The golf staff at Black Butte Ranch is often asked which of our many golf clinics is the most popular. The answer is quite easy, actually.
Year after year, no clinic fills up quicker than our two-day 100 Yards In Clinic, which is held from 9 a.m. to noon every weekend at Black Butte Ranch from June through August. The clinics are back again, of course. Beginning on June 4, a new 100 Yards In Clinic will tee off each Saturday, wrapping up with a final session on Sunday.
The reason for the popularity is obvious when a golfer stops to think about it: How many opportunities are out there where you can make a marked improvement over the course of a weekend?
“In golf instruction, there is no more bang for your buck than working on your short game,” says Jeff Fought, Black Butte Ranch’s director of golf. “The vast majority of our shots over the course of a round of golf are made inside 100 yards.”
Working with Black Butte Ranch’s team of seasoned golf professionals, students will learn how to have a better game plan inside 100 yards. The clinic is designed to improve fundamentals of pitching, chipping, putting, sand play and the full swing up to 100 yards.
Not just out on the golf course, either. The clinics will teach students how to better practice for shorter shots, too. A golfer should spend at least 60 percent of his or her practice time on the short game, says George Mack, Black Butte Ranch’s director of instruction.
The issue for most amateur golfers is that they too often neglect their short games and lack a consistent strategy on how to attack the pin. This is a mistake, of course.
Interestingly, many mid- and high-handicappers do not lack the ability to get in or around a green in regulation. But that is often the point where begin to give away strokes.
Perhaps that golfer gives away an extra stroke from the bunker. Perhaps a flubbed chip forces an extra shot. Suddenly par or bogey turns into double bogey or worse, and over the course of a round those shots add up.
“They come away with a 6 or 7 when they should at least be getting into the hole in three shots to make a bogey,” Mack says. “Most higher handicappers lack a clear idea of what they should be doing with their short games.”
This is why Black Butte Ranch’s 100 Yards In Clinic can be so effective.
“If they apply all the stuff that we do over the two days, almost anybody can save five shots off their scoring average,” Mack adds. “After the clinic most amateurs they will be able to better to process what sort of play is need and to be able to hit a purer shot.”
The cost to participate in the short-game clinics is $200.
To register for this or any other clinic call 541-595-1294. For more information on how to take a lesson from any of our Black Butte Ranch instructors, visit blackbutteranch.com/golf/lessons-and-instructions. The link also includes a calendar of Black Butte Ranch’s golf schools, clinics and camps.