsonia 15th




 

Dan, while nobody asked me, I'll still go with, 13 OK, 15 out.
The tree on 15 blocks the gullwinged L&M bunker.  Unfortunately, with the modern ball and equipment, the bunker is generally not far enough out by about 20-30 yards, and no room to put tees back further.  

Dick,

Funny, I chop down 13 (ugly trees have no excuse- u-g-l-y you ain't got no alibi, you're ugly!) and keep 15.  14 could use a little trim too.

Mike

Mike Hendren - What says you about the tree on #4 at Iron Horse?

See! One more good reason to cut down trees on golf courses. I'd personally be willing to help take an axe to offending trees if I get a small supply of wood for the winter fires warming the hearth...

Dick,

Funny, I chop down 13 (ugly trees have no excuse- u-g-l-y you ain't got no alibi, you're ugly!) and keep 15.  14 could use a little trim too.

Mike

Amen! 14 needs a haircut on the left side in a BAD WAY.  BTW...my vote is to keep #13 tree, and ditch #15 tree.

There are wonderful uses of trees. Rustic Canyons' 14th cape tee shot, over or around the trees, makes for great mystery and strategy.
Jasper Parks 14th is quite similar.
Pete Dye seems to be one of the few masters of the well placed trees.

For anyone that has played up here, #4 @ The RTJ Course at Cornell has great tree strategies, though I don't approve of the ones overhanging the right side of the green...

Couldn't resist offering these pix. Look especially at your 'pal' on #8. And remember the name of this course, actually a fun little Hurdzan design.

http://www.golfkentuckylinks.com/Pages/Photo%20Pages/Willows%20photo.html

Doug

 Peter, that Shore Pine on Pacific Dunes #8 was there before the bunker was dug. I know it created a bit of a double hazard but only if the ball went way back - and the lower branches were pruned  for club swingage.  The bunker could have been smaller (heresy!) and kept away from the rootzone.  I thought it was one of the most dramatic trees on the course and I know it broke Ken Nice's heart when the winds took it down.  

 It's still a great green complex. One of the funnest I've ever played.