81 The club’s relationship with architect Rees Jones was established ahead of the 1998 PGA Championship. “He started by doing the bunkers, and saw that we kind of had a diamond in the rough,” says Jim Pike, who has worked at Sahalee since the 1980s in several roles from golf pro to general manager. “Some of the trees created double penalties; we had trees in bunkers and trees in front of bunkers. So Rees carefully selected which trees to take out to make the golf course more playable.” That first major championship was a hit, the US Senior Open followed in 2010 and the club has never looked back. Following a masterplan prepared by Jones and his associate Steve Weisser, Sahalee prepared for its 2024 major with a comprehensive overhaul of bunkers and perhaps its most extensive phase of tree management yet. At most courses, the removal of 500 trees would completely change the character of the design. At Sahalee, that represented a modest and thoughtful trimming of its stock. “For some people, a tree management plan means removing all of them,” says Weisser. “But we analysed about 7,500 at Sahalee and, between the arborist reports and shade studies, we pretty much know every one of them. Everyone at the club knows them too; you can mention a maple on the left of the fourth to members and they’ll know which one you’re talking about. Jim and I spent a lot of time watching how individual trees come into play for different types of player, their effect on shade, their health and a whole lot of other things. It was a long process – I don’t know how many versions of the tree management plan we did, but there were lots.” Some ‘controversial’ trees that were very much in the line of play have been removed, notably on the eighth, close to the green on the eleventh, on the approach to the twelfth, and in the second landing area of the sixteenth. “Now that they are gone, I don’t think people miss them,” says Weisser. But arguably the most important aspect of the tree work has been to raise the canopy. “Under the direction of Rees and Steve, our superintendent has removed lower branches of trees On the first hole of the North nine (pictured from behind the green), a bunker in front of the green was removed and the pond was expanded, to make the downhill approach shot more thought-provoking Photo: Patrick Oien
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