Bifurcation: A Don January Story

General Discussion
#1

So with the recent calls for rolling back distance, and the fact that I’ve heard 2 different golf voices suggest that we simply plant more trees and force golfers to deal with them, I’m reminded of one of my favorite golf stories… I think it’s relevant to the bifurcation conversation, even if it’s just an amazing anecdote.

My dad grew up giving tennis lessons at Northwood Country Club in Dallas, TX. It has a long, storied history, including hosting a US Open… When he got transferred back to Dallas and offered a membership on the corporate dime, we joined back up… I played golf there from age 14-18…

My dad is a history major and LOVES golf history, and was excited to introduce me to Don January. Very nice man, and I had no idea who he was… but my dad loved good golf stories and told me many about Mr. January…

As we played the 14th hole, a par five with a creek on the left, and a slight dog leg follow it, my dad pointed out a tree at the corner of the bend… That was the January tree. Cool story, dad… No, you don’t understand… Mr. January was a long time member of the club, and played many rounds with his friends out there… On 14, he was the only one who could hit a little cut over the corner and get on 14 in two… It was a huge advantage and his friends were tired of it… So they did the only logical thing they could think of… One night, they got a tree, dug a hole on the corner and planted it… it cut of Mr. January’s advantage and force him to play the hole like they did.

Sadly, I believe the tree has since been removed (either by nature or a groundskeeper with no respect for a good golf story)… but I think it’s an interesting story that shows there are other ways around distance problems that don’t involve changing equipment rules…

Also, it’s just a fun golf story!

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#2

Similar story (in the inverse)…I play a club called Fox Hollow. One of the holes is a difficult par 4 with a dogleg right, OB left, trees right…I usually hit a 5 iron. There was a tree that used to be planted near the middle of the fairway in a landing spot for an iron off the tee. I emphasize “was” a tree…someone a few years back allegedly came in at night and took a chainsaw to it… Rather than start over, the grounds crew just took the roots and planted grass over it.

Now the course has camera’s and security.

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#3

I can neither confirm nor deny my involvement in the death of the tree on my current course’s last par 5…

I will say if you can carry the ball 250+ it completely changed the hole

and

I do not, nor have I ever, owned a chainsaw.

(I didn’t have anything to do with the tree, our course was built 60 years ago, and we are starting to lose our older trees… their loss has fundamentally changed the golf course)

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#4

I am slowly pruning some trees at my club…one bad tee shot at a time.

There are few I’d love to sneak out and cut down or at least trim a bit, but my little old chainsaw is not up to the task. Still I hear you can rent the large ones. We lose trees to storms regularly, but we have so many you hardly notice. I can only think of one large one we lost to a storm 2 years ago that stood out, but it wasn’t really in the way and actually helped keep a pull from going OB in some cases.

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#5

Yeah, depends on the course… my home course had a number of trees that make the course what it is… they are nearing their end of life, it’s going to be interesting.

One par five will go from a tough hole to 150 in when the trees fall…

I actually spoke to our greens keeper about it… there are important trees on 1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14 and 16… we’ve lost trees on 7, 13 and 15…

I think trees are a good way to help force strategy…

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#6

I agree large trees in the right spots can really change a hole. The 2nd and 3rd holes at my club are tight doglegs and the big trees (and OB) make it a true risk reward. If the big trees on the corners ever come down then there is much less risk. We have so many trees though that we can generally afford to lose some, but I can think of a few holes where the loss of a specific tree would really open it up.

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#7

Yeah, it’s interesting how much they can change a golf course. On 11, the strategy 20+ years ago was to carry it over the trees, but they grew faster than technology improved :laughing: and now they are tough to get over (I’ve contemplated getting a 12 degree driver and trying). Those trees make it the 2nd hardest par five on the course (with the #1 par five also having a tree protecting it). It’s a good way to force people to play the course with different tactics… You can’t hit a 300 yard drive on the hole unless you can do so with a huge draw.

I just look at the “distance” problem on the tour and wonder if it can’t be fixed by changing the course layout… I have an odd feeling the end result is going to be “new” balls that require different equipment to play optimally… but that’s just me being negative!

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#8

I think well placed trees and narrower fairways and other things can really toughen up a course. My course is only about 6000 yards from the whites and it’s not easy. I remember playing it 20-25 years ago and thought it was hard and the trees were smaller then. It’s tight, tree lined, fairways are not all that flat and has nasty rough. Our greens are not the easiest either and there’s quite a bit of OB. Bigger hitters always have an advantage I think, but you can make it so that they need to be straight as well as long.

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