Don't forget to look up.

[SiberianDVM]

I hate courses that put trees in the middle of the fairway. That's just dumb. But it seems to be "the thing" right now around here, as many of the newer courses have 1 hole where there is a full grown pine tree right in the middle of the fairway about 250-300 yards from the tee box.

So I am faced with the decision: WTF do I do now? Aim left, aim right, aim at the tree and hope my usual piss-poor aim will put me to one side or another?

I usually aim at the tree.

Which, since I have no luck except bad luck, almost always means that I either hit the tree or I'm short of it and the darn thing is directly in front of my only shot to the green.

Yesterday I was short of it, but I had just enough room to the left of the tree trunk to squeak a PW shot the 115 yards to the flag. Perfect contact. Pow!

Except I forgot the limbs. The darn things have limbs.

Shit.

[King Par]

Come to Canada and play here:



There's a local rule, if you hit it on your first shot, you get a free drop or hit another drive. Hit it on your second drive, you're SOL. I went left of it, trying to cut it around, and went straight into the trees on the side. I watched about 4 groups tee off, as well as listen on the range...you'd be surprised how many people hit the damn thing. A loud crack whenever somebody does.

The course is known for that though. The tree got beat up, or knocked over in a storm or something..and they replaced it with the exact same looking tree. See the space in the branches about a 3rd of the way up? I've seen so many people hit it through there it's insane.

Waskesiu Golf Course

[Eracer]

The USF course here in Tampa is nicknamed "The Claw" for the tree on its signature 15th hole. Here's a good description of it:


The 538-yard, par-5 14th hole at the USF golf course is home to a tree that has tortured golfers of all handicaps for four decades. At the tip of the first of two doglegs, the tree stands roughly 100 feet high. The top has thick branches that jut toward the sky and resembles a claw.
"The hole is hard enough without it," Curry said. "Add the Claw to it and it's anything but nice."
The daunting double dogleg can be intimidating, and the best way to reach the green in three - getting there in two is pretty much out of the question - is to cut off the corner on the left side of the fairway.
That's where the Claw comes into play. If you want any chance of getting on in two, you have to hit your ball through the "vee" formed by two top limbs of a dead tree that sits at the corner of the first of two doglegs. Even if you do that, it's a three-shotter for most, since the second dogleg is so far down the fairway. Big hitters who thread their tee shot through "the claw" are faced with another long shot that must be practically sliced around the second dogleg. Most players simply hit four irons to reach the green.

[ezra76]

Originally Posted by King Par

Come to Canada and play here:



There's a local rule, if you hit it on your first shot, you get a free drop or hit another drive. Hit it on your second drive, you're SOL. I went left of it, trying to cut it around, and went straight into the trees on the side. I watched about 4 groups tee off, as well as listen on the range...you'd be surprised how many people hit the damn thing. A loud crack whenever somebody does.

The course is known for that though. The tree got beat up, or knocked over in a storm or something..and they replaced it with the exact same looking tree. See the space in the branches about a 3rd of the way up? I've seen so many people hit it through there it's insane.

Waskesiu Golf Course

That thing looks like the Charlie Brown Xmas tree. I think I'd actually like it. Good to take dead aim and bomb on right over it.

There is only one hole that has a tree in the middle of the courses I play. It's like a 430yd. hole though and the tree is like 340-350 out. I aim right at it as that hole is flat out and I can only get about 260-265 out of a driver. I like to hit a draw with a 6iron so it usually doesn't bother me. If you can use the tree to cut or draw it off of then it can be actually be easier than a hole with nothing to aim at, IMO anyway. As for an approach shot, he!!, one tree is about 6-7 less trees than are usually in my way, lol.

[Slingblade61]

Pfffttt.....

We have trees AND rocks!

[King Par]

This is the second hole of the course I showed above:



The green slopes severely to the right. If you hit it dead at the green, between the space in the trees, you'd be off the green, on the fringe at the very least. My best shot there was hitting it to the left, over the trees, just nicking the top, landing on the very left side of the green and it rolled pin high.

[warbirdlover]

Trees don't have to be in the middle for me. I landed a nice drive on the right side of the fairway (which angled downward right) and the ball rolled right down behind the trunk of a tree off the fairway. Waste a shot and chip out. If there's a tree anywhere on the course it sucks my ball up to the trunk between me and the green. And then have them put one of those damn things in the fairway? Geesh.

[twogreen]

We've got a couple of holes like that on my home course.

I always remind myself of two old axioms of golf concerning trees. (1) Aim directly at it...no one ever goes where they aim. (2) Trees are 80% air...you stand a good chance of going right through.

I am amazed at how often I manage to beat the odds in both cases.

[Skiddlydiddly]

That's nothing. I can hit trees that are nowhere near the fairway. :P

[DaGris]

Originally Posted by SiberianDVM

I hate courses that put trees in the middle of the fairway. That's just dumb. But it seems to be "the thing" right now around here, as many of the newer courses have 1 hole where there is a full grown pine tree right in the middle of the fairway about 250-300 yards from the tee box.

So I am faced with the decision: WTF do I do now? Aim left, aim right, aim at the tree and hope my usual piss-poor aim will put me to one side or another?

I usually aim at the tree.

Which, since I have no luck except bad luck, almost always means that I either hit the tree or I'm short of it and the darn thing is directly in front of my only shot to the green.

Yesterday I was short of it, but I had just enough room to the left of the tree trunk to squeak a PW shot the 115 yards to the flag. Perfect contact. Pow!

Except I forgot the limbs. The darn things have limbs.

Shit.

have you ever played in Warrenton? on number 8, there USED to be a great big oak right in the middle of the fairway, about 300 yards out. When we had that tornado 2 years ago, it took that tree down

[SiberianDVM]

The friggin thing was so big, that they even put it on the scorecard!

[SilverUberXeno]

"Trees are 80 percent air" is a really stupid thought when thinking about hitting through a tree.

Human beings are 70% water, but if you punch one, you probably won't hit water.

Three-dimensionally, a tree is indeed a lot of empty space, and leaves. However, two dimensionally, it's a vast network of hard branches. You don't have to hit through an inch of tree, which you may in fact have a 2/3 chance of getting through, you have to hit through 60 inches of tree. (2/3)^60 is not good odds.

[gwlee7]

I thought everybody knew that the trees themselves are not the problem. It's those damn monkeys that live in them that are the problem. They will rarely throw my ball back out.

[Eracer]

Originally Posted by gwlee7

I thought everybody knew that the trees themselves are not the problem. It's those damn monkeys that live in them that are the problem. They will rarely throw my ball back out.

I've heard of "trunk monkeys" before. I thought they lived in car trunks, not tree trunks.

[MCDavis]

Originally Posted by gwlee7

I thought everybody knew that the trees themselves are not the problem. It's those damn monkeys that live in them that are the problem. They will rarely throw my ball back out.

This is the real reason you should carry a banana or two on the course. If you feed them, they'll be good to you!