Castle Bay is located just off the coastal highway US-17 in Hampstead, in a residential community in the Topsail area.

The course is a wide-open, links-style layout with stands of trees at the margins, but plenty of waste and conventional sand bunkers, and an abundance of water hazards to interfere with a good round of golf. The fairways are bordered by tall fescue-type grasses that will cost a stroke to extricate, and if the wind's blowing, it's even more challenging. From the back tees, it's 6,698 yards, 71.3/130, course/slope ratings with five shorter tee boxes, designed by Randy Blanton.