Half Moon Bay: Ocean and Old Courses
So much to unpack here. I first played the Ocean Course in 2008 and came back and played it again with the Old Course in 2010. The Ocean I put in my top 100 (unlike the critics which I will discuss in a bit) but I lost most of my photos. The Old I have a lot of photos but it is a middling golf affair (though it has the prettiest hole on the property). So I made this into one write-up. Mostly I’ll talk about Ocean and show you Old, how about that?
Overall the resort is awesome. It’s a Ritz Carlton so service is unbeatable and the terrace overlooking the Old 18th (best hole on the property) and the ocean is one of the best terraces in the world. Ranking a golf course is all about the overall experience and part of why the Ocean is so high on my list is the overall Ritz Carlton experience and wow factor of the setting.
So the Old is a Palmer design and the Ocean is Arthur Hills. What I find with a lot of Palmer designs is that they are part of residential or office communities. Commonwealth National in Philly is my home club and my favorite Palmer design but five or so holes on the front and a couple on the back are routed through an office park which hurts the overall ranking. The course itself is everything you love in a course though and the Old here is the same, but here homes are literally on top of the course. Another Palmer course in my area is Blue Bell where I had to take relief from someone’s Weber grill – and I was barely off the fairway. Here it is a shame Palmer wasn’t given the same palette as Hills. His 17th infinity green and 18th, though, rival any holes I’ve played anywhere for wow factor.
Arthur Hills then. The Ocean is his highest ranked course on my list and IMO. The only other of my Top 100 Hills courses is Country Club of Florida. Beyond that, Hills is the Ford Taurus of Golf. Practical designs. Usual features. But you ain’t picking up the ladies with it! Here, he was given a small piece of property with outstanding views and some limited cliffside real estate and he totally nailed it.
The critics hate this course. I read one commenter somewhere say it completely lacks architectural merit – that’s like not asking the prettiest girl at the bar out because she is wearing white pants after Labor Day. Come on. This is links golf with ocean views on every hole. There is a great variety in the holes though I get that they can be deemed ordinary – the Taurus of design. However when you park the Taurus in your oceanfront mansion’s garage, the car suddenly looks a lot sexier. Same here and I’ll stop now with the Taurus metaphors. I also get it’s tight and errant shots find other greens and fairways but isn’t that what it’s like at St. Andrews? Honestly, if the photo above was in a write-up on a Scottish course, you’d be none the wiser. It’s a fun course to play and 16 through 18 rank right up there with holes from some of the better known and ranked courses.
I added a few photos from my buddy Will. He’s a professional photographer in the Bay Area and below are a few of his photos of him and me, me crashing a wedding photo and him on 16 (I think). He’s all big and professional now so if you need a photographer in the Bay Area he’s your guy! www.willbucquoy.com
If you’re coming to SF for a golf trip, just head south to here and move on to Pebble. Presidio is right in the City and is ok. Lincoln Park is a crappy course with a few beautiful views. Harding Park is okay but they’re probably charging a fortune for a good not great muni course. Metropolitan in Oakland is meh. Otherwise you have to take a ride so it might as well be here even if you’re not going all the way to Pebble. I’ll get into some food faves in SF in my Cal Club write-up since I have even fewer pix of that.
Golf Scrapbook 