It has been a long hot summer. I do not know if that has anything to do with the trees at George Ward. Maybe we'll blame it on El Nino. Anyway, in the past month, we have lost 3 trees on the course. Of the three, two played a direct role in the play of the course. They were not flimsy pines that could be taken down by the wind. Both trees seem to have been ill. One was probably hundreds of years old.

The biggest loss was the intimidating tree on hole 7 that covered the entire green. If you have played George Ward you know that that tree dominated that hole. It was bad enough that we had lost one of the shrubs on that hole that blocked the hole. Now a tree that was probably hundreds of years old (I am no tree expert) is gone.

The second most influential was on hole 6. As some of you know there are two trees in the middle of the fairway (with the pin at its close spot). The nearest, leftmost tree has fallen. It now, unfortunately, makes the hole much easier.

While it may be an easier course without these trees, this player is not happy to see them go. The even more disturbing thing is: WHY? How many more trees are we going to loose? What is causing this?