Half Moon Bay Ocean Course in Half Moon Bay, CA

The Stats

Tee Time: October 15, 2015, 2:20, 68 F, overcast

Designer: Arthur Hills, 1997

Playing Partners: Craig, Larry and Leonard

Tees: Blue, Par 72 (71.2 rating/125 slope/6,470 yards)

Course Handicap: 6 (5.7 index)

Stats: 87 (44-43); 37 putts; 6/13 fairways; 8/18 greens; 3 penalty strokes

The Course

Based on the pictures alone, Half Moon Bay’s Ocean Course is a must play. I’ve heard stories of five and six hour rounds, which is always a mood killer and stayed away. But since I had some time to kill before Stanford’s 7:30PM Thursday-night dismantling of UCLA, what better way than to spend a few hours next to the ocean just a few miles from Palo Alto? I was taking a gamble with a 2:20 starting time, given that sunset right now is just after 6:30. Surprisingly, there were only a few waits and we managed to get all my 87 strokes in before the stars came out. While slow play is the worst thing in golf, there are worse places to be trapped than on this relatively new links layout on the Northern California coast. And at a fraction of the cost of some other cliffside courses a few miles down the road, any Bay Area resident or guest should head out here once. Continue reading Half Moon Bay (Ocean Course) →