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Hole 1

Hole Name

From The Tee Right from the first tee, the golfer is introduced immediately to the overall character of Bulls Bay.

From The Fairway Playing from an elevated tee, a wide fairway stretches out some 50 feet below. A lone fairway bunker just inside the slight dogleg right sits 310 yards from the Maverick or back tees.

On The Green A drive left of the bunker will leave an approach to a generous, but fairly flat green guarded by a solo bunker in front.

Hole 2

Hole Name

From The Tee A U-shaped par 5 wrapping counter-clockwise around a scenic lake,

From The Fairway the second hole requires both solid thought and execution. Better players may opt for less than driver, depending on conditions. But regardless of club, the perfect tee shot played with a gentle draw will reach past the waste bunker, which ends about 255 yards off the tee.

On The Green From there, most players will lay up, leaving a short iron to a horizontal green guarded by several bunkers in front. But the aggressive player can shorten the yardage and reach this green in two with a long second shot played directly across the lake. From this angle, the green presents a more vertical target with the bunkers now right of an open approach.

Hole 3

Hole Name

From The Tee This par-3 features alternate greens that present contrasting challenges.

From The Fairway The narrow green to the left, framed by ancient live oaks and sand bunkers on both sides, is a vertical target that demands accuracy of line.

On The Green The wider, more elevated green to the right offers a more horizontal target that places more premium on distance control because of a grass hollow in front of and expansive sandy waste behind the green.

Hole 4

Hole Name

From The Tee With the Waterway and Bulls Bay now on the right,

From The Fairway the fourth hole starts with a tee shot over a finger of marsh and a serpentine waste bunker that extends the length of the fairway on the right.

On The Green A solitary live oak in the fairway is 282 yards off the back markers. The best tee shots will be played left of the oak, setting up a favorable angle if one is to reach a horizontal green fronted by that same waste bunker. If this hole isn’t reachable in two, the best second shots will be played left, avoiding the waste bunker and setting up a variety of shots into a green that sits at grade.

Hole 5

Hole Name

From The Tee From a tiny island tee tucked into the marsh,

From The Fairway the player confronts a modified “cape” design where waste bunker, not water, defines the carry on this left-to-right dogleg. True to its design convention, this cape hole invites the player to bite off as much of the bunker as he desires. Too conservative and the drive will find the back side of a ridge that runs across the fairway, leaving a longer approach. But a slight fade off the tee will be

On The Green The green, guarded by sand to the left, is deep and narrow at the front, widening toward the back.

Hole 6

Hole Name

From The Tee A third par 5 on the front nine – the course features five par 5s and five par 3s –

From The Fairway is the longest hole on the course. A tee shot across a wetland must be fit between a formal bunker on the right and a long waste area left. From there, the best second shot will carry a corner of the waste area well up the left side and find the fairway which has taken a slight jog to the left around a small stand of pines and more sand to the right.

On The Green The third shot is played to a green 45 yards deep and flanked by a formal bunker on the left. Controlling one’s distance into this green is critical because of a pronounced ridge that separates the green front to back at its midpoint.

Hole 7

Hole Name

From The Tee A kidney-shaped green wraps around a pond to the left,

From The Fairway presenting a formidable but inviting target to a player who can hit a controlled draw.

On The Green The contour of the green will help that same draw reach a back left pin. But bail too far right and a bunker guarding the front corner of the green comes into play.

Hole 8

Hole Name

From The Tee A dogleg right, the eighth tempts some to cut off yardage with a big fade off the tee.

From The Fairway But a waste bunker and a sentinel oak tree guard the corner and punish errant drives. A prudent play is a fairway wood to the corner of the dogleg,

On The Green leaving a short-iron approach to a wide green benched into a slope, a deep sand bunker guarding the front and a grassy hill rising at the back.

Hole 9

Hole Name

From The Tee Playing back toward the clubhouse, the ninth climbs the same elevation that benefited golfers on the first tee.

From The Fairway The hole plays as a gentle dogleg left with a bunker narrowing the left side of the fairway at the 300-yard mark. Dunes O-Bscure the right portion of a fairway that is wider than it looks from the tee. When the pin is left, players will benefit from a drive that finds that hidden portion of the fairway.

On The Green But regardless of position, the key to success at No. 9 is taking enough club to negotiate the elevation change since the green is well above the landing area. Another key to the hole is the ridge that divides the smallish green left to right.

Hole 10

Hole Name

From The Tee Now back atop the hill that dominates the Bulls Bay landscape,

From The Fairway the player begins the back nine with a dramatic, downhill tee shot to a generous fairway. The bunker to the right is only 230 yards off the back tee, providing more of a reference than a hazard. But the bunker inside this dogleg right is 295 to carry. The second shot asks the player to be aggressive and go right at a green left unguarded in front. Any shot that avoids fairway bunkering to the left

On The Green Bail out to the right on the second shot away from the bunker and you’ll face a short but very difficult third shot to a green that slopes away from right to left.

Hole 11

Hole Name

From The Tee Any description of this medium length par 4 must begin where the hole ends –

From The Fairway at the green. At first glance, the 65-yard-deep – that’s right, sixty-five – putting surface would seen far too generous for an approach shot with a medium to short iron.

On The Green But play the hole once and you understand the architect’s theory. This is really two greens in one, a prominent ridge cutting across the putting surface, left to right, at its waist. The result is two concave targets that can mean as much as four-clubs’ difference on the approach shot.

Hole 12

Hole Name

From The Tee A distinctive two-level green presents the target at this scenic one-shot hole.

From The Fairway Playing over water that wraps around more than half the green complex, the 12th usually requires only a short iron.

On The Green But with sand surrounding virtually all of the putting surface and water awaiting the more errant shot, the hole demands accuracy. A steep slope defines the front third of the green and can be used as a backstop in attacking front pin placements.

Hole 13

Hole Name

From The Tee A double dogleg right, this par 5 can be – and has been –

From The Fairway reached in two. But certainly, the smart play here is a three-shot attack. A bunker 280 yards off the tee provides a good aiming point for the drive. Depending on wind, a drive toward or even right of the bunker safely avoids a small creek that meanders along the right side of the fairway before cutting across the front of the green just beyond the second dogleg.

On The Green The second shot needs to fly far enough to “see” around the second bend and set up a short approach across the creek to a wide, shallow green with bunkers to the right and across the back. An O-Bvious nose protruding into the middle of the green from the back places a premium on the third shot. Players who must negotiate the nose with their first putt will find two-putting difficult.

Hole 14

Hole Name

From The Tee Golfers familiar with Ballybunion and Waterville may have to remind themselves

From The Fairway that they are still in the Lowcountry as they stand on the tee at this par 3 and survey the green cut into the hillside before them. Playing decidedly uphill, the 14th reveals only part of the flagstick and none of the putting surface to the player.

On The Green But the target is generous and the slope behind the green collects anything long and can actually roll a ball back onto the putting surface. But miss the green to the right and deep bunkers, set well below the green, make recovery difficult.

Hole 15

Hole Name

From The Tee Climbing up from the 14th green, the golfer is back at the highest point on the property,

From The Fairway preparing for a tee shot played dramatically downhill, like those at the first and 10th holes. But even more dramatic is the view from this lofty tee. From here, as many as 15 holes are visible, as are four barrier islands and associated inlets, the Waterway and the Atlantic beyond. Turning one’s attention to the task at hand, the 15th appears as a diagonal fairway running away from right to left

On The Green before making an abrupt turn to the right between two sentinel oaks within the last 100 yards. The trees frame a second shot played to a green turned on a similar diagonal and guarded by sand to the right and at the left front.

Hole 16

Hole Name

From The Tee The same lake that added beauty but did not come into play at the last hole is the dominant feature at 16.

From The Fairway From the back tee, a drive must carry a natural wetland and a corner of the lake which flanks the entire right side of the landing area. A good drive will leave a mid-iron approach –

On The Green again depending on the wind conditions – to a green cradled into a hollow between sand in front and slopes in back. From other tees, players have the option of driving over the lake, a carry of roughly 230 yards, setting up a short approach from right of the green, with the greenside bunker complex now to the left of the target.

Hole 17

Hole Name

From The Tee Straightforward and seemingly benign,

From The Fairway the 17th is a par 3 where the beauty of the design is defined by its simplicity. Here,

On The Green the architect created a diagonal target where the green’s direction and contour match the left-to-right slope into which it is set. The preferred shot would appear to be a slight fade, but a large bunker stretching across the right side of the diagonal green awaits even the slightest mis-hit.

Hole 18

Hole Name

From The Tee A dogleg left, the finishing hole at Bulls Bay plays to a dramatically

From The Fairway elevated green as golfers approach the clubhouse for the final time. But first, the drive must carry a bunker 225 yards off the back tee if one is to shave the dogleg. The bunker through the dogleg, to the right of the fairway, is more than 300 yards out. From the landing area,

On The Green the hole climbs sharply to a small, round green that is the flattest on the course, a good chance for a closing birdie with an accurate approach. But to reach the final green, one must avoid a series of bunkers set into the hill, factor in the elevation change and, as always, correctly judge the ever-present wind. Do all of that and one might earn the kudos of fellow members enjoying the view from