Who knew the removal of a tree—not even the most famous tree at Pebble Beach—would create such a stink?
Tree removal has been a hot-button topic in the world of golf. The most recent rallying cry from the pro-tree folks came in defense of one of Pebble Beach's cypress trees that sat about 90 yards short and right of its 16th green. Two trees created a field-goal post of sorts for players to navigate in their pivotal approach near the end of their rounds.
Photos surfaced recently showing the tree was gone, and people sounded off, including Justin Thomas, who said: “makes no sense to me why they’d do this. When are places going to realize getting rid of trees is not the answer to making courses better, haha.”
Well, there was actually a very good reason why Pebble Beach removed the tree. Unfortunately, officials didn’t really have a choice. The tree was diseased and posed a risk to other trees nearby.
Turn out, a few opinions on social media don’t tell the full story. We spoke with folks at Pebble. See the story below for more details.