Tee to Green Series, Part 9: Trees

Written by Gretchen Yoder, Director, Handicapping and Course Rating | Nov 20, 2025 7:34:50 PM

This month we are talking about trees.

Our mission is to evaluate how Trees come into play and how difficult it may be for the player to recover. Trees do something that no other obstacle does, they can affect a shot in the air. A drive that could be hit to 250 yards can strike a branch and drop 100 yards off the tee. Penalty Areas can’t do that, unless you happen to hit a fountain shooting 50 feet in the air.

Tree rating is based on:

- Overall impact of the trees on the play of the hole
- Level of difficulty (Minor, Moderate, Significant or Extreme Problem)
- Existence of additional issues (Chute, Obstruction in Fairway or at Green)

The difficulty factor for trees is based on:

- Number, height and density of trees (at mid-season) near landing area and on the line of play to the next target
- Distance of the trees from the center of the landing zone
- Presence of low-hanging branches that impact swing and obstruct recovery shots
- Conditions under the trees that impact the lie of the ball (roots, rocks, etc.)
- Proximity of trees to the ball when in flight that may result in significant yardage loss

Things to think about:

- Trees that are located within Extreme Rough require balancing whether the Trees or Rough is more impactful to the golfer’s recovery. If we take both obstacles at full value, we could overrate the course. If we ignore either value, we could underrate the course.
- If a golf course loses multiple trees due to planned maintenance or a major ice storm such as the one that ripped through the region in 2021, it may or may not impact the Course Rating. Call Gretchen to see whether she will need to schedule a trip to the course.
- If branches of a tree overhang a fairway that can affect the fairway obstacle width.
- If a tree obstructs the shot to the green, that can affect Green Target as well as the Tree rating

Next month we will cover Green Surface. And then there will be just one more in the Tee To Green series!

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