The storm split the large Butternut tree on the left side of #11 fairway and created a hazardous situation. Today we took it down and realized it was a very good thing we did. The picture shows what the inside of the tree looked like about 2 feet off the ground. There is about 4" of actual wood with a completely hollowed out center. It is amazing how strong that little bit was to keep the tree standing as long as it did.

We also took down the large tree about half way down the left side of #12 fairway. This tree was very similar in condition to the one on #11. There is also one near the bathroom on #12 that will be coming down sometime in the future, you can see the hollow center. While it appears really drastic the tree is still strong and standing, but it is only a matter of time before it has to come down. All this has really caused us to evaluate the rest of the older trees on the golf course. I plan to set up a meeting with Dennis Landberg of Landberg's Tree Service (who has done the tree work for us over the past 2 years) and tour the course to take a critical look at all the questionable trees. This hollowing out is very common in the older trees such as maple, butternut, and even oak. I would say most of our mature trees are ok, but there are a few that show signs of serious decay and should probably be taken down. The one thing about serious storms, they tend to take care of those trees for us.