I have a few links that will give an idea of what Adam's home course looks like:
HCCC's home page:
www.henrycountycountryclub.comA review page with a link to a few photos:
http://www.golfkentuckylinks.com/Pages/Courses/Henry%20County%20CC.htmlA quick look at Google Maps shows that the course isn't heavily treed by any stretch, and the current trees don't encroach heavily on the lines of play. HCCC is a farmland course that's similar to what you'll find all over Kentucky. It's a low-budget layout from the 1960s, built by Buck Blankenship (who built basically every course in Central Kentucky in the 50s and 60s, and probably is responsible for most of the state's golf reputation) on terrain that isn't especially interesting and with a lack of architectural features overall.
It's a semi-private club that does well by keeping green fees low and conditions above average. They're not going to do a full scale renovation, as much as we might like to advise one.
Their board doesn't have a ton of flexibility in an architectural or financial sense. What they do have is a will to make sure they do things correctly. They deserve commendation for looking to hire an architect to supervise the changes they're making. Planting trees, as we all know, is much riskier on a golf course than it sounds. It's not fair to evaluate this club the way we would evaluate a Golden Age course built by an ODG. Its objectives are very different.
I do think efforts to "protect par" with trees are misguided. Adam, you're a good player. I'm betting you rarely are hampered by trees around the course any more than you would be by thick rough, especially when you're playing well enough to challenge par. I've somehow never played the course (I lived in Pleasureville down the road for a while growing up), but I've seen it many times in person and in photos and most of the trees are well back from the lines of play, which is one of several things that the course has gotten right over the last 50 years. The guys who put par in danger just aren't hitting in them very often out there I would guess. HCCC would get torched by a pro, as would most courses. The point is, the trees really aren't stopping anyone from shooting par but they might be stopping some higher handicappers from finding balls or being able to make swings, and that's just not much fun.
I think your goal of making the sightlines attractive and providing some definition is a better one to focus on. If you can get some fairway bunkering or shaping touch-ups into the budget, I'd go for it. But if your only option is planting trees wisely (and it sounds like it is), I'd do it as slowly as possible to see how the course plays without them and where they're really needed, and as I mentioned in the spin-off thread, focus on planting tall specimen hardwood trees rather than the chintzy evergreens and bradford pears and silver maples and other wooden weeds that dominate so many courses in our area of the country. Honestly, imprellis is probably a blessing in disguise. Short evergreens just don't belong on golf courses. They look silly and like something that should be in a landscaped lawn, and taking an unplayable or lost ball because you roll under one is miserable. But some tall hardwoods would look pretty nice out there I think.