Ah ok thank you for clarifying!
The reason for the poor collision detection with trees is because I wanted the swipe to only hit one tree (not a whole bunch that the swoosh would hit), and the fastest way to achieve that was to check against the nearest tree, and then see if the direction lines up.
But what that also means is if you're an equal distance between two trees, and you happen to be facing the wrong one, you can't hit it. But that will seem inconsistent because if you're really far away from another tree but that is the closest tree in that moment, you'll still be able to hit it from that distance.
You are right, it needs fixing for sure! If it's a you problem, it can be an anyone problem.
Do you have any other suggestions?