Couldn't disagree more. Trees are a vital part of nature. They provide shade and prevent wind, define straight-line fairway contours, isolate your views from the surrounds, and provide safety barriers for shots as well as interesting carom possibilities for carefully placed recovery shots. Plus, they provide total punishment for wayward drives. Why should anyone who strays from the narrow path down the middle enjoy any possibility of getting the ball back into play?
Unfortunately, many older courses were built on dull, wide-open farm fields. Over the years, wise green chairmen, with the use of "beautification programs" and lovely memorial tree programs, have seen fit to adorn the golf course with prize-winning species of park-like trees, many of them selected by landscape contractors for their aggressive growth habits, low spreading canopy, ornamental flowers, and their ability to fill up space that would otherwise look undefined. Plus, it's an advantage to golfers when trying to figure out the yardage to have christmas trees and other confiers readily denoting 200-150-100 yard distances from the greens.
I also like huge, tent-like beech trees directly behind greens so that when you're riding to the next hole, you can stop, go under, and light your cigar there in the safety of the limbs, removed from the wind.
All told, trees are great for golf courses and I would insist on planting more wherever possible. I think removing them is a scandal.