American Wedding Golf Weekend

Half Moon Bay, CA (about 30 miles south of San Francisco)

by Fat Guy

A golf weekend based on the third installment in the American Pie series is a pretty easy one to set up... well, assuming you still hold your Man Card and you're willing to forego the whole "wedding" part of the weekend. Gather up three of your "groomsmen" and hop a flight to San Fran.

I probably don't have to re-tee the whole scenario for you... Nice guy Jim (Jason Biggs) has finally asked Michelle "This One Time At Band Camp" Flahety (Alyson Hannigan) to marry him. Hilarity ensues. Michelle gives Jim a hummer under the table at a nice restaurant as he stalls for his Dad to show up with the engagement ring. Stiffler wins a dance-off in a gay bar, sets up a surprise S&M bachelor party which gets accidentally crashed by Michelle's parents, eats dog shit to find the wedding ring, and accidentally kills all the floral arrangements the night before the wedding. Yet he comes out smelling like a rose when he somehow lands the hot bridesmaid (January Jones, aka Mad Men's Mrs. Don Draper). And not to give it away, but Finch does Stiffler's mom again in this one too.

  January Jones...  Yowsa!

Hilarity aside, let's skip to the scene that had all of us golfers salivating over the course outside the seaside hotel where Jim and Michelle got hitched. At the end of the movie, Jim gives the basic "I've started to figure life and this whole marriage thing out, I'm OK and you guys are good friends" speech. Throughout the entire scene, in the background you can see the outline of an ocean cliffside fairway and bunkers next to a glorious seaside hotel. I never even heard the speech; all I could do was look over Jim's shoulder at the blurry outline of the seaside course, wondering how to find out where they filmed it so I could play that hole someday.

  The 18th at Half Moon Bay's Ocean Course

So hop a flight for San Fran airport, rent a car, and head about 30 miles down the coast to the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay Resort, Half Moon Bay CA (www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/HalfMoonBay/Golf/Default.htm, $80-$205). The Arthur Hills designed Ocean Course mixes Scottish and Irish links elements with firm, fast conditions. Its parallel fairways let you spray it off the tee in calm conditions, but it's an altogether different experience when the wind is whipping off the ocean.

Best Bar Nearby:  The on-site Mullins Bar & Grill, named in honor of longtime head pro Clyde Everett "Moon" Mullins, offers both casual and fine dining as well as a large selection of draft beers and wines. An array of photographs of the golf courses, as well as images of Mullins' friends such as Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Gleason and Bob Hope, adorn the walls. Off-resort, stop at authentic nearby British pub Cameron's Inn (www.cameronsinn.com) to complete the links experience, or head on up into town for the casual California vibe at Flying Fish Grill (www.flyingfishgrill.net). For microbrews and a great beach bar all rolled into one, head for Half Moon Bay Brewing Company (www.hmbbrewingco.com), named one of Travel & Leisure's Best Beach Bars. Order a pint of their Mavericks Amber Ale.

 Half Moon Bay Brewing Co.

What To Drink:   American Pie

Apple Moonshine
Vanilla Vodka
Whipped Cream Vodka
Ginger Ale
Graham Cracker Crumbs

Chill your glasses with ice and water while you make your drink. Start with a healthy pour of apple moonshine. Then dump in some vanilla vodka and Pinnacle whipped cream vodka. Rim the glasses with graham cracker crumbs, shake, and serve.

Where To Stay:  The Ritz Carlton runs $375 & up pp/pn.  If you're not that liquid, crash at the nearby Best Western Plus Half Moon Bay Lodge (www.halfmoonbaylodge.com) for rates around one-third of the Ritz'.
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Other American Wedding filming locations (from Movie-Locations.com):

American Wedding has less Long Beach (though Jim still lives at 4153 Cedar Drive) and he’s taught to dance by Stifler in the gym of St Anthony High School, 620 Olive Avenue).

This time, there’s more of Orange, southeast of Los Angeles, where you’ll find the flower shop, ‘East Great Falls Hospital’, which was the lobby of Chapman University, 1 University Drive, downtown Orange. There are walking tours but, Piesters, remember, this is a Christian institution. The university was also seen in Surviving Christmas, with Ben Affleck and Christina Applegate.

Jim’s house is still Country Club Drive in Long Beach, Los Angeles

The airport, where Finch and Michelle greet Michelle’s sister, Cadence (January Jones), is Ontario Airport, not in Canada but in California, on I-10 east of Los Angeles. The bar is Clancy’s Crab Broiler, 219 North Central Avenue, Glendale (tel: 818.242.2722), a Boston-style seafood house, and with live jazz at weekends.

If you want to relive the full American Wedding experience: ‘Zyskowski Flowers’, where Stifler gets the wedding blooms, is Radio Shack, 101 South Glassell Street on the SE corner of the Circle, Orange (OK, you can’t really get flowers here); the ‘Chicago’ wedding dress shop is Cantu and Castillo, 7415 Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles (tel: 323.931.8325).

The seaside hotel where the wedding is finally celebrated is the wonderful Ritz-Carlton, 1 Miramontes Point Road, Half Moon Bay, about 30 miles south of San Francisco.

Well, almost. Although the exterior wedding site scenes were indeed at the striking sea-front Ritz-Carlton, the actual wedding and the reception took place in the Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science of the Huntington Library and Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, east of Pasadena.

The glass and steel building was still under construction at the time of filming, so it was possible to completely dress the Conservatory as a luxury indoor wedding spot. The dance floor was constructed over what is now a fish pond with tropical plants.