For golf with a view, try Sandpiper Golf Course near Goleta (north of Santa Barbara.) This 18-hole course has challenging terrain and views of the Santa Barbara Channel. Get your cart at the clubhouse, and set out on a golf safari. 

 The front nine takes you out towards the ocean. By the 5th tee, you're able to hear the waves crashing on the beach below. The staff takes good care of you, sending a refreshment cart around to meet all your needs for snacks and drinks. You can also call ahead and order lunch: the cafe will make you sandwiches and have them ready for you to pick up between the 9th and 10th hole. 

 Hole 11 is back out near the water, then it's up a steep hill to the edge of the bluffs above the beach. If you're an accurate player, you've got the chance to shoot over a ravine to get to the green. Hole 18 requires you to shoot over a small lake just downhill from the clubhouse. 

The greens were VERY fast during a recent (Nov. 2006) visit. The grass is rolled extremely short and tight. Many fairways are also cut very short, and the underlying soil seems like hard-packed sand. This isn't surprising since these seaside hills are compressed sand underneath. There were areas under repair on almost every hole, many marked off-limits to carts. The course uses a "90-degree" rule for carts, and marshalls will remind you of it if you're driving around too much on the fairways. 

 The course was busy on an overcast Saturday morning, but few people were around during the late afternoon, when wind made conditions less appealing. (If you were from some cold part of the country, you'd probably think the stiff breeze was balmy.) The hardy few were able to enjoy a gorgeous winter sunset over the ocean, and returned only when it was too dark to see the ball.