Golf Strategy Archives - Black Butte Ranch

8 09, 2018

Pro tip: Lag putting on downhill putts comes down to adjusting your target

Pro tip: Lag putting on downhill putts comes down to adjusting your target https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHWa7ZW1PSM Black Butte Ranch pro Dan McCleery says by envisioning a hole closer than in reality, you set yourself up for a 2-putt Few frustrations in golf linger longer than failing to convert par after hitting a green in regulation with a quality shot. Yet, when an amateur golfer is faced with quick greens or a downhill putt — or even more dreaded, a downhill putt on fast greens — so often they make a mistake by being far too aggressive on their first putt. [...]

16 08, 2018

Pro Tip: Hitting a lob shot comes down to a few simple steps

Hitting a lob shot comes down to a few simple steps https://youtu.be/bhEHF7Ivc-4 Black Butte Ranch pro shares secret to hitting a lofted pitch shot that will save you strokes As amateurs, we can waste so many shots around the green. We tend to chunk our chips, or hit a little pitch thin. And so few of us can put enough backspin on a ball to keep it from rolling well past an intended target. Amateurs also tend to fear hitting a lofted pitch shot — better known as the lob shot — even when a high-arching shot that lands [...]

25 08, 2015

Strategy: Follow the bunkering at Black Butte Ranch

It might not always seem like it, but golf course architects do not necessarily want to punish golfers. I know. That might be a tough sell after a pure shot finds its way into a perfectly placed fairway bunker, but it’s true. In fact, learning to understand where an architect wants a golfer to go over the course of a hole can be crucial for a player to take the next step. Here at Black Butte Ranch, we have been blessed to have some of the very best course architects design Big Meadow and Glaze Meadow. Indeed, the late [...]

23 07, 2015

Strategy: Finding a green’s grain at Glaze Meadow can save shots

Maddening might be an understatement when after what you thought was a perfect putting stroke on the correct read, the ball comes up a couple of turns short, blows by the hole or moves slightly off target. Those kinds of lost strokes can sink a great round. The greens at Glaze Meadow, in particular, feature subtle breaks that can confound a golfer. That is by design, of course. But those subtleties can be conquered, with a little know-how. While most of us are reasonably adept at reading the slope of a green, many of us might not think about [...]

3 04, 2015

Glaze Meadow back in action
Glaze Meadow back in action

Glaze Meadow back in action

There is no question that John Fought redesigned Glaze Meadow into one of Central Oregon’s true gems since the $3.75 million renovation was completed in 2012. Now Glaze Meadow is set to tee off its fourth season on Sunday, and it appears the course is better than ever. “Everything came out of winter so nice,” says Jeff Fought, Black Butte Ranch’s director of golf and the brother of the famed architect who redesigned Glaze Meadow. Certainly good news for those of us who have been waiting all winter for another crack at the 7,000-yard course. Of course, any golfer [...]