Bulle Rock Golf Course was built with a major championship in mind, but also to accommodate recreational golfers looking for a good test. The course is named for a racehorse who many consider to be the sire from whom all thoroughbreds in America are descended. The horse, also named Bulle Rock, belonged to James Samuel Patton, who brought it to America sometime in the 1730s. When Patton's granddaughter married and received a colt as part of her dowry, she named the animal for her grandfather's horse.

Designed by Pete Dye, the layout opened for play in March of 1998 and features state-of-the-art technology. The tees, greens and fairways are all bent grass, with the tees featuring Penn Cross Bent and Penn Trio in the fairways. The putting surfaces consist of a mix of L-93 and A-4 while players who end up in the rough will find themselves hitting from Kentucky Bluegrass. The layout features 123 bunkers, as well as rows of fescue, which can cause havoc for the elite player as well as the high-handicapper. During Thursday's opening round, Lorena Ochoa found the fescue at the par-4 13th and wound up taking a double bogey. Water comes into play on seven holes.

For the McDonald's LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola, the course is playing to 6,641 yards with a par of 72, but recreational golfers (Bulle Rock is a daily-fee facility) can go back to nearly 7,400 yards if they wish. The course accommodates big hitters; the fairways are extremely wide, allowing the player some latitude to spray the ball of the tee. As long as it plays however, Dye's layout is forgiving of short hitters as well. "There are no forced carries of the tee," says Bulle Rock's General Manager and Director of Golf Rick Rounsaville. There aren't a lot of environmentally sensitive areas." The fairways numerous dips and swales, so the golfer may find themselves with an awkward stance in the fairway or rough. The greens are large targets, but tend to be longer than they are wide and recreational players missing the greens will find getting up and down for par a daunting task.

Visitors to the championship might want to check out the 18th hole, a par-4 that is playing to 422 yards. Most players will favor the right side of the fairway of the tee, setting up an approach that will take a pond to the left out of play. The putting surface is an undulating one; if the pin is cut in one of the swales approach shots will funnel toward the hole, but if the player ends up in the wrong quadrant of the green, her task is made much more difficult.