I had an opportunity to play a Philadelphia classic course this past Monday. I have called on this course for over 15 years and have had the chance to play it a few times. I have been out on the course many times for demonstrations and seeing equipment perform. On Monday, I was able to see years of planning have a cumulative effect of an incredible golf course.
They have done as many local private clubs have, re-grassed, irrigation, bunkers and tree removal. All of these projects have been very successful but the most noticeable to me is the trees.
An interesting piece of Philly golf history is the give-a-way program of pine trees by the government.
This story, I have been told many times, happened back in the 50's & 60's the government had started a program of free pines and many clubs embraced the if it is free it's for me motto. It end up causing big changes in the original design as the trees grew. It seems like many courses have spent the last 10 years trying to remove these and get back to their roots. What also played into their removal is turf health. As we all know sunlight is hugely important to growing grass. There were some clubs that did a shade study to show how few hours of sun light areas received and made it difficult to grow turf. It is interesting to watch how this has all played out. Many clubs frowned on tree removal orignally. There are a few stories I have heard over the years of " cut this trees down and our fired" stories. What has been the end result is some incredible jewels being polished up and shinning!
WJC
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