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The Immortal Black Locust

John Petrovsky | Published on 2/23/2025

By: John Petrovsky, manager, Green Section Education

If you don’t want things like this growing under your greens, make sure to keep trees a healthy distance away.

Thoughtfully placed trees can add beauty and strategy to a golf course, but the wrong trees in the wrong places can lead to all sorts of problems, especially around putting greens. Closely mown turf struggles in the presence of shade and restricted airflow, leaves and debris interfere with putts, and roots can encroach into the green – to name just a few problems. One of the most interesting examples I’ve seen of the impact trees can have on a putting green was at Fenway Golf Club in Scarsdale, New York. The 1924 A.W. Tillinghast gem has a rich golf history and is set on a stunning piece of property featuring a significant number of mature specimen trees that are mostly well positioned, except for several black locust trees around the sixth green.

The mature locust trees were just 15 feet from the green and hindered the maintenance team’s ability to deliver the same high-quality putting surface there that golfers enjoyed on the other greens. In 2022, one year ahead of co-hosting the 42nd U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, the trees were removed to address turf health and playability issues. The condition of the turf on and around the green quickly improved and debris no longer littered the surface. But then something strange began to happen.

That summer, small patches of scalped turf a few inches in diameter started to appear whenever the sixth green was mowed. Assistant superintendent Pat Callahan first thought unrepaired ball marks were to blame. However, staff reported seeing something protruding from the green in spots where the patches appeared. To get to the bottom of it, Callahan used a cup cutter to do some subterranean investigation and was shocked with what he found. The scalping was being caused by remnants of the root systems from the removed trees, which were apparently still alive and well, attempting to resurrect and multiply locust trees throughout the putting green. The gnarled vegetative runners looked other-worldly when removed from the rootzone and observed in the daylight. The black locust trees were gone but the roots hadn’t forgotten the mission.

Even after the black locust trees near the sixth green at Fenway Golf Club had been cut down, sprouts from their root systems continued trying to emerge in the putting surface.

Callahan says they immediately began using a cup cutter to remove the sprouting baby trees and underlying vegetative material, but they kept coming up. Ultimately, the maintenance staff found that carefully applying a solution containing Banvel (dicamba) to the vegetative runners kept the sprouts from reappearing. After two seasons of employing this control method, Callahan finally seems to have won the battle against the stubborn locust trees, although a few still occasionally pop up in the rough.

Fenway’s case is somewhat unusual, but illustrates the serious issues that may result when the wrong trees end up in the wrong places on a golf course. The American Society of Golf Course Architects recommends keeping trees at least the distance of their full height away from greens, and some species and situations warrant greater setbacks (Brauer, 2020). Fortunately, there aren’t many tree species that can vigorously regrow from just their roots, but willows, olive trees, cottonwoods, poplars and elms are among those that can.

Think about the long-term impact of trees on the golf course, and remember that it’s always better to nip tree issues in the bud rather than letting the problems persist year after year. For more information on tree management or any other issues on your course, please reach out to your regional USGA agronomist.

Reference

Brauer, J.D. (Ed). (2020). Designs on a Better Golf Course: Practical answers to common questions for Green Committees. American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) Foundation.

Northeast Region Agronomists:

Darin Bevard, senior director, Championship Agronomy – dbevard@usga.org

Elliott L. Dowling, regional director, East Region – edowling@usga.org

Brian Gietka, agronomist – bgietka@usga.org

Information on the USGA’s Course Consulting Service

Contact the Green Section Staff

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