The Grand Blanc, Mich. property will remove over 120 trees and prune another 29 as the first step in addressing shade issues that have affected greens, surrounds and fairway corridors over the years. Damage from two straight harsh winters exacerbated the problem, leading to the use of 10 temporary greens into August of last season.
Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club, Grand Blanc, Mich., has begun an extensive tree-management program that will seek to address turf issues on several over-shaded greens, and also improve overall course playability and aesthetics by reopening fairway corridors that have become obstructed by encroaching tree growth.
An inventory conducted for the club by Chris Wilczynski, ASGCA, founder of C.W. Golf Architecture, Ann Arbor, Mich. and Julie Stachecki, a certified arborist/agronomist who owns the Site Specific, Inc. consulting firm, revealed that the Warwick Hills property contains more than 1,600 trees. It was recommended that 400 of those be removed or pruned, and during this spring’s Phase One of the project, 124 trees will be removed and another 29 will be pruned. Roughly 45 new trees will be planted in strategic locations in future phases.
Shade issues have vexed Warwick Hills’ Superintendent Phil Owen, GCSAA, on eight different greens over the years. In addition to the effect on putting surfaces, on some holes the reduced sunlight has been detrimental to green surrounds, where players find themselves faced with delicate short shots off bare lies, or having to hit difficult low-trajectory shots under tree branches.
“I’ve never gone through a comprehensive tree project like this,” says Owen, who has cared for Warwick Hills’ turf for 25 years. “But other superintendents I’ve talked to who have been part of similar projects all told me the results will be like night and day. Some of their worst greens turned into some of their best. I hope that’s what happens with us.”
Owen began advising club management 10 years ago that some trees were becoming problematic. “The superintendent is the first person to notice,” he says. “But the situation has to become noticeably worse before management senses the urgency, and then members need to be convinced. You have to be persistent.”
Owen, Wilczynski and Stachecki are all unanimous in their opinion that Warwick Hills was over-planted in the 1980s and ’90s. “I’m sure the intentions were good,” says Wilczynski, “but unfortunately a lot of those trees were set too close to greens and other playable areas.”
Strategically removing or pruning trees will result in more southern and eastern sun exposure for Warwick Hills’ greens, Stachecki notes, and lessen the effects of the harsh winters that southeast Michigan has experienced the last two years. A succession of hard freezes and rapid thaws resulted in abnormal ice buildup on greens, which effectively suffocated the putting surfaces. Warwick Hills had winter damage to 16 greens last year, forcing the club to use 10 temporary greens into early August of the 2014 golf season.
More southern sun exposure during the winter months can mitigate the effects of ice buildup, Stachecki says, and more eastern sun exposure promotes greens health during the summer months.
Elsewhere on the course, trees have encroached on sight lines and corridors to the fairway landing areas and greens. “At many older courses, trees have been planted without long-range vision,” says Wilczynski. “When evaluating the result, we have to extrapolate the designer’s original intent.”
Trees are often positioned to fill a space or mitigate safety concerns on parallel holes, he adds. “But usually they’re planted too close together because of a desire for instant results,” he says.
James Gilmore Harrison designed Warwick Hills’ original course, which opened in 1957. The following year it hosted the inaugural Buick Open, won by Billy Casper. The current layout is the product of a 1967-68 redesign by Joe Lee. Tiger Woods won the last (and his third) Buick Open at Warwick Hills in 2009.
John DeMarco, Chairman of Warwick Hills’ Greens Committee, reports that the tree-management projects will introduce strategic changes to the course over a three- to seven-year timeframe. “The tree evaluation prompted us to take a further look at updating the golf course,” DeMarco says. “It won’t be a redesign, but an update that will enhance the original Joe Lee design.”
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