Winter Tree Removals

Over the past winter, we removed about 30 trees from the golf course, most of which had little impact on the course and have not generated any concern.  A few of the removals, one in particular, some members have questioned.  I want to address these concerns and explain the reasoning behind that removal, and the tree removals in general. 

The tree that has generated the most interest is the ash tree that was to the left of the seventh fairway about 100 yards from the green.  Many people feel that this tree was key to the golf hole in making an errant tee shot difficult to advance to the green on the players second shot, and its removal makes the hole easier.  This tree was removed for the same reason that many others were removed from the golf course, it was an ash tree that was nearly dead.  Despite the fact that this was one of the ash trees that was receiving treatment for the borer, the top three quarters of the tree was completely bare, and given the ash borer damage that we have seen over the past few years, the tree would have been completely dead this year.  In order to avoid having a barren tree in such a high profile area during the golf season, the tree was removed. 

Unfortunately, as the ash borer damage progresses we will be seeing this more and more over the next few years.  Many ash trees that looked fairly healthy last year have either not come back at all , or have very few leaves this year.  So far, the remaining twelve trees that are being treated appear to be healthy, but only time will tell if the treatments will continue to be effective. 

Obviously, the dead and dying ash trees made up a majority of the tree removals this year, but a few other notable trees had different reasons behind their removal.  The silver maple tree near the alternate tee on the second hole was removed to allow full use of the alternate tee.  With that tree there, we were unable able to use the alternate tee to spread out the damage from divots.  The large silver maple trees behind the seventh green and the seventeenth green were both removed for the same reason, turf health.  These trees were blocking sunlight and robbing the greens of moisture with their roots that extended into the green, causing very weak and fragile turf on the back of those greens, and on the eighth tee.

Tree removals are not taken lightly, and all decisions regarding the removals are based upon the improvement of the golf course, whether it is for turf health, tree health, or playability.  As always, the grounds operation is an open book.  If you have any questions regarding tree removals or any other golf course matter feel free to ask me or our superintendent, Matt Harstad. 

Bob Schoenau

Grounds Committee Chairman