by Darin Bunch
The gathering place. Every resort worth its
room rate has one. For some, a simple bar or
spot by the pool does the trick. Other places
host a top-floor club hoppin’ with live music
and top-shelf beverages. I’ve even seen
downstairs bowling alleys where friends meet
up to share stories and roll deep into the night.
But at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, the place
to be is right outside, on the northwest terraced
lawn, in the late afternoon.
That’s where we ended up moments after
putting out on the 18th hole of the Half Moon
Bay Golf Links Ocean Course. The sun was
setting. There was no time to dally, and the
Ritz-Carlton staff knew it, even if we didn’t.
Like clockwork, they cleaned our clubs, directed
us to our reserved deck chairs overlooking
glowing fire pits and the darkening Pacific
beyond, and even offered each of us a pair of
Oakley slip-on sandals to replace our golf
cleats, which they were more than happy to get
cleaned up and drop off in our rooms, bagged
and ready for the next day’s round of golf.
Drinks flowed. Old friends were reacquainted,
and new friends introduced, all as the sun
made its way down to the horizon with a cloud-
enhanced flare before disappearing into the
night.
Even after daylight’s departure, we warmed by
the fires in the chilly air, some donning
windbreakers, others wrapping up in fluffy Ritz-
Carlton robes. The night was off and running,
with so much more ahead of us — dinner, more
conversation, most likely more libations and
finally deep, relaxing sleep in the spacious
rooms adorned with feather beds, soft duvets,
300-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets and
100 percent goose down pillows. And that was
the night Half Moon Bay joined my growing list
of Favorite Places.
Of course, the aptly named Ocean Course,
designed by Arthur Hills and opened in 1997
after an 11-year process, had already done a
good job of enticing me all day with its seaside
beauty and opportunities for creative
shotmaking, not to mention the wide-open
linksy feel that allows me to do what I love
most — hit driver.
But the course is no pushover. When the
world’s best women golfers arrived in 2008 for
the LPGA Samsung World Championship, the
Ocean held its own despite Paula Creamer’s 9-
under-par winning total over four rounds.
These days, General Manager Bill Troyanoski
has dreams of making it play even firmer and
faster to provide more links character and
encourage a variety of approaches to scoring
par or better, especially when the prevailing
winds whip across the defenseless terrain.
Troyanoski calls it “Links Enhancement,” a
program he hopes will position the Ocean
Course as one of the premier links golf
experiences in the United States through a
series of agronomic upgrades. “We have the
layout and the setting,” he says. “The
agronomic enhancement to the Ocean Course is
the final piece in providing a true links-style
playing experience.”
As part of the project, rough is mowed down
around the bunkers to bring traditional links
hazards back into play on tee shots. Native
fescue heights around tee boxes, between
holes and in other non-playing areas are raised
to provide golfers with visual, strategic cues
about how to play holes and to enhance the
links-style atmosphere.
Green complexes and surrounds are cut to “just
above green” mowing height, enhancing ball
movement on the ground, adding multiple shot
opportunities and fostering creativity in the
short game. And putting surfaces are firmer
and faster, placing a premium on approach-
shot placement and ball-striking, as well as
reading the speed — not just the break — of
putts.
“We are bringing the contours of the course
back into play, and putting the onus on the
golfer to factor in bounces and roll, not just
carry,” Troyanoski adds. “The quality of the
shot has more significance than the distance,
shifting the premium from length and power to
accuracy and creativity. The ground game will
come back into play and be a major factor, and
the emphasis on the aerial game will be
dramatically decreased.”
It’s a bold aspiration for a resort built, quite
literally, on a fearless foundation. You see, the
Ritz-Carlton sits about as close to the ocean as
the laws of physics (and the California Coastal
Commission) will allow. And large beams
support the nearby cliffs that mark a definitive
out of bounds for shots to the right of the Old
Course 18th green.
Speaking of the Old Course, it provides a stark
contrast to its windswept younger brother — at
least for the majority of its routing through
home-lined corridors. Originally created by
Francis Duane and Arnold Palmer in 1973, with
an update from Hills in 1999, the Old Course is
a classic American design, with a series of
strategically-demanding holes linked through
the property’s interior. And although much of
the round offers a more intimate ambiance than
the Ocean, the Old Course emerges onto the
Pacific coastline for the famous, par-5 finisher,
boasting a stunning tee-to-green view in front
of the Ritz-Carlton’s amphitheater-like setting,
where visitors staking their claim to sunset
seating can watch round after round come to a
close — sometimes in watery defeat, other
times with cheers of par-making pride.
Throughout the property, you’ll find another
kind of pride — pride in how each guest is
treated, whether they be a couple on a
romantic getaway or a group outing designed
around playing the most golf holes for their
money. In fact, group activities might just be
what the Ritz-Carlton and Half Moon Bay Golf
Links crews do best, especially when it comes
to setting out unforgettable spreads. Whether
it’s a free-form buffet-style dinner you want
(with everything from crab legs to carved
tenderloin) or a sit-down, old-fashioned clam
bake on the Old Course 10th tee, virtually no
guest request goes unrequited at this luxury
resort.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of other dining
options throughout the property, from Mullins
Bar & Grill next door to the Golf Shop to the
hotel’s signature restaurant, Navio, where the
freshest catch from neighboring Princeton
Harbor and produce grown along the coastline
are featured throughout the menu.
And if you need something extra quick while
making the turn after nine holes on the Old
Course, there’s always the homemade carne
asada tacos that occasionally get cooked up by
the crew working the Snack Shack. Try ’em
with the hot sauce and a cold beer, and you’ll
quickly see that Half Moon Bay doesn’t settle
for serving your typical, everyday golf course
fare.
And perhaps that’s what returning visitors love
about this little stretch of coastline only 20
minutes from San Francisco and San Jose —
this isn’t your run-of-the-mill resort where
pretense and status reign supreme. In fact,
despite the proximity to the city and world-
renown brand name, the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon
Bay simply feels like another time, a place of
slower pace where drama lives in the rugged
surroundings and friendly people gather to
watch spectacular sunsets. Where golf is less
about swing position and numbers on a card
and more about hitting each shot to the best of
your ability at that precise moment in time. And
where a glowing fire pit can be the center of
the universe on a chilly evening.