Storm Éowyn

Ours is open tomorrow thankfully. Storm Darragh did much more damage.

County Meath GC

Working the weekend so I wasn't down to play but received email from club stating the whole place was shut down till next week. 20 trees down and they want to assess others to make sure the course is safe for play.

Our club was lucky enough to get away with minimal damage, a fallen fence and a single tree down which is surprising with how open it is.

Approx 300 trees gone in Athenry

Portumna was hit pretty bad also

I didnt see the full damage but on their socials the 3rd hole looks very basic now with the tree damage, hopefully its not as bad.

As for Athenry, just along the road side it looks grim

Losing trees can be a nightmare for a course. Poor Tramore was battered in 2011 or 2013, they lost something like 330 trees. Then more after assessing the rest of the trees for safety. Losing them has really taken from the course in terms of on the eye and how it plays. The 4th hole is the one that was really damaged for me - on the tee shot if you went too far left and weren't back far enough the green was blocked off by very big trees. If you were back far enough it was a really tough shot over them, or a draw required into the green. I thought it was a very strong hole. Now, it's still a good hole but you've far more freedom with your line from the tee. And a much easier second shot.

But that's over a decade ago and the hole is nowhere near restored to what it was when it first opened. I really feel for courses losing a lot of important trees.

Trees are a difficult subject to speak about with regards to golf courses. Many can be attached emotionally to them and particularly now with storm damage where many feel their golf course is ruined, the message that the storm might be a very good thing for the golf courses mightn't be received very well.

But the storm might be a very good thing, yes the clean up will take a while and will be expensive but the tree management on golf courses in Ireland is generally poor, too many of the wrong type of shallow rooting non native species, leading to too narrow corridors, low lying branches, mowing obstacles, leaf litter in autumn, shading and competing with turf, blocking of views etc.

There is an opportunity for clubs to put in good tree management programs. And no, tree removal isn't necessarily going to make a course dramatically easier either, judicious placement of 2-3 specimen trees can have just as much as an impact as 30-40 blanket planted trees.