David Love III will serve as a consultant to the Harbour Town restoration.
Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, announced it will close for six months in 2025 for a restoration of the Pete Dye-designed layout that opened in 1969.
Part of Sea Pines Resort, Harbour Town is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the No. 2 public-access layout in South Carolina. It also is the No. 21 resort course in the U.S. and the No. 59 modern course built in the U.S. since 1960. Much of the layout plays tight through trees until reaching Calibogue Sound for its final holes, with the 18th playing along the water toward the famed lighthouse beyond.
The course will close May 5, 2025, and is scheduled to reopen in November.
The work is being done to restore championship-level conditions. The course has been home to the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing (and all the tournament’s previous names) since the year it opened.
All the greens, bunkers and bulkheads will be rebuilt alongside improvements to agronomy and maintenance. The turf will remain as TifEagle Bermuda grass on the greens with Celebration Bermuda on the fairways, tees and rough.
“Everyone at The Sea Pines Resort is committed to honoring the legacy of Pete Dye’s design,” John Farrell, director of sports operations at Harbour Town, said in a media release announcing the restoration. “We will protect the shot values, both long and short, that have come to define Harbour Town Golf Links for nearly six decades.”
Davis Love III and his design company will serve as consultants to the restoration. Love won the RBC Heritage five times, and he designed the Atlantic Dunes course at the resort.
“I’m both honored and excited to be working with The Sea Pines Resort’s Harbour Town Golf Links team on the restoration of Harbour Town,” Love, who spent much of his youth on the island, said in the media release. “Given my success on the course over the years, it is a layout I know and love. We’ve already begun a thoughtful process for protecting the integrity of this Pete Dye masterpiece.”
10 destinations have three or more highly ranked courses on Golfweek’s Best Top 200 Resort Courses list.
What do you really want in a golf trip? If your answer is golf, golf, then more golf in one spot, sometimes followed by a wee bit of extra golf, we have you covered.
Golfweek’s Best ranks courses around the world by various categories, ranging from modern courses to the best in each state. One of our most popular rankings is the top 200 resort courses in the U.S.
Any of the layouts on the list would make for a great getaway. More than three dozen resorts have two courses on the list, always begging for a comparison between layouts over a nice cold drink and dinner after a full day of golf.
But if you’re looking for more, keep reading. Because 10 resorts are home to three or more courses on Golfweek’s Best ranking of top resorts in the U.S. From coastal Oregon to inland Florida, these destinations have the holes — and the pedigrees — to keep golfers swinging for days.
Pinehurst No. 4 (Courtesy of Pinehurst Resort)
Six of these resorts have three courses ranked among the top 200. They are Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri, Firestone Country Club in Ohio, Pebble Beach Resorts in California, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama, Sea Pines in South Carolina and Streamsong in Florida.
Two of these are not traditional resorts. The first is Firestone, which for the most part is a private members club. But Firestone offers stay-and-play packages open to the public. That qualifies it as a resort based on Golfweek’s Best standards in which any course that offers tee times to the public, even if the club is mostly a private facility, is deemed to be public-access.
The other in question is the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, which offers golf at 11 sites around the state. Because all the facilities are managed under one umbrella and offer great opportunities to bounce from one site to another with relative ease, we opted to include the Trail on this list.
Next up are the resorts with four courses ranked among the top 200 — rarefied air. They are Destination Kohler in Wisconsin (Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run are two clubs, each with two courses, that are part of one resort) and Reynolds Lake Oconee in Georgia, which is a sprawling resort and residential community.
Only two resorts in the U.S. have five courses among the top 200 in the U.S.: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon and Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. Both of them are bucket-list destinations that every golfer should see, hopefully more than once. They offer all the golf most players would ever want on one vacation — playing one round on each course would take days, and one round on each course is never enough.
The resorts with three or more ranked courses have gone about their development in multiple ways. Some were established more than a century ago and have added courses through the decades — these resorts often feature courses designed by multiple architects, offering an array of styles and architectural features. Others feature several courses by one designer, with the resorts sticking with the architects who proved to work best for them.
Either way, you can’t go wrong with a trip to any of these locations listed on the following pages. Included for each resort are its top-200 courses listed with their average rating on a scale of 1 to 10 as assigned by Golfweek’s Best rater program, their designers, the years they opened and their rankings on various Golfweek’s Best lists. We hope you enjoy perusing these elite resorts, both on these pages and in real life.
And it’s worth noting, there is one more resort destination that is very likely to join this list of 10 in the coming years. Pine Needles in North Carolina, not far from Pinehurst Resort, operates three courses, two of which are on the 2023 list of top 200 resorts: Pine Needles (No. 47) and Mid Pines (T-35). The company’s third course, the recently renovated Southern Pines, didn’t have the requisite number of votes to qualify for this year’s list but is almost a lock to appear on the list in upcoming years.
StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps for one of the most recognizable courses on the PGA Tour.
Harbour Town Golf Links – site of the 2023 RBC Heritage on the PGA Tour – was designed by Pete Dye with an assist from Jack Nicklaus and opened in 1969 on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Harbour Town will play to 7,191 yards with a par of 71 for the RBC Heritage. With tree branches frequently dangling into playing corridors, the layout tends to favor control over brute strength as players must navigate sometimes tight fairway lines on the interior holes before the course moves to Calibogue Sound for the final two holes. The par 3s are considered by many to be among the best sets of 1-shotters in the game.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week.
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Which layouts top the public-access and private course rankings in South Carolina?
South Carolina is one of the most popular golf destinations in the country, with top layouts stacked alongs the Atlantic coast. From major-championship sites to PGA Tour venues to elite private clubs, the Palmetto State’s golf offerings are a gift that just keeps giving. Keep scrolling to see the best of them.
Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with that of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.
(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960 (c): Classic course, built before 1960
Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses.
The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to the 8 range.
All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.
Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, the location, the year it opened and the designers. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.
KEY: (m) modern, built in 1960 or after; (c) classic, built before 1960. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.
The top 200 resort courses in the U.S. stretch from Pebble Beach and Bandon Dunes to Whistling Straits and Pinehurst.
Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2022 list of top resort golf courses in the United States.
The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final, cumulative rating. Then each course is ranked against other courses in the region.
This list focuses on the golf courses themselves, not the resorts as a whole or other amenities. Each golf course included is listed with its average rating from 1 to 10, its location, architect(s) and the year it opened.
With limited fans at Harbour Town Golf Links and in its regular spot on the calendar, the RBC Heritage felt closer to normal.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — The RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing annually signifies that spring has sprung in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.
But this year, the 53rd annual tournament played at Harbour Town Golf Links — the classic Pete Dye-designed layout — took on even more significance.
The 2020 tournament was turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was first canceled, but then brought back and played in the third week in June, but with no fans in attendance due to coronavirus concerns.
The pandemic is still a problem throughout the country, but vaccines and pubic awareness seem to be helping as things are getting back to normal. And that was the case this past week with fans enjoying some beautiful weather as they gathered at the Sea Pines Resort to watch many of the best golfers in the world compete.
Steve Wilmot has been the tournament director since 1997 and has been through the ups and downs that his position entails — including running a tournament without a sponsor for a year. But that pales in comparison to what he had to deal with last year with the initial cancellation and then running a tournament with no fans in attendance.
Steve Wilmot, RBC Heritage tournament director (Nathan Dominitz/SAVANNAHNOW.COM)
He said the RBC Heritage usually draws around 25,000 fans on tournament days and up to 30,000 on weekends. Although COVID-19 restrictions limited attendance to about 25 percent of capacity, he is happy that things are turning in a positive direction.
“We knew it was going to be tough, and our ticket pricing is a little bit different this year,” Wilmot said in a interview with the Savannah Morning News on Saturday. “The costs of conducting a tournament are still there, whether we have 30,000 or 1,000 fans. Things like security, those costs remain the same no matter how many people are attending.”
Wilmot said one of the toughest parts of running the 2020 tournament without fans was that the RBC Heritage had to stop its charitable contributions, which reach millions of dollars, because of the attendance situation, But with support from sponsors such as Royal Bank of Canada, Boeing and with some help from the PGA, the show went on.
“Collectively as a community, and with support from our sponsors, the PGA and the state we said, ‘Heck yeah, let’s go,’ so we did it,” Wilmot said.
Then they had to plan for the next tournament in nine months, instead of the usual 12.
Signage at the RBC Heritage. (Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News)
“It’s been an awesome week,” Wilmot said. “And we’re also in survival mode, trying to get to 2022. The community has been so supportive from the people from Sea Pines being so flexible to the tremendous leadership from the town of Hilton Head and from the state capitol in Columbia.
“The buzz has been great. We have more volunteers than we’ve ever had, and I’m very proud of them and the fact that we’re conducting the tournament with health and safety as our No. 1 concern,” Wilmot said.
“We’ve repurposed some volunteers to make sure people are wearing masks.”
Dressed for the occasion
Scott Richardson was enjoying the scene at Harbour Town on Saturday dressed perfectly for the occasion in a tartan kilt with a red vest topped by a flat cap. He was accompanied by his wife Margaret, also dressed to the nines.
Richardson is a Savannah Country Day graduate who serves as the Heritage Classic Foundation Scholar Committee Chairman. So he and his wife were able to see the action in June when Webb Simpson went low to win the tartan jacket.
Scott Richardson, with his wife Margaret, at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town on Saturday. (Dennis Knight / Savannahnow.com)
“This is huge for the community,” Richardson said of having limited fans back in attendance for this year’s event. “This is more than a golf tournament for us. We have about 1,200 volunteers out of a small town of about 40,000 people. It has a small-town feel, and we love that. We’ve been bottled up (because of the pandemic), and I (think) everyone is excited to be back out here.”
Greg Brannan of Pooler, Georgia, was one of those fans happy to be back at Harbour Town. He had a prime spot next to the 10th tee.
“I just love to come out here and see how far these pros hit it and how precise they are,” said Brannan, a regular at the RBC Heritage. “They are at a whole other level. There are fewer fans out here this year because they’re limiting it. It’s usually packed. The course is in such great shape. They have it set up nice. I walked five holes and it’s beautiful out there. It’s been an enjoyable day.”
With all the behind the scenes work Wilmot has to do, he was glad to see golf take center stage again this week.
“Mother nature has been so nice with the weather this week, and we deserve it,” Wilmont said. “And look at the leaderboard today, when you have a Stewart Cink and a Collin Morikawa up at the top. … I’m energized about it.”
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN
Pete Dye designed Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina, and it presents a unique variety of strategic challenges for PGA Tour Players.
One thing is for sure on the shore of Calibogue Sound: Harbour Town Golf Links is a different kinds of golf course, designed by a different kind of course architect.
Pete Dye was still kicking off his design career in 1969 when he laid out Harbour Town at Sea Pines Resort in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, soon before the course hosted the first of what has become the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage. Fans surely will recognize the iconic red-and-white lighthouse just beyond the 18th green – that view of water, golf course and lighthouse is one of the most recognizable shots in televised golf each year.
What the cameras can’t capture adequately are the strategic demands of the first 16 holes that amble through a neighborhood and wooded areas. Tall trees block many shots, and it’s entirely possible to smack a tee shot into a fairway but have almost no standard shot toward the green. Pine branches dangle out from all angles on several holes, forcing players to think their way around the course. The Tour players this week better be ready to hit a mix of cuts, draws, high shots and low screamers to the relatively small greens.
A view of the lighthouse behind the 18th green at Harbour Town Golf Links (Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports)
Simply put, Harbour Town presents all the strategic challenges a player might expect from Dye (with input from a then-fledgling designer named Jack Nicklaus), just in a tighter package than at some of the famed designer’s other courses.
Thanks to yardage books provided by Puttview – the maker of detailed yardage books for more than 30,000 courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges that players face this week. Check out each hole below.
Amid the international coronavirus pandemic, more than half the top 25 courses on Golfweek’s Best list of resorts are temporarily closed.
After weeks of trying to keep their courses open during the international coronavirus pandemic, more than half the top 25 courses on Golfweek’s Best list of resort tracks have shuttered their operations temporarily or plan to this week.
Several of these resorts, stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific, have posted to their websites or sent emails that operations have been halted. At others, the courses remain open while the hotel operations have ceased or been dramatically curtailed, and some are maintaining full operations.
Several of the top 25 are northern courses that have not started their golf seasons yet and as of now are still planning to open when their seasons begin.
The situation is fluid and likely to change for some of these resorts that do remain open. Several of the courses that have closed have posted that they plan to reopen in April or May. Following are details on each.
1. Pebble Beach Golf Links
Pebble Beach, California (pictured atop this story)
MGM has ceased all casino and entertainment options until April 16.
8. Kiawah Golf Resort (Ocean Course)
Kiawah Island, South Carolina
OPEN
The resort has modified its services and dining availability, but the courses are open. The pro shops are closed, with booking and check-in being handled remotely.
