James Bennett,
Intitially, we were burning the Pepper trees, but, they're a soft wood tree, almost a weed and difficult to burn.
In addition, the permitting process was such that we had to call the fire department each day to see if we would be allowed to burn that day. Wind direction and velocity determines the daily granting of the permits.
Subsequently, the County terminated all burn permits and we had to seek other methods of disposal.
We rented a HUGE machine that would reduce the trees to smaller pieces. Costs to truck the debris off property were significant, and you can't bury anything underground, hence the idea of putting the debris outside of the field of play and covering them with dirt, topped by grass came about.
The tree clearing that was forced upon us turned out to be a blessing in disquise. We also had to extend irrigation lines and grass the opened up areas, but, the enhancement to the playing conditions, agronomic conditions and aesthetics was dramatic, despite comments from the peanut gallery.
Another benefit that resulted from clearing the unwanted trees was that beautiful specimen trees were exposed for the first time in decades.
Good luck with your project.
More pictures will be posted.