#74 Top 100 Public Golf Digest
#79 Top 100 Public Golfweek
#84 Top 100 Modern Courses
“I did not undo God’s work.” - Pete Dye
Bulle Rock is the premier golf course in the Mid-Atlantic and the #1 rated public course in Maryland. It covers a substantial amount of terrain, ascending and descending over 240 acres. It looks like it’s been there forever, sitting perfectly on top of the land.
Bulle Rock has long been one of the top courses in the country. It’s status was cemented soon after it opened, hosting the LPGA Championship for five years from 2005-2009. Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam won the first with a -11 total. Se Ri Pak, Suzann Peterson, Yani Tseng, and Anna Nordqvist followed. Each year the course proved more worthy as a championship caliber test and it has enticed golfers ever since.
(The par five second hole plays downhill with a creek twisting across the fairway. The green is barely visible with most of it beyond the pot bunker. Today’s pin is on the front left...
...it takes a quality shot to find the front section. Multiple pin placements especially in the rear will have to challenge the pot bunker that sits well below the front of the green. Par is a well earned score.
572/555/524)
Pete Dye designed Bulle Rock in 1998. It sits on an expansive piece of property and has a massive clubhouse whose patio has a view of the Chesapeake Bay out in the distance. In fact, the original plan was to have two golf courses here before the idea fell through. Dye had to move a minimum amount of dirt. The terrain does everything one wants in a golf course.
It has good elevation change, nice views, and alternating landscapes between open pastures and wooded hills. Toss in a meandering stream, and Dye was more than happy to take on the project.
(The fourth plays across the side of the hill. The green is well bunkered especially in the front where a ball needs to land to take advantage of the front to back slope. Not seen in the picture is a bunker guarding the left side of the green below grade. It’s an exacting shot considering the front bunker hides much of the short grass behind it. 417/380/364)
(In the summer, the par five eighth is an absolute terror. All the fescue on the left is allowed to grow a foot high. The land tilts towards it and the player who can sling a draw off the right side of the fairway can possibly get home in two. It’s one of the few birdie holes at Bulle Rock. 546/519/481)
Bulle Rock does not subscribe to the word “fun”. It bills itself as a championship course and management maintains it as such. The fast and firm conditions keep the pressure on players to hit quality shots and 4” rough penalizes any miscue. The course is well bunkered and with Dye’s penchant for mounds and hollows, being in the sand is often times easier to recover. There are no qualms what the course expects and good players should relish the chance to test their games.
(The par four ninth can play straightaway over the fairway traps or for the aggressive player over the water to the lower fairway...
...the green is well bunkered and somewhat semi blind especially from the lower fairway. It’s the one hole that is uniquely Bulle Rock. For the shorter hitter who can’t make the carry to the lower fairway, this hole plays much longer. 478/418/366)
(The eleventh is my favorite hole on the course. It’s a beast of a par five playing well over six hundred yards from the back tee. It plays downhill, screaming for a full body turn that smashes the ball down the fairway. It’s a hole that will be part of the post round chatter as you discuss what club you hit for a third shot. Par is a good score. 665/624/596)
Dye has always been good with pacing and alternating tough holes with birdie holes. It places more pressure on the easier ones since a misplay can quickly culminate into a series of bogeys. At Bulle Rock, the routing adheres to this philosophy and the fifth and thirteenth are the linchpin to a good round. Both are long par fours, and a par on either of them is like stealing a stroke. The fifth is a long uphill par four that can take three shots to reach. The thirteenth doglegs right with a ravine set inside the turn. There’s no way to cut off yardage so it plays it’s full length.
(The thirteenth is a brutally long par four that doglegs late in its length. A large sleeper bunker guards the left side of the green while several smaller bunkers guard short right. Note the foundation of an old building in the foreground. This is a terrific hole. 476/438/428)
If there’s a knock on Bulle Rock, it’s the lack of original architecture. Several of the holes resemble his worth elsewhere. The eighteenth, for example, is similar to Sawgrass’ ending hole. I must admit that I noticed some similarities that Bulle Rock shared with his other work.
(The par five fifteenth plays to this cool looking green.)
(The par four eighteenth is a classic Dye finish with an angled fairway over water. Whether it’s the LPGA Championship or a regular joe trying to break a personal goal, the tee shot is packed with adrenaline. Note the massive clubhouse atop the hill...
...once the drive is safe, Dye gives the player plenty of short grass to bail out. It takes a delicate touch to up n down from front or right of the green. Besides guarding the left, the water does circle behind the green. It’s a terrific ending for a challenging golf course. 485/459/422)
Bulle Rock’s status is well deserved. The size and scale of the property is consistent with the best courses in the country. The only thing that holds it back are the par threes as a set. They’re all good holes but they’re subdued for a Pete Dye course. Nonetheless it’s a great experience and true championship course. I give Bulle Rock a 7 (great)(worth driving 3-4 hours to play).
[It cost me $100 to play Bulle Rock which I felt was a fair price. Whistling Straits, Sawgrass, Harbour Town, Ocean Course, and even Blackwolf Run all go between $300-500. Add in the fact that Bulle Rock is within 90 minutes of DC, and it becomes more of a bargain.]
(Walking to the seventeenth tee)
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