So the city is cutting down trees at my local course.

[Pete Kwaz]

I went to play a round today and saw a bunch of city trucks cutting down trees at my home course. They already have changed the layout of the first hole. Now its very open and nowhere near as difficult (thank goodness they left the big tree by the basket there).

Hole 1 before: http://www.dgcoursereview.com/view_image.php?p=course_pics/828/4f908acf.jpg

Hole one after: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v677/UTcowboybebopfan/0205101533a_01.jpg

I know a lot of the trees they cut down were pine trees that were dying but I hope they don't cut down too many. I have seen many trees around the course with red dots on them, looks like hole 10 might be next. I want the course to be a bit challenging.

Has anyone here ever been to a course that was drastically changed by the removal of trees?

 

[valkyrie]

I never have....but if an obsticle at the course i play regulalry just went missing, i would be upset! I could have to change my whole way of playing that hole!

 

[BrotherDave]

That sucks. I'd ask them to plant more trees STAT.

 

[Peterb]

Huh. I wonder if those trees were diseased or something. If they had anything like pitch canker (something common here in Cali), then you should be happy that they took them out. If that were to spread, it could kill hundreds of trees on your course. Now that would suck.

All that aside it looks to me like the shot itself is actually improved. Before the cut there looks to be only a hyzer shot and a risky straight throw. Now, you could go either hyzer or anny...a little more fun right?

 

[Cgkdisc]

Ottawa wasn't that challenging before. Maybe a redesign is in the works anyway with new trees coming in? Although I'd be surprised if the Toledo city budget could afford it. They should try to get disc golf added to the ball golf course right there if the golf course hasn't been getting enough traffic like many rust belt courses these days.

 

[Terry C]

The environmentally responsible thing to do would be to plant a couple of new trees for every mature tree they cut. Hopefully they do that, it sucks they are changing the schematics of that course. If trimming and cutting trees makes the course better I'm all for it, but if it makes it worse then thats no good.

 

[jkdisc]

what was wrong with those tree?

 

[Pete Kwaz]

Huh. I wonder if those trees were diseased or something. If they had anything like pitch canker (something common here in Cali), then you should be happy that they took them out. If that were to spread, it could kill hundreds of trees on your course. Now that would suck.

All that aside it looks to me like the shot itself is actually improved. Before the cut there looks to be only a hyzer shot and a risky straight throw. Now, you could go either hyzer or anny...a little more fun right?

Many of the pines they did remove as well as a few in other areas looked in pretty bad shape, had less than 50% of their needles even during the summer.

Now this could be to discs hitting the trees and destroying the bark which there are many trees around the course that are dying because of this but they are right in the fairways. Most of the trees they removed today were off to the left side and didn't get hit very often, some not at all but they still looked sick.

Before the only shot was a straight shot with a hyzer fade at the end. while it does open the hole up to different shots it makes the other shots less risky, before they could be done but were not often attemped.


As long as they don't remove very many more and leave that tree at the end of hole 1 I'll be happy. If they cut that tree down than hole one is just a wide open under 300' boring hole.


Edit: now that I think about it they removed a bunch of dead pine trees from the non disc golf part of the park for the 3 months ago. Its very possible there is a disease going around.

 

[wolito]

Sorry for your loss. Hurry and take those red dots off the other trees quickly so they wont be next! Hopefully they have a good reason to do such things as far as preventing disease to all the other trees on the course and then you would be left with just a flat wide open course. I don't think I have played a course where they have removed trees on that scale to affect the course design.

 

[Pete Kwaz]

Ottawa wasn't that challenging before. Maybe a redesign is in the works anyway with new trees coming in? Although I'd be surprised if the Toledo city budget could afford it. They should try to get disc golf added to the ball golf course right there if the golf course hasn't been getting enough traffic like many rust belt courses these days.

The environmentally responsible thing to do would be to plant a couple of new trees for every mature tree they cut. Hopefully they do that, it sucks they are changing the schematics of that course. If trimming and cutting trees makes the course better I'm all for it, but if it makes it worse then thats no good.

I wish they would put in more trees, as it is the responsible thing to do but this city is running a $38 million budget deficit for this year alone. I'm actually surprised they had the money to cut down the trees in the first place.

 

[Pete Kwaz]

what was wrong with those tree?

They were dying. they looked a lot like this

http://www.voruidoso.com/Forestry_D...causing branch deformation on Douglas fir.jpg

 

[solomon.trenton]

That sucks. I'd ask them to plant more trees STAT.

seconded!!!:hfive:

 

[clubcarib]

Maybe you could organize a charity tournament that would use the proceeds to go towards planting new trees. Hopefully they don't cut down anymore. I would be super bummed if my local course started thinning the timber.

 

[edward felcohands]

its hard to tell for sure from the photo, but they look like austrian pines, which are extremely prone to various fungal diseases. so much so that very few municipalities will plant them anymore due to the likelihood that they will get sick. when there are many in one area, especially an area with lots of other trees and therefore poor airflow around the needles, the problem gets much worse. your local forestry dept was simply being proactive, you can let them die slow and infect other trees in the area or you can take em out and start over.

the problem with planting new trees on a course is that a transplanted tree can not grow quickly right off the bat and is more fragile in its first years in a new location. factor in plastic axes flying through the air and nailing a relatively small target over and over again and youll find that a new tree faces poor odds of survival on a disc golf course. if they put new austrians in, the new tender growth would be emerging right about the time of late spring/summer when the course really starts bumping with lots of players. the new candles that come out are very soft and tender when first emerging, and the tree would be mutilated. this is also the time of year when high school kids have too much time on their hands, which is not good for anything on a disc golf course, living or not.

an older, more mature tree does not have the same problems, and is far less vulnerable to being seriously damaged by discs, although damage does occur. another thing to remember is that whoever is in charge of the trees probably has no idea that anyone would care anyways.

 

[clubcarib]

the problem with planting new trees on a course is that a transplanted tree can not grow quickly right off the bat and is more fragile in its first years in a new location. factor in plastic axes flying through the air and nailing a relatively small target over and over again and youll find that a new tree faces poor odds of survival on a disc golf course.

If anyone (either the city or the disc golf community) were serious about replanting younger trees, they could also look into building some protective padding facing the line of fire from the teebox. They could make them fairly cheaply. I know if it were my home course I would definitely pitch in to help replace the lost trees.

 

[tmahan]

Greene County course just north of Charlottesville VA got raped not too long ago when the county sold some logging rights for the park, including an area occupied but several holes. I understand the locals have redesigned the affected holes, they have my thanks and appreciation.

Holes #1 & #2 at Seneca in MD are losing a bunch of lumber as they're heavily populated with Ailanthus (Trees of Heaven), the park has identified them as an invasive species and are attempting to eradicate them. They were right about the Russian Olives and they're probably right about these. Maybe it'll open up some lines for some new pin positions (at least on #2).

 

[Definistrated29]

A couple of the courses in Colorado are affected by the pine beetle infestation. The dead trees are just being cut down because that is pretty much the best option at this point. Frisco Peninsula course near Dillon is a great example. The course used to be alot tougher.

 

[JHern]

Its a real tragedy to lose trees at your home course. Several of my local courses are gradually losing trees, though they let them fall and don't clear them immediately (which is good). But we as disc golfers should figure out how to nurture and save trees that are dying, as they are essential to our sport. This can probably be done even without consulting the parks dept. Just learn what it needs, and do it low pro-.

I recently played Waller Park in Santa Maria, California, where the park is populated by some of the most magnificent trees ever to preside over a disc golf course. The grounds underneath are mostly mowed beautiful green grass. In the recent storms, a few had fallen down, which is immensely sad to see in this particular case. The parks dept was already chopping them up into pieces for removal.

Now this could be to discs hitting the trees and destroying the bark which there are many trees around the course that are dying because of this but they are right in the fairways.

This is a bunch of BS. I've seen trees get enormously beat up by disc whacks much closer to the tee (there the disc speed is much higher), but still manage to continue growing into strong, healthy stands. I really should do a study and document this, because these same objections were used to fight against the disc golf course in Chico, CA (where they brew Sierra Nevada Beer).

 

[Cgkdisc]

It's kind of freaky but if you put your ear on some of the pine trees at the IDGC, you can hear the pine beetles chomping. The Army Corps basically told us that we could pretty much take out pine trees of any size when designing the three courses there because their life expectancy was only about 15 years due to pine beetles. So it sounds like we'll be redesigning holes every so often. Fortunately, there are a fair number of hardwoods around there so it should still keep the courses challenging.

 

[edward felcohands]

Holes #1 & #2 at Seneca in MD are losing a bunch of lumber as they're heavily populated with Ailanthus (Trees of Heaven), the park has identified them as an invasive species and are attempting to eradicate them. They were right about the Russian Olives and they're probably right about these. Maybe it'll open up some lines for some new pin positions (at least on #2).

yeah, ailanthus is a serious noxious weed pretty much everywhere in the US, grows everywhere and spreads quickly. around here buckthorn and honeysucle are the big problems, some courses like Dretzka for instance have a lot of holes where if you took out all the buckthorn you'd be left with an open field with a couple ash trees in it.

This is a bunch of BS. I've seen trees get enormously beat up by disc whacks much closer to the tee (there the disc speed is much higher), but still manage to continue growing into strong, healthy stands. I really should do a study and document this, because these same objections were used to fight against the disc golf course in Chico, CA (where they brew Sierra Nevada Beer).

it's not all BS. it depends what type of trees you're talking about. some trees have a greater ecological value than others, and some trees have thick bark and/or very fast growth that can easily overcome damage from discs. other trees, like fagus grandifolia(american beech) have thin bark, slow growth, and a susceptibilty to bark diseases which is increased by cambium violation. Just because a tree grows healthy does not mean it was not damaged, and basic weed trees like ailanthus, norway maples, and buckthorn should not be your acid test for whether or not discs are doing serious damage.