Trees are a wonderful part of many golf courses and they are iconic features on some of the greatest courses in the world. They provide strategic interest, habitat, and they can give a golf course a unique sense of place. However, trees must be planted and managed in a thoughtful way to avoid big problems. To be honest, there may be no better way to ruin a golf course than by haphazardly planting trees.

The right trees in the right locations can be an asset to any golf course, but when trees begin to negatively affect turf health or playability they become a serious detriment. Here are a few of the best ways trees can be used to ruin a golf course:

• Be sure to select the cheapest trees you can find. A tree is a tree, right? Who cares if it has aboveground roots and constantly drops debris? As long as it grows fast and doesn’t break the bank, what else really matters?
• When planting trees, don’t worry about how big they’ll be in the future. That’s somebody else’s problem.
• Plant trees as close to greens as possible to provide a beautiful backdrop. All great golf courses have a wall of pine trees behind each green.
• Don’t limit yourself to trees that are native to your area, or even your continent. Including trees from around the world on your golf course is a recipe for success.
• Don’t worry about the nuts, fruit, bark, sticks or other debris some trees may drop on the course. The maintenance team will be happy to clean up any additional mess.
• If you think a hole is too easy, planting trees is the best way to fix it. No need to consult with a golf course architect, just watch where most players hit their shots and plant a bunch of trees near that spot.
• Plant as many trees as you can close to tees and fairways. Who really needs turf on tees anyway? The ball is on a tee for a reason. Thin fairways? That’s what fertilizer is for.
• Don’t even think about removing trees unless you want the course to be too easy. No golf shop can handle the overwhelming number of complaints that too many birdies are being made after a handful of trees are removed.
   

We may have been kidding around with this list, but the unfortunate reality is that these are common mistakes that happen on golf courses everywhere. Courses often spend lots of money creating tree issues and then spend even more money to fix them. Golf courses with trees should invest in a professionally prepared tree plan to guide planting and management decisions so they get the most benefit from their trees without all the headaches. Golf course architects and USGA agronomists are valuable contributors to such plans.