That is correct, all 375 trees are cut down, hauled away, and the brush burnt. Walking down the 14th fairway to inspect the progress, a big smile came over me. The sunlight, that now will be able dry down the turf, was beaming brightly. The ability of golfers to play this hole that is now opened up is awesome.
This picture is from about 150 yards out and shows an open feeling to this hole. It was 2 years ago that we removed 5 oak trees from the east side of the green and immediately the quality of turf improved. I am counting on the same enhancements here.
We removed a few more trees in this area but more to help the approach. Look to see an expanded approach mowed this spring. As you can see, there are still some small branches yet to be cleaned up. I anticipate being able to get to most of the debris before we open. Once it dries enough to get equipment on the course, we will use blowers, sweepers, rakes, etc to remove the remaining sticks and then run a debris mower over the area. This will allow our sharpened equipment to mow turf and not branches.
This photo shows the reduction in trees between holes 14 and 15. It will be a bit easier to navigate through this area than before.
The last thing that needs to be done is to remove the stumps. We have a local tree stumper who will start as soon as he can get his equipment out onto the course. That will happen yet this winter. His plan is to have as much done by the time we open. My staff will have to clean up the chips and then backfill with soil. I plan to seed most of these areas and put a cover on it to help the germination process. More on this at a later date. So if there are any volunteers out there that will be able to help us out, contact me and we can make arrangements.
