Twisted Dune Golf Club

Twisted Dune opened in 2001 in Egg Harbor Township, 15 minutes from the Atlantic City boardwalk, and is the closest thing to true Scottish links the Jersey Shore has. The backstory is unusual: Rees Jones had been hired to design the course, delivered plans without ever visiting the site, and the owner-side partner Archie Struthers ended up taking it over himself. Struthers moved two million cubic yards of earth on what had been flat farmland, shaping the dunes and pot bunkers by hand. The routing isolates each hole, play one and you don't see the others. Fairways are framed by huge dunes covered in fescue, and the bunkering runs deep and walled. Wind is a constant factor this close to the ocean. The course stretches 7,283 yards from the tips for a par of 72, with the length defensible rather than required; mid-handicap groups can play it at 6,400-6,700 and still feel the teeth. Twisted Dune is ranked #3 public in New Jersey by Golfweek and continues to appear in the top three public lists from essentially every golf publication that ranks NJ. For an Atlantic City trip, this is the round the group talks about long after the casinos fade.