[Kleftiwallah]

Good morning everyone,  my pear tree has become a tangle of water shoots at the top of the tree. 
What to do?  I cut them back last year but the're here again!

Cheers,  Tony.

[Lardman]

For now, remove most but leave a few and if you can tie them down so they are level or facing the ground. Summer prune next year to remove the growth early so you trigger bud formation rather than vegetative growth in 2021.  Excess energy has to go somewhere 

[Kleftiwallah]

Thanks for that suggestion Lardman.  Cheers,  Tony.

[mumofstig]

Oh dear, ask more than 1 gardener...….
I was always taught winter pruning resulted in growth (from where you pruned to) and summer pruning produced fruit buds.
So according to that reasoning, if you prune any out now, they'll just grow again, so I'd leave the pruning 'til summer.

[Kleftiwallah]

Good afternoon mumofstig ditto,

 I refer the honerable member to the answer I gave some moments ago!
Cheers,  Tony.

[Lardman]

So according to that reasoning....

The result is right, the reasoning I'm not so sure    Buds break when their growth is unchecked by a hormone produced in younger buds.  Winter pruning removes young buds whilst the tree is dormant, when it wakes no buds, no hormone so the buds break lower down the tree. If you leave sufficient younger buds to produce the hormone they will inhibit bud break. Summer pruning allows the buds time to regrow before the tree goes into dormancy and the hormone is present next spring.

Tony could remove them all now, they'll regrow and re-cut them in spring and summer 2020. Wait until summer 2020 cutting 2 seasons of healthy growth and potentially fruiting wood off. Do a bit of each at both stages.  Any variation or combination should bring things back under control by 2021.