Generally an acute angle between leaders provides the fodder to develop "included bark," eventual weakness and failure and should be corrected. But, we have to have pictures to make any recommendations. Can't do it without.
hortster

I have a row of 5 of these trees in a wet area of my yard and most of them had 2 leaders very close together. I eliminated one on each tree. They may redevelope the problem again on future growth, I've heard that they have poor form. I will try to make mine have good form until I can't reach up high enough to do it aqnymore.

The swamp whites I've seen and dealt with have been of great form so I wouldn't classify the species as being problematic in that regard. We plant lots of them in town here. All around, my favorite oak to plant. Very handsome and usually not needing extensive pruning.

But, pscott, if you have what you describe, then a round of 'subordination pruning' is advised. This consists of shortening up the non-selected leader(s) to force them into branch mode. Taking the main growing tip off of a branch slows it down considerably. Then, after a time, branch collars will form where the bad v-crotch is now. At that point, the tree can be inspected with a view towards deciding whether the whole competing leader needs removal, or alternatively, is it now "behaving".

Seems like I'm talking about this a lot lately. I'd like to think that is because more folks are becoming aware of the desirability of working to maintain a single main leader on their young shade trees.

+oM

no pic.. no opinion ...

ken

Alright, basic question: how do I post a picture of this tree?

An easy way is to open a free account at Photobucket.com. Upload your pictures there. Click on the HTML line (third line beneath your picture in Photobucket when you hold the cursor over your picture) and it should say "copied", then paste here [this gardenweb forum] in the message area - not in a link [You can paste multiple pictures regardless of size and you won't see the picture, but only computer lingo until you click on "Preview Message" below]. You will be able to post pictures on any other forum, too. After pasting your photos here [this gardenweb forum], you should see them when you hit "Preview Message" before you actually post the message.
hortster

Great pics!