Half Moon Bay Golf Links: The Ocean Course

Outside of Bandon Dunes, Half Moon Bay Golf Links –  Ocean Course may be the most authentic public golf attempt to replicate Scottish or Irish links golf courses on the west coast. Designed by Arthur Hills, the course opened in 1997 and features wide open fairways that play fast and firm right next to the coast of the Pacific ocean. 

The course is on a plot of land just south of the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay. It’s part of a 2- course complex and the layout meanders along the ocean, then turns inland and comes back around again to the ocean. Everything on the course looks like Scottish Golf Links from a distance, but when you get up close you realize they did a remarkable job of finding local substitutes. 

For instance a local evergreen bush takes the place of the gorse you would find on a Scottish course. And some local variety of hay is used instead of heather. Let’s call it “half moon hay” but remember you need to use a similar technique to hit out of it well, and balls can easily be lost in the “half moon hay” as well as the fescue that lines the fairways. 

The course starts off innocently enough with a dogleg right. The starter will tell you that you don’t want to go long on 1, as it is a nightmare behind the hole. On hole 2 you not only get a glimpse of the ocean, but the signature hole, number 17 a par 3 over the ocean. Soak in this view as the last 4 holes of this golf course are truly remarkable. Watch out for pedestrians as you are driving your golf cart along this stretch. The shoreline is open to the public so they will be strolling along enjoying the view. 

From there you take a left hand turn and meander inland. A large chunk of the golf course here has fairways stacked and will be a favorite series of holes for those who prescribe to the ‘spray and pray’ school off the tee box. Be sure to look to your left to see a feature you don’t see on many Scottish links golf courses… a trailer home park!

The real appeal of this golf course is the last 4 holes —  a march north along the coast toward the Ritz Carlton hulking in the distance on the cliffs. Don’t overshoot the green on 18 as the ball could leap out of bounds and potentially hit into a couple enjoying a romantic glass of champagne fireside on their outdoor patio of their hotel room. 

The Ocean Course is a perennial favorite of ours. However, we would stop short of calling this golf course Destination Golf, but it’s certainly destination golf-adjacent. The restaurant, service and golf shop are all world class. The course itself has vistas that rival destination golf. In fact, the only knock against the HMB complex is the lack of a driving range. It does have a comprehensive short game area, but first tee jitters won’t be soothed by the fact you’re going to find out what kind of golf swing you just pulled out of the trunk of your car. 

Perhaps if it was not a 2 hour drive from Pebble Beach we would feel differently, but it’s just shy of saying it’s a must play destination golf course. Counter intuitively the course’s older brother “the old course” is actually the better golf course in the HMB Complex. 

Ratings:

• Bucket list rank (from 1 to 5 buckets): 3.25 Buckets
• Location: 8
• Spectacle/ visual: 8
• History: 4
• New/ancient: Modern
• Playability : 6
• Memorability : 7
• Service/etc: 8
• Value: 8
• Shopping:8
• Warm up facilities/Range: 2. No driving range, just a comprehensive short game area
• Food & Drink: 8