May 2016 - Black Butte Ranch

31 05, 2016

Banner day at Black Butte Ranch & Tent Sale
Banner day at Black Butte Ranch & Tent Sale

Banner day at Black Butte Ranch & Tent Sale

The representative from Cobra Golf could not have offered any better advice. “If you’re looking for a set of new clubs, today is the day to do it,” he said as the bright sun shined on the driving range at Black Butte Ranch’s Big Meadow. Saturday was the first of two days of the Demo Days & Tent Sale at Big Meadow and the weather could not have been better. But that was not was he talking about. For golfers, demo days are a virtual farmer’s market of all the latest and greatest golf equipment. Bridgestone Golf, Cobra, Nike [...]

26 05, 2016

Golf fashion comes down to what fits you best

Keeping up with the ever-evolving fashion in golf can be a challenge. After all, Sundays on the PGA and LPGA Tours have turned themselves into a veritable fashion show. Don’t rush out to buy Rickie Fowler’s jogger golf pants just yet, though. Like most anything regarding fashion, what is cool in golf comes down to what is in the eye of the beholder. One thing is certain: over the years golfwear has moved toward a tighter-fitting athletic cut. And that has been dictated by the evolution of fitness on tour. “Most of the men and women on tour are [...]

26 05, 2016

Glaze Meadow’s first hole will undergo some changes
Glaze Meadow’s first hole will undergo some changes

Glaze Meadow’s first hole will undergo some changes

Glaze Meadow’s opening hole will be undergoing a minor facelift next week, and for some, the work make the 395-yard par 4 far more forgiving. Black Butte Ranch’s maintenance staff will shift the blue (369 yards) and white tees (340 yards) to the right of their current setup. The sand from the fairway bunker that guards the left corner of the dogleg right will be removed. The bunker then will be sodded over, and a mound built. The changes will make the tee shot quite different: Right-handed golfers who play a fade (or lefties who play a draw) will [...]

26 05, 2016

Importance of finding the right fit for your golf clubs

Seeing slashed prices on a 2-year-old driver on some corner of the Internet can be so tempting. The promise of new equipment is always alluring. And marked-down prices can draw a golfer like a moth to a flame. Most any experienced golfer, though, knows that this is likely not the best way to shop for equipment … even if we sometimes ignore that face. The truth is that most research shows that well-fit custom clubs will most often save strokes, almost instantly. “You shouldn’t fit to your golf clubs,” says Jeff Fought, Black Butte Ranch’s director of golf. “The [...]

14 05, 2016

Big Meadow honored as one of Golfweek’s best courses in Oregon
Big Meadow honored as one of Golfweek’s best courses in Oregon

Big Meadow honored as one of Golfweek’s best courses in Oregon

Black Butte Ranch is proud of its two championship golf courses — Big Meadow and Glaze Meadow — but we are not typically ones to brag. Sometimes, though, we get high praise from some of the golf industry’s top publications. When that happens, well, we are going to share. Golfweek magazine, one of the foremost authorities on the game, announced its annual state-by-state rankings last week. And Big Meadow fared quite well, coming in at the No. 9 course you can play in all of Oregon. That puts Big Meadow in truly elite company, sharing the list with not [...]

12 05, 2016

Conditions Update: Shaping up, Big Meadow practice green progressing

Spring is always a prime time for projects for Black Butte Ranch’s maintenance staff. Even though the early part of the golf season has been cause for only a light tough by the staff, this spring is no exception. Up first is repair of a section of Big Meadow’s practice green by seeding the surface. Superintendent Phil Lagao and his staff have begun the work to resurface the damaged section of green, which had to be dug up to repair a sewer line buried deep under the putting surface. “The seeds are already starting to pop,” Lagao said. “It [...]

5 05, 2016

Golf tip: Controlling your swing paramount in spring conditions

Oh, to be like Tom Watson. The legendary golfer has long been considered among the greatest foul-weather golfers in history. A golfer does not win five British Open championships, and come within inches of winning a sixth at age 59, unless he has a little game in the wind. OK, A LOT of game. However, us mere mortals often struggle in the breezy, chilly conditions sometimes brought on by a Central Oregon spring. We miss targets by coming up short and we often fall out of rythym trying to muscle up against the wind. But there are ways to [...]