McCullough's Emerald Golf Links

McCullough's Emerald Golf Links opened in 2002 on an unlikely site: a reclaimed former landfill in Egg Harbor Township, just outside Atlantic City. Championed by local mayor James 'Sonny' McCullough, the project handed architect Stephen Kay roughly 100 feet of manufactured elevation change and more than 150 methane vents to route around. Kay embraced the challenge, shaping a links-style course whose holes pay homage to celebrated British Isles originals from Prestwick, Royal County Down, Gleneagles, and Royal Troon, among others. The par-71 layout stretches about 6,535 yards and leans into the quirks of true links golf, with blind shots, rolling contours, and firm turf. One of its most talked-about holes revives a green design Alister MacKenzie sketched in 1914, giving players a taste of golf history on ground that was once a dump.