Black Butte Ranch hosts golf invitational

Black Butte Ranch (BBR) held its Homeowner Guest Invitational Golf Tournament last weekend. This long-standing event is considered by most as the highlight of the summer tournament schedule at BBR.

The event began on Friday with a "horse race golf tournament" followed by a meal featuring the flavors of Mexico. The event ran into the late hours.

Saturday was the first round of the tournament held at Big Meadow Golf Course. It was followed by a putting tournament at Glaze Meadow that featured a quick green that had been booby trapped with a score of interesting challenges.

Adjacent to the putting tournament was wine tasting featuring the wines of Eola Hills Wine Cellars. The vintner located in Rickreall, OR has won numerous awards for his wines which vary from delightful reds through comfortable whites.

Karen Harvey was heard to say "These were the Oregon finest red wines I have ever tasted."

The dinner that followed the putting contest was an unusual event at BBR which encouraged guests to dress for dinner. The encouragement had somewhat limited success, but it was refreshing to see a few of the diners in something other than the casual golf clothes that are more the norm at BBR.

The dinner was held in a festive tent set up near the Glaze Meadow Clubhouse and featured the cuisine of Chef Dean Ecker. Prime rib and salmon were the main courses and praise was uniform for the seafood appetizers and beautiful dessert bar.

There was a new Subaru B9 Tribeca offered for a hole-in-one on a par three hole by Capital Subaru of Salem. Capital Subaru offers a new car for a hole-in-one at several golf venues in Oregon and has had two claimed in the last 15 years. In spite of the fact that the owner of Capital Subaru offered an additional $1,000 for gas money to whoever could make the hole-in-one, the prize went unclaimed.

Sunday brought the event to a close with the second round held at Glaze Meadow Golf Course.

The winners of the A flight were Kevin Grieg and Barry Grieg in the gross category with Jeff Bolton and Mike Lawson taking the honors in the net Category. B flight gross winners were Bob Saalfeld and Dick Saalfeld with B flight net winners Leigh Porter and Bob Mead. C flight winners in the gross category were Scott Casebeer and J.D. Marr; net C flight winners were Bob Johnson and Rich Hulett. The women's flight was won in the gross category by Alex Carney and Jane Horton; net women's flight was won by Linda Sheppard and Catherine Snyder.

Each of the winning teams received a prize of $250.