Half Moon Bay Golf Links Buddies Golf Trip
Half Moon Bay Golf Links is the golf complex at the Ritz Carlton in the sleepy seaside village of Half Moon Bay about 45 minutes south of San Francisco. It would be hard to call Half Moon Bay Golf Links “must do” destination golf. Although it has broken the top 20 Golf Resorts in the United States and the Ocean Course is ranked 70th on the list of top 100 golf courses as ranked by top100golfcourses.com (whoever they are).
If it’s not quite bucket list destination golf it is certainly a very close relative of bucket list destination golf. Maybe a second cousin twice removed, it has many qualities of bucket list destination golf. Excellent golf courses with dramatic vistas, world class pro shop and restaurant, impeccable service, it’s adjacent to the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay which, while not cheap, is a remarkable property. In fact if you have a patio room you get a firepit and a kit to make s’mores while watching the golfers come up on either 18th fairway.
In fact, all the romantic ambiance lands Half Moon Bay Golf Links a little closer to a Romantic Golf Getaway than a buddies bucket list golf trip, but it can do both. The spa is second to none, so throw in a couples massage as well.
The upshot is that a trip to Half Moon Bay Golf Links is a little like buying a TV. How much do you want to spend?….you can spend a lot, but there’s a budget option too. In fact, the golf itself is not super expensive, so you should be able to get both rounds for under $200 each. Talk to them, if you play them both you might get a deal. Read on.
Getting there
You have many options when coming to the Bay Area. You can fly into Oakland, San Jose or San Francisco. For our money we would fly into San Francisco and rent a car for the half hour jaunt over to Half Moon Bay. You could take a cab, but the car might come in handy when you are in HMB to open up the options for restaurants. The village is not walking distance from the golf courses. One piece of advice… avoid Halloween like the plague. The tiny hamlet of HMB hosts the annual Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival. This annual event is guaranteed to clog up the three ways you can get into the town for miles and miles. There are no freeways, these are 2 lane streets that wind through the mountains to get you to the coast. This can be a 2 hour traffic jam!
Staying there
First off, you need to make a decision where to stay. The Ritz is literally on property, but it will set you back quite a bit. This would certainly be in the “splurge” category, but if you are a Ritz Carlton fan then maybe go for it. Rooms can be a grand a night, and for our money we would only spend that kind of money at the Lodge at Pebble Beach or maybe Spanish Bay.
18th Green Ocean Course
If you want to do this all on the cheap my recommendation would be the Best Western on the Cabrillo Highway. However, you have many options as this charming town has its share of hotels, inns as well as a number of good VRBO options.
Eating there
First off, the food at both the golf complex and the hotel on property is astounding. Navio, the Ocean Terrace and The Conservatory are all world class restaurants, however, they are pricey. If you aren’t looking to pony up a mortgage payment for dinner I would suggest the nearby town of Half Moon Bay as it has many quaint options for getting a nice meal. Sushi Main Street is a very good option and if you like fish & chips you could try Camerons’ Pub, a kitschy English pub adjacent to the Best Western. If you do a 10 minute or so drive north of town you can hit Sams Chowder House for some really good, yet informal seafood. If you don’t want to do all that fuss and muss you can just eat your meals at the golf course restaurant Mullins. They make delicious food and a really tasty Bloody Mary.
One thing that you don’t want to miss is having a post round cocktail on the terrace overlooking the 18th green of the Old Course. The $25 martini will be worth the price of admission to make bets with your buddies on whether the approaching golfers will hit the green on approach, or duff it 5 feet. Even better yet, have the cocktail at sundown and you may be graced with the presence of the bagpiper– shades of Spanish Bay.
Shopping there
There is really only one place to shop for things golf related, the main pro shop. Although it’s a little pricey they have very high quality merchandise and having a Half Moon Half Zip is not a half bad idea. But your life will go on if you skip the Half Moon Bay merchandise area. After all, it’s not Pebble or the Old Course.
To sum it all up
Would we fly all the way to California from the midwest just to play Half Moon Bay?…No. It’s simply too close to Pebble Beach and that would be the first recommendation. However, if we were in the Bay Area for work and wanted to tack a weekend of golf with some buddies or a sweetie, Half Moon Bay fits the bill in spades.
Golf Course Reviews:
The Old Course
Ocean Course
Buddies Golf Trip Ratings:
- Bucket list rank (from 1 to 5 buckets): 3 Buckets
- Location: 8
- Spectacle/ visual: 8
- History: 6
- New/ancient: Modern
- Playability : 7
- Memorability : 5
- Buddy-a-bility : 6 (you have lots of options)
- Service/etc: 9
- Value: 2 or 9 (depending on which way you go)
- Shopping: 8
- Warm up facilities/Range: 1- This is one area where we can really knock the facility. They have no driving range, just a comprehensive warm up area
- Food & Drink: 8
