Every year the greens committee takes 1 of our meetings to tour the golf course, discuss our tree inventory, and make a plan for the removal and planting process for the winter. Tree are selected for removal typically based off of 4 things.
1) Impact on irrigation coverage - trees inhibit proper distribution of our irrigation system and form "shadows" where the irrigation water is prohibited from going. Our poor coverage of our older system magnifies this and trees creates a greater impact on our irrigation coverage.
2) Sunlight and Air movement - they prevent turf from receiving the proper sunlight and air movement
3) Increase cost of course maintenance - surprisingly they drastically increase our expenses to maintain the golf course when you consider the added time of rough mowers going around them, maintaining the grass adjacent to the tree edge i.e. weed trimming, clean-up from any debris the tree drops, leaf clean-up, and proper pruning and maintenance of the tree.
4) Competition with grass - Even more so this time of the year, you can see the competition and how the trees take water and nutrients from the turf. Follow a tree out to its drip line, that is approximately where the root system extends too, and within that drip line (circle) you will drastically see weaker turf.
My goal is not to remove all the trees on the course, but remove the ones that we can that effect our turf and playing conditions the most, while effecting playability and character of the golf course the least.
Also, when most trees are planted on the course, there is little attention paid to placement with respect to morning sun, which is the most important issue when dealing with turf management especially around greens and tees. This lack of attention is also the problem that when these trees are planted, they do not plan for the fact that trees grow and because of that the problems are amplified when proper location is not taken. Lastly, is the choice of species. Invariably whenever we have planted improper species and by this I mean an off site species (don't belong in this location and at this elevation). This would be the case with the pin oaks which we have to treat every year with iron and zinc and will still lose some. Then secondly quite often when we start a course we purchase the cheapest trees. This is the case of locusts, spruces and cottonwoods. They are not wanted for domestic use much anymore and the nurseries are just trying to get rid of them. The result is trees with shallow root systems, improper growth, weak structures and sometimes very serious clean up every year.
OK, enough about tree education on golf courses lets get back to how we improved your golf course.
The trees that have been removed are the locust on the left side of #9 at 200 yds and the locust on the right side of #17 at 225 yds. Those locust have a very shallow root system and steal water and nutrients from the grass making them a poor golf course tree. Both of those trees had replacements planted several years ago right next to them that are now big enough to act on there own. On #13 we removed the douglas fir on the right side at about 150 yds, here there were 3 in a row and by removing the middle one we really improved the turf quality without effecting the playability because the other two right next to it will prevent any shots from cutting the corner. We also removed a coupe large branches from the cottonwood on #17 because we have planted small replacements right next to them and this will allow those smaller trees to grow up. Due to the shallow roots that effect playability and our mowing equipment we have to start a plan to remove the cottonwoods in the future, and allowing replacement trees to grow for the next 3-5 years is the first step in that plan.
On #2 green we had discussed removing some from the right side to get that green to play more consistent with the rest of the course. The green is always firmer and faster in the summer because of less sunlight, and harder and more frozen in the winter. We cut down 4 and left 3, and I know this will be a big in consistent playability compared to the other 17 greens. Lets take a look.
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| Before #2 |
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| After #2 |
The one tree that will develop some discussion because it was important for playability is the one on the right side of #2 at about 135 yards, I didn't want to remove this one but it was dieing and the inside was rotten. We lost about half of the top of that tree in Aug this summer, and I am going to get a replacement planted there as soon as we can dig a hole.
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| You can see the entire middle section blew down this summer and the tree was rotten |
The spruce tree on the back of 3 tee was also removed for similar reasons above.
It is a good location and distinguishes the corner of the tee separating 2 green from 3 tee. But it puts a tremendous amount of shade on the tee and blocks irrigation. Remember how poor that turf is on the back half of the tee and behind the tee.
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| Shade right where the turf quality is the poorest |
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| Poor turf quality due to lack of sunlight, irrigation, and competition with surround tree roots |
Our point through all this work is not just to remove trees, but we want the best balance we can have with appropriate golf course trees that create good shot making, playability, visual aesthetics, and character to the course while still allowing us to produce the best turf conditions that we can. I feel we are reaching that balance point, but we have a little ways to go by replacing the cottonwoods, some of the spruces, and a few locusts in the years to come with the appropriate tree.
Moving forward now we will try to get everything done as fast as possible. We will chip the branches on Thursday of this week.
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| Branches ready for chipping |
and stumps will be ground the first week of January.
The firewood is almost all cleaned up already, and I would say by next week all the wood will have been removed.
Avista utility company will be coming through the golf course in 2 weeks to limb and remove a few trees that are directly under the power lines, in their right-of-way. These limbs and stumps will also be ground and chipped at the same time
All of this diligent winter work is important to ensure that we produce healthy and properly shaped trees that allow us to have playable turfgrass underneath them come next season.
Also, I am very happy to say the golf course is back to being open, even though there are frozen conditions it is still playing very good.
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