Review: Bulle Rock Golf Club (Part 1)

Pete Dye is almost certainly the most important golf course architect in the past 70 years. While his unique style is not currently in vogue, many of today's best golf course architects got their start working for him. However, Pete Dye did not do much work in the Northeast. He was from the Midwest, and his most well-known designs are there or in the southern half of the country. 

That brings us to Bulle Rock, located just northeast of Baltimore. It is a pure Pete Dye course, unlike P.B. Dye which was built by one of his sons. While it never hosted a PGA Tour event, Bulle Rock did host the Women's PGA Championship from 2005 to 2009, so it does have a tournament pedigree. And it's certainly a very long golf course, playing nearly 7,400 yards from the tips (my brother and I did not play from all the way back). But does it have the signature Pete Dye flair and style golfers have heard so much about?

The first hole is a nice gentle warm-up hole. From the gold tees (the set up from the tips, where we played from, and where all future distances I mention will be taken), the hole is just over 340 yards, and there's quite a bit of fairway to work with if you lay up with an iron. The hole gets narrower the further you go, so I'd recommend not hitting driver. A long iron is enough to leave a wedge for the second shot. The green is long and narrow, with two pot bunkers left and one right. I wouldn't call the green flat, but there's not a huge amount of undulation or slope to it. Overall, it's a great opportunity to start with a birdie.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green from behind.

The second hole is a fairly long par 5 at 555 yards, however the tee shot at least is down a fairly big hill. Contrary to the first hole, I would not describe this fairway as being wide. It's not narrow, but with trees left and a native area leading into more trees right, once you get off of the fairway there's not a lot of wiggle room. If you've hit a good drive, you have some options. You could lay up short of the stream running about 100 yards short of the green, leaving a very long third. That's more if you don't hit a good drive. You can lay up on the far side of the stream, leaving a shorter but potentially awkward wedge. Or if you're really feeling bold, you can go for the green in two. It's not a particularly friendly target, even with a wedge. The green is angled from left to right, and there's a deep bunker in front that I'm sure catches quite a few shots.

The second hole.

It's still 200 yards to the stream from here.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is the shortest hole at Bulle Rock, playing 165 yards to a green built into a hillside. The green is definitely sloped from right to left, though it's not extreme. Clearly, there's a side to miss and a side to avoid. Go right and you may bounce back onto the green. Go left and at best you're in a bunker 10 feet below the green. Guess which one I did?

The third hole.

The fourth hole is a 380 yard par 4, which is definitely on the shorter side for Bulle Rock. This course actually has a pretty mild opening. The fairway meanders through a pair of long bunkers and then narrows significantly about 275 yards from the tee, so a 3 wood may be the best choice.  

The fourth hole.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is where things get tough. A 450 yard par 4 is never going to be easy, but this one has a big dogleg and plays uphill. There's plenty of fairway right, but if you go that way, you'll be left with over 200 yards up the hill to a semiblind green. That's less than ideal. You can challenge the dogleg to leave a shorter approach, but the fairway narrows between a set of bunkers. Either way, it's still a long second shot. The green, once you climb the hill, is long, narrow, and wedged between quite a few bunkers, though it is fairly flat. Even so, this is not a birdie hole.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is another par 4, this one of a much more reasonable length at 390 yards. Plus the tee shot is steeply downhill. Once again though, a driver is probably not a good idea, as the fairway is interrupted by a stream between 275 and 300 yards from the tee. The green is best approached from the left side, and is perched above a very large bunker to the right and below a significant slope to the left.

The sixth hole.

Approaching the sixth green.

The sixth green, featuring a rather irritated golfer.

The seventh hole is 175 yards, and I hope you like that yardage because this one and the two on the back nine are all the same length. The seventh plays slightly uphill to a semiblind green, protected by a small pot bunker front left and four bunkers to the right. The best shot to play is a little draw that goes around the pot bunker and takes the subtle right to left slope down to the hole.

The seventh hole.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is a 520 yards par 5 with high grass running down the entirety of the left side. Of course the hole also angles from right to left, so if you want to go for the green in two it's best to flirt with that native area and the big bunker wedged in between that and the fairway. If you are going for the green, there are a few bunkers left and relatively little to the right unless you really miss it. It's not a big green though, so it won't be that easy to hit. Even so, you can definitely make a birdie on this hole.

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green.

How long the ninth hole plays depends on how you play it. If you play it as most do, it's a big dogleg right measuring about 420 yards. There's a pond and a few bunkers right, but plenty of room left. Go this way, and you'll have a short or mid iron into the green, along with a good angle. However, if you're a long hitter and go directly over the pond, you'll find a section of fairway that turns the ninth into a straight hole, and make the second shot just a wedge. That said, while the second shot is much shorter, you do have to go over a big bunker to a much shallower target. Is it worth it? That's up to you, but I like that it has a definite benefit but a definite drawback. However, I do think it would be better if the carry over the pond was a little more realistic for people who can't hit a driver 300 yards. I can't do that anymore, so I only had one option. But even if I could reach the far fairway, I think I'd still go left. To me, having a longer club but a better angle is worth it.

The path most people take on the ninth hole.

The ninth hole is very, very wide.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green.

That's it for this week, next week we'll take a look at the back nine.