Earlier this week I spent a couple days in Pittsburgh, PA visiting some old friends and relatives. I spent one morning at Oakmont CC. Above you can see a picture standing behind the 18th green. As an employee there in 1997 and 1998, I was amazed at the amount of tree removal since then...in the thousands! In 1997, we started the tree program that involved getting up at 2am and going out on the course, taking a tree down, grinding the stump and sodding the area before the sun came up. That meant none of the members knew the tree was gone. Obviously, before long, many members started to notice the course was beginning to "feel" different. To this day, Oakmont CC is (in my opinion) the best conditioned golf course in the country on a daily basis.
