Shady Trees and Sticky Club Politics - Page 3
Logging Support
A negotiable approach is advised where club democracies demand membership approval and consent. Because members are more concerned with good agronomics than with strategic shot making, it would be good politics to approach tree removal with the emphasis on the ability of growing healthy turfgrass. Architectural principals are generally less accepted as justifications for tree removal.
For instance, if you explain that a tree was removed from behind the green because its roots were penetrating into the fill pad, then you will satisfy those who are most alarmed. However, if you try to convince a committee that a tree was unoriginal, unattractive, unduly penal, or strategically improper, you had better hide beneath that very tree for cover.
Also, never refer to the project as a tree removal program. Instead, label the project as a tree management program and members will less likely resist.
Photographic evidence is an excellent way to earn support from your club. Other courses, which have embarked upon tree management programs, have taken albums of "before and after" photos and the results can be quite convincing. For example, look at the remarkable transformation below when an understory of evergreen saplings was removed from this wooded area in the North Carolina mountains.
