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.”
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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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.
The best of South Carolina’s Low Country and Grand Strand is all about long marsh views, moss dripping from oaks and beachside living. Think shrimp boils, pickup trucks and Southern accents. And golf courses. From Myrtle Beach at the north end of …
The best of South Carolina’s Low Country and Grand Strand is all about long marsh views, moss dripping from oaks and beachside living. Think shrimp boils, pickup trucks and Southern accents.
And golf courses.
From Myrtle Beach at the north end of the state’s beaches to Hilton Head Island near the southern end, it seems there are more fairways than back roads – and that’s saying something down here.
It’s no surprise to most traveling golfers that South Carolina has great golf. Myrtle Beach is a long-time staple with its nearly 100 courses. Halfway down the state’s coast, Kiawah Island Golf Resort has hosted a Ryder Cup in 1991 and a PGA Championship in 2012, and the course is slated to host that major championship again in 2021. Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines hosts the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage each April.
What is somewhat surprising is that in a state that stretches inland some 250 miles with a diverse landscape that rolls up toward the Appalachian Mountains in the west, all the state’s top-ranked public-access courses are near the beach. Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list includes 15 courses in the Palmetto State, and each of them is near the coast.
My recent rounds on the top five on the list showcased the best of coastal South Carolina golf. Included with the highlights of my trip are comments from Golfweek’s Best raters, on whose opinions our comprehensive course-ranking system is built.
