We had Davey Tree out for three days to help prune, trim and thin most of the oak trees on the course. When done by tree experts removing dead wood and thinning out will help extend the life of the trees and make them safer for members and staff to play and work around. We had originally planned for this to be done in March, but with the way the spring on came so early we missed our window as oaks should only be pruned before they leaf out or after they drop leaves.
A good pruning should last 5-7 years for most of our tree species. We plan to make yearly pruning and thinning a priority and we hope to cover 15-20% of our trees in one season. Such a schedule will allow us to go through our entire tree inventory in that 5-7 year time frame, after which it will be time to start the cycle over again. We started with the oaks (and a few Hickory trees) as they are the most important specimens we have in terms of size, age, their visual impact on the hole and the way they affect how the hole is played.