Mt Lawley Golf Club to remove 550 trees

Image: What are the odds? A screenshot of large Eucalyptus trees being removed at the Mt Lawley Golf Club back around June 2021 from the City of Stirlings Tree Maintenance Maps

By Leisha Jack

Tomorrow evening, the 14th of March, the City of Stirling Mayor (Mark Irwin) and Councillors will be meeting with the Mount Lawley Golf Club’s Board and management to find out more about their planned golf course deforestation agenda and what City bureaucrats have or haven’t approved behind closed doors.

Following is a summary of the 4 major areas of concern we have with the Club’s plans and the City of Stirling’s approval processes, with more details below:

1. Shade matters

Perth is one of the world’s hottest cities, and forecasted to get hotter going forward?  How is it possible that a golf club would want to remove over 550 big healthy shade trees?  Especially, when the majority of their members are seniors and therefore vulnerable to heat?

This makes no sense!

And, why is the City of Stirling supporting this mass tree removal agenda when it contradicts their Tree and Urban Forest policies? 

This makes no sense either!

Providing an abundance of shade for players and for the public should be the Club’s and the City’s highest priority. 

Dense tree canopy cover from tall trees is needed now, not small trees offset to the unutilised sidelines, that won’t be mature for 20 years.  Extreme heat and heatwaves are already happening, and are forecasted to get much worse. 

 2. Approval processes

Valid questions are being asked around what approvals the Club has received from the City regarding tree removal and other significant course works over years.

Back in 2015, the Club commissioned a Master Plan from a golf course architect company. The 2015 Master Plan laid out a blueprint for millions of dollars of works, including the creation of a 19th hole (implemented in 2018 where trees and protected bushland were removed), a new irrigation system (done) and plans for a new course design which would clearly involve the mass removal of trees (64 trees healthy trees have been removed already).

This 2015 Master Plan was seen but never voted on by members.  It has never been put out for public consultation by the City, nor has it gone to the City of Stirling Council for approval.  The Yokine golf club’s Master Plan went to council for approval a few years ago, why not this one?  Councillors didn’t even know this Master Plan existed until recently and they still haven’t seen it.

City of Stirling bureaucrats have been liaising behind closed doors with the Club’s Board and management. It is not known at this stage what approval powers City bureaucrats have in relation to the approval of Master Plans and mass tree removals on sites that they manage.

3. Questionable PR Tactics

The Club and City bureaucrats have been using bushland regeneration greenwash which would lead the average person just skimming their literature to assume that the Club’s Board and management are responsible conservation purists and that all of the non-locally endemic trees to be removed from the course will be replaced with more turf-friendly locally endemic trees.

Not!  When you dig deeper you realise that most of the promised new trees (which are mostly smaller species like Grass Trees, Banksias and Mellaluccas), will be offset into badly neglected remnant bushland areas around the site. This will leave the utilised areas of the golf course barren and lacking shade for players. 

This will also negatively impact locals who use is public open space to exercise and walk their dogs.

In concert with their bushland hype, they started a tree vilification campaign against all non-locally endemic trees on the course including Australian natives.

With our rising temperatures, does it really matter what species a tree is if it is healthy and cooling its surroundings by providing shade? Minor turf imperfections should be a secondary consideration.

The bottom line is that their propaganda typically fails to mention is that they want to remove over 550 healthy shade trees from the course. 

4. Early renewal of the Club’s lease

Back in August last year (2021), after a few attempts by City bureaucrats to get it passed at council meetings Councillors unanimously voted to approve the renewal of the Club’s lease (in advance) from 1 July 2029 to June 30 June 2044. 

Interesting to note, the Club is on a peppercorn lease, they currently only pay $13,640 per year for the 79 hectares, in Inglewood (see the Agenda item).

But, prior to making their decision, Councillors were not provided with the Club’s 2015 Master Plan or any other tree or bushland plans the club was working on by City bureaucrats.  

The actual maps showing locations of the trees that will be removed only came out in January 2022 in the Club’s new ‘Draft MLGC 15 Year Tree Maintenance Plan” (40 pages documenting each hole).

The Club must stop referring to their tree eradication agenda as a “tree maintenance plan”.

Read more …

Back in June 2021 members of the Mount Lawley Golf Club started noticing that large healthy trees were disappearing from the golf course.  Trees are removed on Mondays when the course is closed.

When they couldn’t get straight answers from the Club about the disappearances, they started asking the City of Stirling (the Club’s landlord).  When they couldn’t get straight answers from City bureaucrats, they started asking questions at council meetings and lobbying Councillors who knew little about what was going on.

The Mount Lawley Golf Club has a beautiful timbered ‘Parkland’ style golf course.  It is one of Perth’s most highly ranked courses.  Ask any keen Perth golfer, including Club members, and most will say there is nothing wrong with the course and that it is fine the way it is.

So, what is the Club trying to achieve?  Are they really born-again conservation purists who have just recently seen the light? Have all of their non-locally endemic trees suddenly turned into turf killing Triffids?  Or, is there an agenda they are trying to obscure? 

Golf’s Dirty Secret

It turns out that deforesting golf courses is a trend.  See the following article:

The undercover war that swept the game – How tree removal at Oakmont Country Club turned into a movement  By Peter McCleery,  June 15, 2020.

This article shows that the tree removal trend is unpopular even in cold climates, so golf clubs remove trees by stealth over time hoping no one will notice.  Note, the arrogant and deliberate deception tactics they use and suggest:

“If overall tree removal is going more mainstream, it’s not quite out in the daylight. Secrecy still seems a big part of the process at some prominent clubs. “They don’t say much about it,” says an official at one of the big Eastern clubs, in hushed tones. “It’s a political bombshell.” Says John Zimmers, Oakmont’s superintendent: “We still, to this day, do not just go out and cut a tree down. We do it in the morning or when the club is closed.” says USGA agronomist Kimberly Erusha.”

“Should your club or course decide to undertake a program of tree removal, John O’Neill of the USGA’s Executive Committee recommends a gradual approach. “Don’t shock the members,” he says. “Start slowly, taking down the trees that most affect agronomics. Don’t take down stuff that could be the most controversial.”

This is deceitful and completely unacceptable behaviour. Do you think you are a mug? These guys clearly think you are.

Following are some related articles:

• Fairway Felling Divides Golfers Perth Voice February 24, 2022
• Royal Sydney Golf Club: Removal of trees will restore original coastal heathlands April 22, 2021.
• Royal Sydney Golf Course backs down on controversial tree removal plan  22 September 2020.
• Locals fight for trees against Royal Sydney Golf Club overhaul plan August 31, 2020.
• Tree-felling at exclusive golf course divides members, neighbours New Zealand 14 September 2021.
• Tree removal is all in the presentation (“specific tips on “selling” tree removal programs”).

Climate Dinosaurs

It must be noted that the North-Eastern states of the USA and Scotland have much colder climates than ours. Trying to create treeless Scottish Links style golf courses in Perth is madness. 

According to the article, this trend started at The National Golf Links on New York’s Long Island around 1990.  Since then, the North-East of the US has experienced some deadly heatwaves that have killed hundreds of people, if not thousands. Both New York and Chicago, like other US cities in the Northern US states, have commenced heat mitigation strategies which include initiatives to protect trees and significantly increase their tree canopy covers.

It is also interesting to note that Glasgow is considering re-foresting its golf courses in line with their Climate Emergency announcement and “aspiration to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030”.

So mass tree removal will likely be much harder to get away with going forward even in these cold climates.

The Club’s Board and management are climate change dinosaurs trying to implement an outdated and totally inappropriate golfing trend with exposed underhanded PR tactics. 

The Mount Lawley Golf Club’s Master Plan

Back in 2015, the Club commissioned a Master Plan by the golf course architect company, OCCM (now OCM), from Melbourne.  This company is renowned for its penchant for ‘Links’ style (traditional Scottish) course designs with wide greens, lots of bunkers and “few, if any trees”.  

OCM was behind the mass tree removal at the Sun City Country Club in the City of Wanneroo and  The Lakes in Sydney where the denuding of the course has been widely criticised amongst many golfers and now off the tour list for some.

Links style courses are not every club’s cup of tea. Many of Perth’s best clubs have refused these design suggestions preferring to stick with their shady ‘Parkland’ courses. This is a matter of course style preference.

The Mount Lawley Golf Club’s 2015 Master Plan laid out a “blueprint for the future” in two parts, that would cost members millions of dollars. It includes the creation of a 19^th hole (a spare to play on while others are under construction or maintained), a new irrigation system, and a new design for the course that would clearly require the removal of hundreds of trees. 

Though never officially approved itself, parts of the 2015 Master Plan have been implemented in stages. City bureaucrats have been reluctant to acknowledge its existence. Maybe they have approval powers for small plans but for not overarching long term Master Plans?

But the Master Plan’s existence is undeniable. Below is a screenshot from the course architects’ client page showing that “the first part of the Master Plan was implemented”:

In January 2022, after their lease renewal had been approved by Councillors in August 2021, the Club released their ‘Draft MLGC 15 Year Tree Maintenance Plan‘ to its membership and to City Bureaucrats. This document contains about 40 pages with aerial images of each hole showing the locations of all of the trees that will be removed. The removals correlate with the 2015 Master Plan design.

For further evidence that a 2015 Master Plan really does exists see the Club’s Annual Reports:

2013/14 Annual Report – Course Master Plan

“After interviewing several golf course architects we appointed Ogilvy Clayton Cocking Mead Group to prepare a Master Plan for the course. The brief was to focus on delivering a plan that would co-ordinate and integrate all future course works.  Particular emphasis was put on our Greens Replacement Program, Bunker Remodelling, Irrigation Replacement and Vegetation Management“

2014/15 Annual Report – Course Master Plan

“In 2014 and 2015 the Grounds Committee and Course Masterplan Sub Committee have been working with our course Architects Ogilvy Clayton Cocking Mead addressing the long term strategies for enhancing and maintaining our golf course. The golf course Masterplan was developed to provide a blueprint for the future as we embark on replacing our irrigation system and managing the wear and tear from nearly 70,000 rounds of golf played each year. In December we held an information evening to present the Masterplan to members.“

2015/2016 Annual Report – Course Master Plan

“During 2016 we held several information sessions to present members with our Course Master Plan which addresses the long term needs of the golf course, Stage 1 being the new Irrigation System. Stage 2 is the redevelopment of our 19th Hole and the entire area left of the 1st tee, adjacent to the carpark. The plan includes an additional short game practice green, an extended par 3 19th hole, as well as an area for outdoor wedding ceremonies and functions. Consideration for any other further Course Master Plan works will be done in consultation with members.“

What Approval?

You would think, when a Club commissions a big Master Plan concept for the future, the first step would be to advertise it to their members and then put it to them for a vote, (after all, it is the members who must pay for it)?   Then, if the Master Plan is approved by the members, it would be sent to the relevant authorities for their approval (especially the Landlord)? 

Perhaps that is what the Club’s Board had originally intended to do?  They did stick the Master Plan up on the walls of the club for members to see back when it was first created.  But it was only up for a very short period.  Word has it that it was very controversial.  Apparently, the mass tree removal was not popular, and the costs were deemed to be too high.  It came down off the walls and still to this day hasn’t been put to a vote.  

But, the course works went ahead regardless.  So far, they have removed trees and protected bushland in 2018 to create a 19^th hole, put in a new irrigation system and removed about 64 trees healthy trees.

Regardless of whether the Club’s constitution gives their Board the power to decide on big Master Plans without members’ approval or not is irrelevant.  Any reasonable person would surely agree that the principles of good governance would require that they do.

Likewise, any reasonable person might agree that big Master Plans involving the removal of hundreds of trees on public land should go out for public consultation and to the City’s Council for approval.

Greenwash and Tree Vilification Campaigns

The recent bushland regeneration work that the Club has been undertaking is certainly commendable, but they should have been doing it all along! 

A small number of Club members have been volunteering with volunteers from a local bushland group with planting and hand watering etc.  But, much of the work is being done is to repair years of neglect and mismanagement that had caused the bushland to become badly degraded, and probably to offset the bushland they removed to create the new 19th hole. 

It appears, that the Club’s and the City’s relentless promotion of their recent bushland regeneration work is being used to detract from the highly controversial plan to remove another 550 shade trees from the course.  

In concert with the feel-good bushland restoration hype, a pre-war tree vilification campaign is being waged.  Beautiful big healthy trees that have been large for decades are now deemed to be evil troublemakers.

Trees no longer wanted on the course are being referred to as “exotic” or “non-locally endemic” (outdated developer excuses) and are being reduced to the status of weeds.  The accusations against the unwanted Triffids are many; their roots have started invading the greens, their shade is damaging the turf, they use too much water, and wait for it – they drop leaves.  Leaf removal was once considered part of general maintenance on the course but is now it is considered unacceptable.  They sound like that old bloke across the road who hates trees.

Members who planted the trees decades ago (probably for shade, amenity, and windbreaks) are painted patronisingly as “well-meaning” but ignorant at the time.

To confuse the removal issue, in 2020 the Club commissioned an arboricultural report – the  ArborCarbon Tree Survey – October 2020 that showed about 17 trees were dangerous or dead or dying and needed to be removed immediately, and others that needed to be watched.  But as the trees on the course haven’t been tagged with numbers it is very difficult to ascertain which are the ones that need to be genuinely removed and which are being removed for “strategic” purposes.

The course deforestation work is referred to by the Club as ‘tree management’ or ‘tree maintenance’.

See the Club’s Membership Course News 17th June 2020:

A “contractor qualified arborist”? It was pointed out in the tree survey above in October 2020 that they have been using hacks that had damaged trees.

The Club must stop referring to their tree eradication work as “tree maintenance”. It is misleading.

Tree problem solutions

Most people accept that from time to time some trees on golf courses might need to be removed.  Trees grow old, get sick or structurally unsound etc. Even removing the odd tree to allow sunlight and airflow onto the turf because the shade is stopping it from growing might be acceptable occasionally.  But mass removal is not acceptable.

The cost of removing hundreds of trees and establishing “thousands” of new ones in the bushland would be massive.  As it gets hotter it will be harder to establish new trees and the survival rates of tube stock will be lower. Established trees are far more drought tolerant than seedlings and saplings, therefore it is better to look after the trees that are already there.

In many cases, there are solutions to the tree problems that the Club has been raising, these include:

Watering trees in drought conditions

Trees can be watered with a slow drip or subterranean irrigation systems that are simple to install and are water efficient.  This could be attached to the new irrigation pipes and turned on or off when needed.   Established trees don’t have to be watered as often as grass, they just need help to get through the summer.  See Drought Impacts on Golf Courses Trees in the Southwest.

Also, inexpensive but effective aeration tubes can be installed.   “When aeration tubes are installed around the tree water, oxygen and nutrient are able to saturate the soil just below the root zone. This causes the roots to grow deeper. Rootwell Products Inc.’s Pro 318 is a scientifically proven aeration tube.”

It must be remembered that tree shade reduces evaporation from the soil, and their root systems act like giant sponges retaining water under the ground.

Tree Roots

There has been a lot of talk about tree roots competing with turf around the holes and along the fairways.  If tree roots have entered the greens and around the holes, then it could be due to poor management?  Tree roots can be pruned, this is a very common practice. 

If tree roots are a problem for turf when they are too close to the surface, then the aeration tubes mentioned above could be used to help solve this problem too.

Air and Sunlight on the Greens

Those cooler Northern Hemisphere golf clubs have fewer sunshine hours for turf growing than we have here in Perth.  So, they would have to remove more trees for sunlight issues than we do.  And, due to our dry hot dry climate and winds, humidity is less of a problem and we don’t have morning frost issues with shade. 

Sunlight issues may be overplayed in some cases here in Perth by golf clubs as a standard golf tree removal excuse.

Trees can be pruned and the odd one removed if really necessary.

How many members agree with the tree removal?

At the recent tree information event for members, the Course Superintendent was heard to say during his presentation “are we here for the trees or here for the golf”?  The answer to that question would depend on who you ask.   A lot of people play golf to socialise, to get out into nature and to get some fresh air and exercise in lovely leafy amenity. Trees are very important to many of them, just as they are to most people in open spaces. 

The Board is telling their membership that just “a very small group of members” are raising issues about their mass tree removal agenda (“Draft MLGC 15 Year Tree Maintenance Plan”) and that they are “encouraged by the number of members supporting the plan”.

I happen to know a few past and present male members from the MLGC who take their golf pretty seriously. They say they don’t want the trees removed.  They tell me it is a very unpopular idea, and that the majority of members don’t want it.  They also say there is nothing wrong with the course as it is, and that it needs more shade not less. 

If the Master Plan is so popular with members why hasn’t it been put to a democratic vote in all these years?

This plan looks like it might be the machination of a small group of out of touch would-be golfing elites with visions of grandeur trying to raise their golf courses’ ranking and personal profiles to unrealistic heights. They don’t seem to consider that they are renting public land, their need for a Social licence to Operate, that they struggle financially, and that they are expecting a potentially reluctant membership to pay for it.

Members may get to vote on part of the second part of the Master Plan soon, the “Draft MLGC 15 Year Tree Maintenance Plan” which shows the location of all the trees that are earmarked for removal on the course. If so, hopefully, members will take the time to fully understand the scale and implications of the mass tree removal, and that voting won’t be done at a stacked meeting.

Of course, the City of Stirling Councillors or the State Government could intervene to stop it.

What can you do help stop this madness?

If you would like help to stop the mass tree removal at the Mt Lawley Golf Club:

Please send an email to:

The Mayor and Councillors at the City of Stirling

The WA Minister for Lands and Local Government – John Carey Minister.Carey@dpc.wa.gov.au

A letter of complaint to ‘The Board and General Manager of the Mt Lawley Golf Club’ admin@mlgc.org

To your Local Member of Parliament (find them here)

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