Here's my own version of Jordan's recent thread titled "The Tree Thing". I have two sets of questions about the relationship between trees and dogleg holes. I'll describe the first situation in this post and pose two questions about it. Later, I'll add another wrinkle and ask another question or two.
My first two questions are addressed to the No Trees! crowd that seems predominant on this forum. Imagine a dogleg-right short Par 5 of about 520 yards. From the back tees it is 230 yards to the corner of the dogleg and the tee shot plays somewhat downhill. There's also a pond in front of the green so that the last hundred yards is a forced carry.
OK, so there isn't a tree within a quarter-mile of this hole. To cut the dogleg means a carry of anywhere from 230 yards up to 300+ yards if you wanted to take most aggressive line straight toward the green. If you bite off more than you can chew there is two to three inches of thick Bermuda rough. There's also a lateral hazard way out to the right if you aim on the aggressive line and then miss it right.
Playing safe and not attempting to cut the dogleg means leaving 275+ yards to the green. Taking it straight at the green means a really big hitter can get with 200 yards or so. The risk of biting off too much is having to chip out of the nasty rough.
OK, now imagine the same hole except instead of heavy Bermuda rough there is a stand of mature hardwood trees filling in the corner of the dogleg. The tops of the trees are 40-60 feet in height which, given that the tee shot is downhill, means the carry across the corner is still quite managable for someone who drives it long and high but the landing area would be blind and the penalty for coming up short is almost certainly a lost ball. For someone who drives it low there really isn't much way to cut more than a tiny bit off this dogleg.
Question 1: Which is the better hole? On the one hand, the treeless version renders the dogleg pretty toothless unless the rough is horribly thick. On the other, the wooded version rewards the high-and-long tee ball immensely.
Question 2: How about for short hitters who play the hole from the forward tees, let's say 40 yards in front of the back tees. They only have to hit it 190 downhill to clear the dogleg but without trees coming up short of the corner is no big deal, just hit the second shot over an area of rough. With the trees if you don't make the corner on the drive then you can't hit over it on the second shot.
I'd love to hear comments on these questions and then I'll introduce a wrinkle in a reply later...