Twisted Dune Golf Club

About Twisted Dune Golf Club

Twisted Dune is Scottish-style golf built from scratch. Archie Struthers, whose only course this is, moved more than two million cubic yards of earth on an old horse farm to make big dunes, ravines and grass-covered hills, then put well over 100 deep bunkers into them. The dunes do the job trees do elsewhere: the general manager told GolfPass there are only a few holes where you can see another group.

The fairways are wide, about 42 acres of them by the GM's count against roughly 24 on most courses, but four-foot fescue lines the edges, and that's what you'll be looking at from the tee. Keep it in the short grass and it's very playable; spray it and it gets long in a hurry. Better players tend to score, and higher handicaps have a harder day. It plays to about 7,200 yards from the back with four par 5s over 500 yards, ten par 4s and four par 3s, and there are five sets of tees, so pick the right one. The 9th starts a back-to-back pair of par 5s, and GolfPass picked the par-3 16th as maybe the best-looking hole on the course.

The build has a story. Rees Jones's team started the job before a difference of opinion let Struthers take over, the dirt work pushed the opening back until 2001, and much of the leftover sand went into the foundation of the Borgata in Atlantic City.

It's one of 30 courses Yoink watches in the South Jersey & the Shore area, and the closest alternative is McCullough's Emerald Golf Links, about 3 miles away — handy when your first choice is booked solid.

How to get a tee time at Twisted Dune Golf Club