McCullough's Emerald Golf Links

3016 Ocean Heights Ave.
Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234
609-926-3900

#122 $35 included cart, booked via ezlinks.com for a 11:30am Sat teetime

2.4 on a scale of 1-5
3 - Layout
3 - Condition
2 - Aesthetics
2 - Staff
2 - Facility

This course intrigued me when reading about it in advance as the holes are supposedly modeled after great links course holes in Ireland, Britain, etc. The reality is that no matter how much a course may try to model a par4 to look like the #1 at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, no amount of earth movement is going to make a former landfill site look like a hole near the Atlantic Ocean with wide open vistas! Granted - because of the landfill elevation, this course had WIND!! They do allow walking (but no discount in rate) so I did walk for the exercise figuring it would be just as quick given the cart path only rule after a week of solid rain. They have wild grass meadows between the holes that I'm sure normally would look nice, but they need to mow it down to prevent root growth given the methane mining pipes that litter the course. There is a methane burning structure in the center that is not able to be disguised. The only benefit to the low cutting was I found my balls as well as others by the boatload, especially since I was walking with a bag (no pullcart). This is managed by Billy Casper Golf and it is up to their usual simplified standards. The 7th hole is wonderful, as it makes you wonder - huh? What do I do over several acres of waste bunker? Then the 8th from an elevated tee with all the water along the left is tough if you are facing the wind in the face as I was. They say the 10th is a par 4 1/2 which is so true. Good luck if you can make the drive over it's fairway bump to the plateau as that is the only chance for par. The Gleneagles course in Scotland must be outlandish, as the two holes replicated here are difficult at best, especially the 3rd. Holes 15 and 16 are across the street, and a bit of a gimmick in my opinion. They require short shots on a dogleg, and a par3 that is nothing like a "postage stamp" it claims to replicate. The 17th is another tester, tough into the prevailing wind. Overall, this is a nice layout but I can imagine it would be much nicer visually with the grass wafting in a GENTLE breeze.