Moving Heaven and Earth

After a signature tree was lost in Hurricane Matthew, Frederica Golf Club excavated another oak tree on the property and moved it to the spot where the original tree stood.

When Hurricane Matthew pounded the Southeastern U.S. coast last October, the storm left plenty of damage in its wake. Frederica Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga., lost more than 100 trees on the golf course and another 100 in the surrounding 3,000-acre gated community. Of all the trees lost, however, a signature live oak along the lake edge of the 18th fairway was the most recognizable casualty.

“The 18th hole was so well-defined by that oak tree in the past,” says General Manager Jeff Blais, CCM, CCE. “It helped to shape shots and outlined the fairway so clearly. [After it was felled by the hurricane], you could tell that something had been there. We wanted to make it whole again.”

Immediately after the storm, with the support of development owners Marti and Wayne Huizenga and under the direction of Alex Muxo, President of Huizenga Holdings, the Frederica team—Blais, Golf Course Superintendent Jon Hatten, Director of Golf Hank Smith and Certified Arborist Rog Ditmer—researched and developed a game plan to restore the iconic look of No. 18.

THE GOAL: Frederica GC wanted to restore the layout of its golf course to its original, appropriate look, after a signature oak tree along the 18th fairway was lost in a hurricane. THE PLAN: After staff members researched several options, they agreed to excavate another oak tree on the property and move it from a wooded area on one hole to the spot where the original tree stood. THE PAYOFF: The membership was pleased that the effects of the storm were mitigated and that the project recaptured the original look of the golf course. The undertaking also demonstrated the dedication that the staff and owners have to the property.

Three options were identified: do nothing, ship in a replacement tree from Florida, or relocate a tree on the property. For the last two, not just any tree would do—the fallen oak, which was more than 100 years old, had been 60 feet tall and 55 to 60 inches in diameter. “We wanted a tree that had a lot of character in the sense of shape and form, and that would bring back the look of the fairway,” Blais adds.

With the difficulty of getting an oak of that size transported to the property, Hatten and Ditmer started searching the golf course for an existing tree that could be moved.

This option was not all that intimidating for the Frederica staff, because during the 2004 inception of the club, Ditmer oversaw a project in which 1,019 trees, mostly oaks, were relocated to build a 450-acre, man-made lake. The trees traveled at half-a-mile an hour, and some were moved more than two miles. “As far as we know, this was the largest tree relocation project that has ever been done,” says Ditmer.

An 80 to 85 percent survival rate for relocated trees is considered good, he adds, and so far, 93 percent of the trees that were moved to help create Frederica nearly 15 years ago are still standing.

Despite the success of the initial project, though, a new challenge would be posed by the hurricane-replacement project. “Our dilemma was that we no longer have an open property where we could move trees around as easily as before,” Ditmer notes. So a tree needed to be relocated from a spot that was close to the 18th hole.

When scouting nearby possibilities, a healthy, double-trunked oak near the 16th tee box caught Hatten and Ditmer’s attention. The larger double-trunked tree had a more majestic look, they agreed. And if they were going to go to the trouble and expense of moving a tree, they should move one that would make the biggest statement.

Double trunks, though, also doubled the task at hand. In total, the tree was about 60 feet tall and weighed 360,000 pounds, or the equivalent of 30 Asian elephants. Each of the two tree trunks was 27 inches in diameter.

The timing of the project was critical as well. To move the oak, explains Ditmer, they normally would have started preparing it six months in advance, to minimize the shock to the tree. But Frederica did not have that luxury after Hurricane Matthew struck. “The only time to do it is in the winter,” Ditmer reports. “It was a perfect time of year to dig trees. It was semi-dormant.”

The project was scheduled for February, and once the game plan was in place, staff members, with the help of Environmental Design, a Texas company that specializes in large tree moves, prepared the tree by making sure any air pockets were out of the root zones and installing a guy wire between the two trunks.

The crew dug 16 feet all around the root ball, which was 32 feet in diameter, and hand-excavated it to a depth of 42 inches. Air bladders were then placed under the tree and inflated, to lift it off the ground for transport across the property, and the tree was moved along a sliding platform by a track hoe.

The tree, which was in transit for 17 hours of the 32-hour process from a Friday to a Sunday, was moved at a rate of 100 feet per hour. “We had a windy day that hindered the process,” notes Hatten. “Overnight, we would get it to a rough area between holes and let it sit.”

In total, the live oak traveled 1,650 feet, or the length of more than five football fields. “Jon and I worked together to minimize the damage to the course,” says Ditmer.

The maintenance staff also had to prepare the 18th hole for the new tree. Crew members removed the original soil, a raw fill that was brought in during construction, and replaced it with 12 truckloads of native organic topsoil.

When they replanted the double-trunked oak on No. 18, Hatten reports, they elevated it a couple of feet higher than the original tree, because the other one sometimes sat in water. They also aerified around the tree, to let the soil breathe and get nutrients and water to it.

In addition, notes Blais, “We had to face it the right way. We wanted it to look like a single tree from the 16th tee.” The Frederica staff also had to consider how it would look from the clubhouse.

To make sure the tree would survive after it was replanted on No. 18, all air pockets were taken out of the soil and crew members put in new guy wires, which will stay in place for about 10 years as the new rooting takes hold. In about three or four years, the wires will start to be loosened so the tree can move in the wind. A lightning protection system was also added for the oak.

The Frederica staff also had to repair the turf at the tree’s original location at No. 16. They re-installed irrigation pipes and refilled the hole. “We put sod back and extended it to the tree line, like nothing was missing,” says Hatten.

In total the grounds crew worked for two straight weeks on the tree projects. Their greatest challenge, Hatten reports, was making sure they did the job right. “It was a one-shot deal,” he states.

The membership, which was kept informed of the project, was pleased—and astonished—with the effort, and Blais has nothing but praise for his team. “It took a lot of planning and organization,” he says, “but Rog and Jon pulled it off.”