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John Kavanaugh

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Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« on: February 25, 2013, 11:07:17 PM »
I've never seen Old Mac but I know that dead tree. What other courses are defined by a tree, living or dead.

Of all God's plants I perhaps love the tree most of all. I like corn, the poppy illuminated my youth as various weeds enhanced my enlightenment, but lumber has warmed my heart, sheltered my family and decayed under a million years of pressure to earn my living.  How have trees defined your life or special course?

Tommy Williamsen

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2013, 11:14:08 PM »
First tree that comes to mind is on 16 at Cypress Point held up by a support.
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

John Kavanaugh

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2013, 11:16:10 PM »
First tree that comes to mind is on 16 at Cypress Point held up by a support.

What does that symbolize to you?  In a poetic sense if you don't mind. I have not seen it myself.

John Kavanaugh

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2013, 11:25:56 PM »
.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2013, 09:13:58 AM by John Kavanaugh »

Tommy Williamsen

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2013, 11:38:14 PM »
First tree that comes to mind is on 16 at Cypress Point held up by a support.

What does that symbolize to you?  In a poetic sense if you don't mind. I have not seen it myself.

The inability to let go of things that don't matter.  The tree serves no purpose, in a golfing sense.  It is really out of play.  Now it is a shrine of sorts.  We tend to build shrines to the little hurts and slights and can't or won't et them fall away like an old dead tree.  We support them and prop them up so they stay with us.
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Tommy Williamsen

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2013, 11:42:23 PM »
Thought of a second tree that is pretty wild.  It is on the par three 13th hole at Morfontaine GC. It is pretty much in the way.  Doesn't take much thought to find a symbol for that tree.  There are lots of things that get in the way of getting to my goals, not the least of which is going through this next year before I retire.   
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Jason Thurman

  • Karma: +1/-0
Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2013, 11:46:11 PM »
Damn John...

I was thinking the other day about one of the worst holes I've ever played. It's the first hole at Juniper Hills Municipal Golf Course in Frankfort, a 410 yard par 4 with a tree RIGHT in front of the tee, blocking the fairway. Google Images is amazing, although it looks much better (worse?) when the leaves are fully grown in during the summer:



Is it a trainwreck? Of course. Would I cut it down if I could, or pull a Harvey Updyke on it? Absolutely NOT. It's perhaps the most interesting thing about the entire golf course. It's a feature so outside the box and oppositional to "good design" that it makes the hole more memorable and lends a certain campy charm. I wouldn't get rid of it for the world.

I'm less sold on the above-grade artificial pond at the 260 mark in the fairway:

"There will always be haters. That’s just the way it is. Hating dudes marry hating women and have hating ass kids." - Evan Turner

Some of y'all have never been called out in bold green font and it really shows.

Jeff Bertch

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2013, 11:54:31 PM »
This one is for Anthony Nysse...



Love this logo!

you know...a caddie, a looper, a jock

John Kirk

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2013, 12:19:06 AM »
You have probably heard this story.  When my father died, they replanted an iconic oak tree in the center of the 12th fairway at Stanford University GC.  There is a plaque which says "The Bill Kirk Tree".

Here is a historic photo of the 12th hole.


A recent photo, showing the newly planted tree, which was transplanted from another location on the property.


For good measure, a pretty picture of the green underneath this grand valley oak (Quercus lobata), the lone remaining of the three original oaks.


Thanks to the university website, and to Joann Dost for the two fine color photos.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2013, 12:21:15 AM by John Kirk »

Ronald Montesano

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #9 on: February 26, 2013, 05:02:57 AM »
Thank you, John.

The 12th hole at Delaware Park Meadows in Buffalo plays over the same type of tree that Jason describes here. It's a downhill par three of 185 yards and you need to hoist your ball over it, sling it around it on the right side or (the most daring and dangerous of the trio) pound a stinger beneath. You empty out at the green, situate in "Baller Corner." It's across the bike/runner path from the courts where all the area's best come to play pick-up hoops. It's where Christian Laettner learned to be even tougher. The confluence of the two sports is worth a meditatiive moment.

No time to pause. The 13th (also a par three) plays uphill in an angular direction, beneath a canopy of trees. No options here; you must flight it high enough that it will release up the slope, yet not so altitudinally that iit will make contact with the highest branches. Both green sites are unremarkable, as is most of the course. It's the pair of tree holes that do everything for DPM that Jason Thurman describes.

(Scribe's note: I seem to have invented the words "meditative" and "altitudinally," but I suspect you understand their meaning.)

What do they mean? Nearly a plethora of opinions; some monosyllabic, others profound.

~Navigate the small sweats in life as best you can;
~Find a way to manage the largest obstacles;
~Risk a road less traveled;
~You must be flexible enough to consider both Icarus and Daedalus;
~The end of a challenging journey isn't always glorious; the glory is in the journey, not the end.
Coming in 2024
~Elmira Country Club
~Soaring Eagles
~Bonavista
~Indian Hills
~Maybe some more!!

Michael Taylor

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2013, 05:26:43 AM »
The 10th at Creek Club on Long Island surely takes the cake. It's the most beautiful tree I've ever seen. Here's a pic I took.

]

Tim Gavrich

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #11 on: February 26, 2013, 09:11:15 AM »
I've never been there, but people talk often of a tree dominating the scene on a couple holes at Chambers Bay.

There's a fairly mighty live oak smack in the middle of the fairway on the 9th at Pawleys Plantation. General wisdom is to play to the opposite side of the tree of the side of the green where the pin is located.


Nicklaus located another tree in the middle of a fairway at the par five 14th. Playing to the right of it means you can possibly roll a tee shot into the marsh if the hole is downwind. It's an interesting feature, but I'd prefer if the tree were removed, the fairway widened and a small but gathering centerline bunker placed in its stead.
Senior Writer, GolfPass

Bill Brightly

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2013, 11:32:36 AM »
Here's the tree at Old Macdonald. After playing the hole at the opening of the course,  I remember asking what they night do if it ever fell down, since it is so obviously prominent in the hole's design. I think Tom Doak said the owners considered cementing it in before it fell. Wonder if they ever followed up on that idea?



Mike Hendren

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2013, 11:33:42 AM »
What a disappointing title to a thread.
Two Corinthians walk into a bar ....

Joey Chase

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #14 on: February 26, 2013, 11:35:13 AM »


When I think of trees, I think of Valderrama and the somewhat choking effect they have on the golf there.  Having said that, they are among the most beautiful Cork Oaks you'll see anywhere.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2013, 11:38:29 AM by Joey Chase »

Rich Goodale

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #15 on: February 26, 2013, 12:02:29 PM »
Here's the tree at Old Macdonald. After playing the hole at the opening of the course,  I remember asking what they night do if it ever fell down, since it is so obviously prominent in the hole's design. I think Tom Doak said the owners considered cementing it in before it fell. Wonder if they ever followed up on that idea?




I've been told that the "tree" in question is in fact a sculpture made by Mike Keiser's grandaughter for a Junior HS science fair.  It will be taken down once she gets to High School and be replaced by an obelisk.
Life is good.

Any afterlife is unlikely and/or dodgy.

Jean-Paul Parodi

jonathan_becker

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #16 on: February 26, 2013, 12:06:58 PM »
From 4 tee looking back at 3 green at Woodlands in Melbourne


Howard Riefs

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #17 on: February 26, 2013, 12:10:15 PM »
First tree that comes to mind is on 16 at Cypress Point held up by a support.

Winner of the 2011 Photo of the Year thread:



"Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: Taking long walks and hitting things with a stick."  ~P.J. O'Rourke

Bryan Lewis

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #18 on: February 26, 2013, 12:25:49 PM »
I've never seen Old Mac but I know that dead tree. What other courses are defined by a tree, living or dead.

Of all God's plants I perhaps love the tree most of all. I like corn, the poppy illuminated my youth as various weeds enhanced my enlightenment, but lumber has warmed my heart, sheltered my family and decayed under a million years of pressure to earn my living.  How have trees defined your life or special course?

The one time I played Old Mac I hit that darn tree!  What are the odds?

Nobody has mentioned the lone tree at Chamber's Bay.  That comes to mind.  Yes, the now dead tree on the 16th at Cypress is a good example.  It was living in old photos.  Not sure when it died.  There is another dead tree standing near the 14th green, that appears to have been dead since the course was built.  Hard to believe it could stand for that long.  Cypress must be some hardy wood!

Bryan

Howard Riefs

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #19 on: February 26, 2013, 12:52:22 PM »
There's the dead tree in front of #3 green at Kiawah Ocean.

During the 3rd round of last year's PGA Championship, Rory's tee shot got memorably stuck in a branch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzsOWC7nFvI
"Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: Taking long walks and hitting things with a stick."  ~P.J. O'Rourke

Jud_T

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #20 on: February 26, 2013, 12:59:57 PM »
The most inspired thread name in recent memory.  Sure JK just keeps throwing sh*t up against the wall, but this time something really stuck!
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Aidan Bradley

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #21 on: February 26, 2013, 01:04:02 PM »
PGA Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, Hole #12, Green Course.


Sven Nilsen

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #22 on: February 26, 2013, 01:07:15 PM »
Flossmoor #14 has a tree situated not that far off of the tee which dominates the drive on the hole.  From the short tees, which are located more to the left, the angle opens up the fairway.  But from the back tees, the player is faced with a tough choice.

From Phil McDade's photo tour of the course post-renovation:

"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

Colin Macqueen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #23 on: February 26, 2013, 04:11:22 PM »
Gentlemen,

The persimmon tree is still living but is surely dead as far as its involvement with golf goes (Thinks … is persimmon still used in the manufacture of hickory clubs?). 'Tis the tree that I associate the most with golf. My earliest brassie and spoon had persimmon heads and for nigh on twenty years my wood set consisted of four honey coloured beauties - Hogans.

In terms of trees that bring golf courses to mind and evoke longings the iconic Cypress tree depiction is second to none but the modern version with the lone pine at Old Macdonald will, I think, stand the test of time.

Now as to the moniker given to this thread, variously described as "What a disappointing title to a thread." to "The most inspired thread name in recent memory.", I can only think that JK is making a tilt at winning the Patric Dickinson award proposed by Mark Rowlinson back in January in his "Following the egregious...." thread!

Cheers Colin
"Golf, thou art a gentle sprite, I owe thee much"
The Hielander

Joe_Tucholski

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Re: Everyone Loves a Dead Tree. Who would Jesus be without one?
« Reply #24 on: February 26, 2013, 08:43:04 PM »
When I think about a tree defining a course I think of the lone cypress and Pebble Beach.  Not sure how the connection between the tree and Pebble was actually made since the tree isn't on the course.  It's also weird to me they can trademark any image of the tree and prevent others from using it commercially (does the PB company even own the land the tree sits on?).

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