Traditional Iconoclast

I have a reputation as a precise estimator. I’d say that the spruce trees separating the practice range from the adjacent fairway were planted, oh, a while ago. They are, after all, pretty tall.

Ahem. Assuming they are not in destructive-testing mode (counting the growth rings after chopping the tree down), it turns out that experts do not use the height of a tree to estimate its age. They use the diameter of the trunk after measuring its circumference (about 4.5 feet from the ground) and then applying the growth factor applicable to the species.

However, even if I had known this technique at the time, I doubt that I would have used it: my tape measure was at home with my knitting kit and those branches are densely packed and sharp besides. So. The trees were likely planted during the development of Hylands Golf Course, which opened in 1961. That doesn’t seem like a long time ago–I mean, I remember 1961–but it would make them 64 years old if they were planted from seed and does that seem probable? No, they were likely transplanted as saplings of some sort, with several years or even a decade of growth already under their belts.

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