Fall Tree Trimming

When your golf course is a course that is dominated by large decidious trees, tree maintenance becomes a vital aspect of our maintenance operation. Most people might assume that the majority of our job surrounds the maintanence of the turf and while that may be true in the spring, summer and fall, in order for us to have healthy trees, the trees require a great deal of attention.

Fall or winter is the ideal time to trim trees. By this time the tree has lost it's leaves, is going dormant and is less susptible to disease. Trimming allows us to remove the deadwood, find branches that may be broken and inspect the tree for any large cracks or find a tree that may have excessive decay. As you can see in the photo, this Red Oak that was removed, was showing signs of Oak wilt, on further inspection it was found to have a large amount of decay. The tree was deemed hazardous and needed to be removed. As you can see the decay was excessive and the decision to remove it was justified.

For the past 30 plus years all of our tree trimming and removal has been with one company, Tim's Tree Service. Eight years ago when I took over as Superintendent it was our goal to trim all of the trees on the property in a seven year span. Last year we completed that process, on schedule, so this year we will begin the process all over again. Trees that were trimmed this year were on holes 1, 2, 14 and 18. In all, over a 10 day period, over 125 trees have been professionally trimmed. In the past we were scheduled for trimming in the months of December or January, when it is colder and when we have snow. We have moved up on the schedule to November. With warmer temperatures and no snow, we are definitely getting more bang for our buck. Additionally now that we are beginning the second go round on the course the trees are less messy now then they were the first time so the trimmers are having an easier time getting through each tree.