SAFETY must override sentiment when it comes to hazardous trees, Pat O’Brien of Adare Manor Golf Club admits following the difficult but necessary decision to engage Munster Tree Surgeons to remove five 200 year old beech trees.
The course is one of the most remarkable in inland golf in Ireland, with stunning features from the stunning River Maigue running alongside it to the Franciscan Abbey dominating the centre of the course, Desmond Castle as its backdrop, and an illustrious neighbour in Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort, which will host the 2027 Ryder Cup.
But for those who know and love the 18-hole course, it’s the tree-lined fairways that is arguably its most distinguishing feature. So it’s no surprise that the move to cull five trees in the middle section of the course was not taken lightly.
“We’re so proud of its trees as they give the course a stand-out parkland feature. But we had concerns about one tree in particular as its huge branches seemed loose on top so we called in a number of tree surgeons to look at it and quote us and we ended up working with Martin Haugh’s company, Munster Tree Surgeons,” Mr O’Brien said.
“This was a gigantic tree, bordering the main road into Adare, but Martin went up and removed the loose branches and tidied it up brilliantly.
“While he was on the site, he spotted a problem with another tree that we did not recognize had a problem.
“This happened in early autumn and they were there at the crack of dawn and were cleaning up by the time the first golfers were beginning to turn up at 9am. I arrived at 11am and the job was entirely done and the place spotless.”
With 50 years of tree surgery experience in the family, Martin said that, with the amount of rainfall we’ve already had this winter and the likelihood that we are going to have more storms, the months ahead are going to be busy for tree surgeons.
“We’ve a lot of work on because I think people are being more proactive now than they’ve been, for good reason. They know the toll the weather is having on trees. So more and more people are also applying the ‘safety first’ rule by getting their trees checked and made safe.”
Contact Munster Tree Surgeons at [email protected] or 087 6618785.
