Tree Trimming

Someday I need to take an actual count of how many trees we have at GFCC.  It has to be well into the thousands.  While the trees add a lot of character to our golf course, they also require a lot of work.  Besides just cleaning up cottonwood limbs and leaves every time the wind blows, and the millions of leaves we have to clean up in the fall, the ash trees in particular require a ton of trimming.

Green and White Ash seem to have been the planting of choice back in the 70s and especially into the 80s and early 90s as the elms all started dying from dutch elm disease.  While the ash is a relatively quick grower, not too messy and has fairly dense wood, it is a really droopy grower and tends to lose its "tree shape" over a number of years and starts to look like a weird blob.

Hence, the weapon of choice for us against the ash trees is the polesaw.  It is a relatively slow and and laborious process cutting off all the low hanging branches and hauling them away, but the results have been well worth it.  Trimming the limbs up has shown a lot of benefits:

• much easier for the staff mowing rough, not getting branches in the face all the time
• increased turf health by allowing more sunlight penetration
• a better line of sight through the rough areas
• easier to play from underneath of, by not hitting branches in your backswing
• a more shapely and beautiful tree that actual looks taller once it is limbed up off the ground

We have thus far been able to finish trimming on holes 2, 3, 6, and half of 14....which means we have a long way to go still....

The left rough on hole 2 before trimming

Everything limbed, just lots of cleanup left

The finished product on hole 2.  The view through the trees is much
more appealing now and significantly more playable!

Going to town on the ash trees behind 3 green

Andy taking off the branch hanging over the back of 1 green.