Last month, Scottie Scheffler expressed his displeasure with a growing trend in golf course design—the removal of trees. This week, he competes at the U.S. Open on a course that exemplifies this trend but remains as challenging as ever. Over 30 years ago, under the cover of night, Oakmont Country Club began cutting down trees, eventually eliminating around 15,000. This transformation redefined one of America’s premier golf venues and set off a wave of tree removals across the nation.
During a recent round with influencer Grant Horvat on YouTube, Scheffler discussed how modern professional golf, particularly on the PGA Tour, has become a repetitive series of “bomb and gouge” tactics: drivers hit for maximum distance followed by attempts to extract the ball from rough terrain. “They take out all the trees and they make the greens bigger and they typically make the fairways a little bigger, as well,” Scheffler noted. “The only barrier to guys hitting it as far as they want is trees.”
Despite significant renovations in 2023 that expanded the greens, Oakmont’s fairways remain challenging, more so during the U.S. Open. Known for its difficulty, Oakmont, hosting the U.S. Open for a record tenth time, poses a unique challenge with its deep bunkers, strategic drainage ditches, and lightning-fast greens. These features produced winning scores of 5-over par (Angel Cabrera in 2007) and 4-under (Dustin Johnson in 2016) in previous tournaments.
Back in 1973, when Oakmont was densely forested, Johnny Miller’s 63 on the final day set a record—a feat sparking the infamous “Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974, subsequently claimed by Hale Irwin with a score of 7-over par. Reflecting on the 1974 Open with Golf Digest, Miller remarked, “Everybody was telling me it was my fault. The USGA denied it, but years later, it started leaking out that it was in response to what I did at Oakmont.”
Oakmont is now practically treeless, but not everyone agrees with its approach. Jack Nicklaus, who planted trees to shield certain fairways, believes trees should only be removed with purpose. “Why take a beautiful, gorgeous tree down?” he questioned, expressing a preference for natural obstacles in golf design.
The sentiment inside Oakmont has been divided since its tree-removal project commenced stealthily in the 1990s. The course no longer resembled its original design from 1903, which was intended to be a links-style course. The proliferation of trees in the ’60s and ’70s aimed to muffle sounds from a nearby highway. However, as they grew, these trees demanded a choice: embankments or trees?
Oakmont opted for bunkers instead, specifically its famous Church Pew Bunker, sparking a divisive debate on course design. Adam Scott remarked, “I’m not always the biggest fan of mass tree removal. I feel many courses that aren’t links courses are framed nicely with trees.”
Nonetheless, overgrown trees often compete with grass for resources and can hinder sunlight, oxygen, and result in unforeseen shot paths due to overhanging branches. Furthermore, they pose potential hazards, as seen in the 2023 Masters where strong winds toppled pine trees on the 17th hole, sparing spectators by sheer luck.
John Fech, an arborist with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, highlighted the nuanced role of trees, noting their benefits when properly positioned. Oakmont’s decision not to have them at all influenced other prestigious courses like Winged Foot, Medinah, Baltusrol, and Merion to reconsider extensive tree populations. In 2018, Bryson DeChambeau’s strategy of aggressive driving at a treeless Winged Foot and tackling the rough paid off.
Scheffler, however, criticizes this open-style play: “…if there’s no trees, you just hit it wherever you want because if I miss a fairway by 10 yards, I’m in the thick rough; if I miss by 20, I’m in the crowd.” This week at Oakmont will test how much this critique holds true.