Harbour Town Golf Links - HHI, South Carolina
As a frequenter of the southeast part of the USA, Harbour Town was on my list of must play courses. It is one of the most famous courses in America due to its iconic finishing hole with the Harbour Town Lighthouse behind the 18th green and it being an annual stop on the PGA Tour.
We scheduled our round on our way down to Saint Simons for Thanksgiving and I was very excited to play the course after my great experience at Erin Hills. We stopped in Asheville for a few days on our way down so my arrival to Harbour Town was after a 5am wake up call and 5 hour drive. I would not recommend this before playing a Bucket List course.
My longest tenured golf partner and step-father (Michael) joined me for the round and after our quick warm up we headed to the first tee to meet our playing partners (another father-son) and our caddy. After my first tee shot I realized this was going to be a very long round for me. The course is shorter but very tight with accuracy and shot placement key to playing well, this is not the strongest part of my game. The course is a very tight and tree lined layout located within The Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head.
After taking a while to get loose and wake up from my car ride on the front 9 I got a coffee and rum drink to hopefully help the swing on the back nine. The swing juice immediately helped with a good drive and GIR (green in regulation) on 10 to start the back 9 off with a par. The back 9 was better than the front but was not going to be a round I would tell stories about. It didn’t help that our playing partners were pretty slow and Harbour Town also has a weird cart path only rule. You have 1 caddy for your group who is supposed to give you a yardage from the fairway and then you bring your correct club. I found this way of playing golf very weird and I was unable to get into a rhythm. I prefer to walk courses as I feel this is the best way to get into a good rhythm and experience the course.
I think a good indication of your experience on the course is if you get to the 14th hole, are you looking forward to your post round drink or are you sad your round is coming to an end? I was for sure looking forward to playing the famous last 3 holes on the water and getting off of Hilton Head Island.
Getting to 16 tee I was very excited to experience the last 3 holes and they did not disappoint. The highlight of the round was by chip in on 16 for a birdie. The tee shot into the par 3 17th was great as my shot flew just a little long over the green but I got up and down to save par. The 18th was a very long par 4 playing into the wind but after a drive then 5 wood I was just off the green and managed to get out of there with a 5 playing the last 3 holes at even par.
I am very glad I got to play and experience Harbour Town but I am in no rush to get back there. The style of golf needed to play a tight course is not my strength and with so many course options I just prefer a different golf experience.
