Harbour Town Golf Links
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The Harbour Town Golf Links is a golf course that hosts the Verizon Heritage golf tournament on the PGA Tour, usually held in April. The course is located in the Sea Pines Plantation of Hilton Head Island, in Beaufort County of South Carolina. GOLF Magazine has rated the course #1 in the state of South Carolina. The course opened in 1967, with Pete Dye as the architect with help from Jack Nicklaus. The course, along with the Ocean and Sea Marsh courses, makes up the Sea Pines Resort.
[edit] General information
The course is open all year, even during overseeding in October and the aerating of the greens in June, July, and August. Guests are allowed to play the course, however everyone must have a tee time. Tee times are accepted online through the course's website. The earliest tee time accepted is for 7:00 A.M. Eastern Time. The dress code states that denim is not allowed and that bermuda shorts and a collared shirt must be worn. Metal spiked shoes are not allowed.
An estimated 38,000 rounds of golf are played at Harbour Town every year. The fairway is made of bermuda grass. The greens are tifeagle grass.
[edit] Course information
The course is a par 71 from all three sets of tees. From the back tees, or heritage tees, the course measures 6,973 yards with a slope rating of 75.2/146. From the men's (champion) tees, the course measures 6,603 yards and has a slope rating of 72.9/139. From the men's (white) tees the course measures 6,119 yards and has a slope rating of 69.9/130. From the women's (green) tees, the course measures 5,208 yards with a slope rating of 70.7/124.
The course can be considered as quite short by today's standards of golf, but it requires shots that are perfectly positioned, arrow-straight accuracy, and consistency from the player. In fact, many of the holes are shorter than average, so professionals usually find themselves relying on their wedges to shoot low scores.
The signature hole on the golf course is the eighteenth hole. While it is not the number one handicap hole (meaning the most difficult to score par on), it is a challenging 478 yard par 4. The tee shot is to a wide fairway landing area. From there, the player must hit an accurate shot with his or her long iron over Calibogue Sound. Most players will aim their shot at the famous red-and-white lighthouse beyond the course, however out of bounds lurks along the left and right sides of the hole.
A customary tradition is that, when a player wins the Verizon Heritage tournament (and usually on the eighteenth hole), the boats lined up in Calibogue Sound toot their horns to the winner.
