Golf, Grass and Trees

The very wet weather has been a real challenge for golf courses that don’t drain well. That includes most of the municipal courses around here and at least a dozen private courses built on former landfills.

That got me thinking about the tension between trees and grass, two important elements on most Midwest golf courses. The prairie states were hickory-oak savannahs after the last glacier receded to Hudson Bay. The oak and hickory trees actually grew in woods edging the prairie grass. The trees and grass rarely grew together except where people planted them after the prairies became suburbs.

America’s fixation on grass—for lawns, yards, parks and golf courses—comes from England, the source of U.S. culture and garden aesthetics. And, the grass we like originates from places in Turkey and New Zealand where no trees grow, not our back yards. These exotic grasses might form perfect fairways and greens but are they are hell on tree roots.

I found out the trees in my yard need four inches of mulch extending as far as I can stand it—or to the dripline of each tree-- to really be healthy. This means getting rid of the grass. When I got home from my TreeKeepers class today I saw a tree service ready to work at my neighbor’s house and thought “Carpe Diem.” Twenty minutes later I had a small truckload of chips on the parkway, enough to spread around at least two trees in my front yard.

I’ve made jokes about “links” style courses as golf courses with no trees because I think these courses are unattractive. But, I’m rethinking this. Trees on many golf courses don’t get mulched properly, protected from mowers, cleared of buckthorn or, in some cases, even pruned of dead branches. Trees are a lot of work, especially when the leaves fall. Maybe trees don’t belong on golf courses

But they sure belong around my house. With this new plan I won’t have to rake the leaves or mow the lawn. Maybe I’ll grow a woods in the backyard.