Harbour Town Golf Links, a spectacular Pete Dye design that is the annual home to the Heritage Classic. While the Heritage has undergone numerous sponsorship changes, one thing remains constant, Harbour Town is one of the favorite stops among tour pros. Ranked by Golf Digest #142 in America’s Greatest Courses, # 73 in Golf Mag’s top 100 courses in the U.S., and #16 in Golf Mag’s top 100 courses you can play, Harbour Town’s acclaim lives up to the hype. With help from Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye laid out a treacherous course with narrow tree-lined fairways and extremely small greens. Only Pebble Beach has smaller greens on the PGA tour. Harbour Town is unique in its low profile with no elevation changes or raised greens. While not long by tour standards, playing at 7,099, Harbour Town proves that length is not needed to present a challenge. Harbour Town is a shot makers course, requiring precision on all shots. The course is further tightened by overhanging trees blocking direct shots, putting an emphasis on the control of trajectory and ball placement. Because the course is so tight, danger looms on every hole. Harbour Town features plenty of doglegs and hazards, whether it’s water, OB, pine straw or waste bunkers. The greens are very tough yet fair. A tough target due to their size and no shortages of breaks but roll as true as they come, allowing for birdie opportunities. Harbour Town incorporates plenty of Dye hallmarks golfers have come to love or loath. No hole embodies the legacy of Pete Dye more than the 13th, with a massive deep bunker in front of a tight green revetted with rail road ties. It doesn’t get easier on the 14th hole, which is consistently one of the most difficult par 3’s on tour. With a narrow green, water runs diagonally along the right side of the green and is a magnet for stroke penalties. Harbour Town provides one of the most unique and daunting closing stretches in golf. 16 is a hard dog leg left featuring one of the original waste bunkers. 17 offers a player their first view of the Calibogue Sound. A long par 3 that plays even longer into the wind with water on the left and long and deep bunkers to the left and right. The par 4 18 is one of the most iconic finishing holes in golf. The hole features immaculate views of the Sound and the infamous Harbour Town Lighthouse in the backdrop. Playing 472 yards from the pro tee’s and a long carry over the marshland, the 18th is one of the most difficult finishing holes in golf. Harbour Town may be punishing and visually intimidating, but with precision ball striking and diligence around the greens a player can shoot a low score here. Like all Sea Pines courses, Harbour Town is always in top notch condition, which is incredible for the amount of play it gets. It is widely debated amongst locals which course is the better track, Harbour Town or Atlantic Dunes. While expensive at $299 and the cost of a required forecaddie, this is on par with many of the PGA courses I’ve played. If you find yourself golfing in Hilton Head Island, Harbour Town is a must play.