Black Butte Ranch Glaze Meadow

Black Butte Ranch Glaze Meadow Golf Course in Sisters Oregon

Black Butte Ranch is home to some very good stay and play lodging, resort style amenities, and two very good 18 hole golf courses – each of which provides a very different golf experience.  Big Meadow Golf Course is one of Oregon golfers’ favorites, garnering numerous awards over its 30 plus years, including the 2013 honor by GolfWeek Magazine as one of the "Best Courses You can Play" in Oregon.  This straightforward Robert Muir Graves design takes golfers through a scenic journey of the Oregon Cascades. Recently updated in 2007, the course stretches over 7,000 yards from the championship tees and features expansive fairways, sweeping cape and bay bunkers and elevated green complexes to challenge golfers of all skill levels.

Glaze Meadow reopened in 2012 after an extensive $3.75 million renovation by architect John Fought.  The renovation included clearing trees (over a million board feet of lumber was removed) to improve sight lines and increase shot making, rebuilding all of the greens and tee boxes, and lengthening the course by over 430 yards. John redesigned the layout to be reminiscent of courses (like Pinehurst) designed in the golden age of golf (20's and 30's) by architects like Donald Ross.  As such, Glaze Meadows now features slightly elevated big greens, square tee boxes, and deep roll faced grass bunkers.  Plus you'll find some uphill and downhill holes as the course meanders through towering pines, water on 3 holes, 51 big bunkers, several dog legs, some risk reward and shot making opportunities, and some wild turkeys and deer and squirrels watching you play!  And the solitude amazed us – very peaceful and quiet except for the gobbling turkeys getting ready to hide for Thanksgiving and my golf balls ricocheting off the pine trees and scarring the squirrels.

The front nine plays downhill to the valley and ponds than on 7 climbs back up the hill to the clubhouse.  You'll find some great holes like:

• #3 is a short but demanding 319 par 4 with a lake along the entire right side of the fairway and a green perched on the edge of the lake putting a premium on your approach shot
• #4 is a 411 par 4 that dog legs right around a pond offering a great risk reward shot to carry more of the pond for a shorter approach shot to a green with a left side bunker and a 20 foot drop off the right side
• #9 is a 380 yard uphill climb from tee to green with a big bunker where it makes a dogleg right turn leading to a partially hidden green with a deep bunker guarding the right entrance

The back nine at Glaze Meadow is a little more challenging, 200 or so yards longer from each tee box, and it's got 3 par 3's and 3 par 5's. Some of what you'll encounter during your round includes:

• the par 3s include raised greens, a distinctively elevated green, a long narrow green guarded by four menacing bunkers, and a 191 yard downhill shot that appears shorter than it is
• the par 5s include one of the longest holes in the Pacific Northwest (612 yards), a dog leg right with a significantly sloping fairway, and a good risk reward shot on one of the dog leg right par 5s

The rye and Kentucky Bluegrass fairways at Glaze Meadow were in very good condition and a joy to hit from.  The fairways are all lined by towering pines and a thick but playable rough.  Most are ample but if you miss them you're most likely lost in the native area and covered by pine needles.

The greens are mostly oval shaped and good sized averaging around 31 yards deep and have some minor contour but nothing significant.  They were firm because they were still maturing from the renovation but they ran true and were in near perfect condition.

The bunkers are strategically placing in your landing zone or guarding the greens.  The faces are fair, the sand is soft, and they were well maintained.

This course is one of the courses on the Central Oregon Golf Trail, which is loaded with some excellent courses and it’s one of the best golf trails we have played.  You can read our reviews of some of the other courses we played on the Central Oregon Golf Trail during our visit to Bend on Texas Outside’s Central Oregon Golf Trail Reviews Page.  And if you’re planning to visit Bend, be sure to check out the Visit Central Oregon Website with is loaded with information on golf and lots of other fun things to see and do in Central Oregon.