Golf Course Tree Management

Do you have Tree Management Plan for your Golf Course?

At Urban Arbor we provide professional tree management plans for golf course!

All golfers understand that trees play an important role on any course. Not only do the add to the aesthetic value of the course they also define the boundaries of the course and help to direct the players.

Trees however should be checked from time to time by a qualified arborist to make sure there are no major issues. Fortunately there are very few serious incidents involving trees as more often than not trees fail during adverse weather conditions. Trees can however fail at other times for various reasons, therefore it is good to know the condition of your tree stock so you can make informed decisions on how to best manage them.

You also have a duty of care to provide a safe environment for anyone that utilises the site. This includes, members, players, visitors and staff  and trees can pose a level of risk subject to their condition and location. Our tree management plans provides the tools to help you meet your duty of care in respect of the trees.

With a properly developed and implement Golf Courses Tree Management Plan it gives you the tools to carry out tree work to a predetermined plan. This ensures that budgets for tree work can be directed to the area where it is most needed to continually reduce the risk associated with trees on-site, without wasting money on work that may not be required.

How does a  golf course tree management plan work?

A properly implemented tree management plan can save you money!

The first stage is for our consultant in conjunction with your superintendent and possibly management determine the occupancy rate of the various areas on the site. Tees and Greens for instance or occupied by players for a longer period hence have a higher occupancy rate than an area on the fairway. The higher the occupancy rate, the higher the Potential of Harm in the event of a tree failure. This first stage is critical to the effectiveness of the overall plan.

The second stage is to assess the trees on your site. Our AQF Level 5 Arborists will assess your trees from ground level using the VTA method (Visual Tree Assessment method) to determine the health and overall condition of the trees.

Combining the two areas above a risk rating will be given to the subject trees using QTRA (Quantified Tree Risk Assessment). For instance a highly defective tree located in a low use area such as the bush adjacent to a fairway carries a lower risk rating than the same tree located in a high use area such as Tee or Green. The reason is that should the tree fail the likelihood of an incident occurring in the bush is much lower than on the Tee or Green.

Once a complete assessment of the trees has been carried out it will provide a break down of the risk of individual trees and groups of trees on the site. Using this information we develop a report that highlights the trees in the various risk levels from Extreme to Low. The advantage of using the QTRA method is that each tree is given a precise risk value. This allows for you to further target the trees within each risk category based on the risk level of the individual tree.  

Lets say you have 200 trees that fall within the “High Risk” level and it is going to cost $$$$ to carry out the work but you only have $$ in the budget. Our system allows you to pick the highest risk trees within the “High Risk” level to ensure that your $$ get allocated to reducing the HIGHEST RISK trees on your site.

A Tree Management Plan can also reduce the cost of tree work as you are allocating the budget to where it is most needed and not spending it on work that may not be necessary.

Why use Urban Arbor for your golf course tree management plan?

We have the training and expertise to create an effective golf course tree management plan!

Our team of consultants have not only got training in several industry recognised risk management tools, but they also have extensive experience in tree risk assessment. We have successfully implemented Tree Management Programs and Golf Courses, Schools, Religious Sites and other sites where there are population of trees that require a management plan.

At Urban Arbor our consultants have. In addition we have extensive industry experience and are members of the major Industry Associations. which we use when assessing the trees on your site. We are able to use these tools to develop a tree management plan for your course.

• All of our consultants have a minimum Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level 5 in arboriculture.
• We are members of Arboriculture Australia and the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA).
• We have a high level of credibility as arboriculture specialists and are well respected for our industry expertise.
• Our whole team is trained in risk assessment. They are qualified in using QTRA and TRAQ which are the two most recognised tools within the industry for the purposes of risk assessment.
• We can provide guidance on planting strategies and what stock you should be using so that you minimise the risk of future issues. Predictive planting is essential to long-term golf course tree management.

If you require an actionable Tree Management Plan for your site that helps you meet your duty of care without breaking the budget than get in touch.