Harbour Town

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

Harbour Town went from 65th to 97th in Golf Digest's Top 100 Courses.  1)  Do you think the "Tradition" points overly proped up a course event though it essentially changed the direction of golf course architecture in the U.S. and 2) do the houses, condos and trees really pull it down to 97th in the US?  Personally, I haven't played the course since the late '80s....  And. I scored terribly.  Too tight for my spraying...

[Lou_Duran]

Mike,

I've played HT a few times, and though I liked it a lot, it never made a great impression on me.  Part of it has to do with the topography, small scale features, tiny greens, trees dictating or forcing limited strategy, pitching and chipping being at a premium at a much higher rate than most anywhere I've played, the often soft conditions maybe to support the price and volume of play, and the likely hodge-podge of golfers one is likely to encounter on any given day.

Long Cove gets much higher marks in my book, probably because it is considerably different than most of Pete's courses I've played, a bit less punitive, and with quite a bit more variety.

HT did show its teeth Sunday afternoon.  What was wrong with the last group?  Nerves?

[Dan Kelly]

HT did show its teeth Sunday afternoon.  What was wrong with the last group?  Nerves?

Both of the final pair have had tremendous problems playing four good rounds in the U.S.

Clarke seems to start nearly every tournament fast and then have trouble finishing. (He very often starts a ROUND fast and then has trouble finishing the ROUND well.) Lonard has never finished well in America, in my memory, when he's been in contention.

Lonard might suffer nerves; I don't know. It appears to me that Clarke suffers from insufficient concentration (and a tendency to get irritated when something goes wrong) -- possibly combined with a tendency to try to hit it stiff to every pin position. A dangerous tendency on the weekend on the PGA Tour.

Both of them have quick swings with very quick transitions. Do such swings break down more easily under pressure? Maybe.

[Jason Topp]

I've only played Harbour Town once, but I really liked it.  I thought the combination of wide fairways but trees so tall that you could be blocked out if you are on the wrong side posed big challenges for the good player but as not much of an obstacle for the poorer player.  I also liked the small greens.

In my opinion, the housing should not pull that course down in rankings.  The houses are so shielded by trees that they do not detract from the experience in the same way they do at other courses.  

[Paul Richards]

Harbour Town is really quite an amazing golf course.

This was really the start of the 'less is more' trend that began in the '80's and seems to have fallen by the wayside as the 'overspend-the-unlimited-budget' type courses have now taken over the ranking lists.

 

[George_Bahto]

I've over 45 rounds at Harbour Town over the years as we've vacationed there for over 20 years.

Aside from the fact it created such a change in architecture in America (strategy vs just Long), and that often it is not in the greatest of condition, it is one of my favorite courses in the country.

A great balance of holes: the 3's, excellent 5's and a number of wonderful par-4s.

How this course could slip so far in the GD rankings is beyond me, Mike.

of course, it is to expensive these days - I'm glad to have had the fun of playing such a great golf course. I learned a lot playing HT.

Forget what the pros do to the course ..... they are too long and incredibly accurate, but if you remember, the first few years they held the Heritage there, only a few guys broke par for the four days ...... Pete had to soften the course.

I mean they hit short iron into 18 - that's nuts .... to me if I had a 4-iron in I was happy.

And then along came Jack N one year and blew the course away.

[Mark Brown]

Although I prefer Long Cove, Harbour Town has a lot of excellent holes, particularly the par 3s, 8,9, 10 and 13 thru 18, and it has stood the test of time with very few changes - maybe 125 yards in length and the winning score is often below -10. It deserves to be higher in rankings. A lot of shot-making required and its list of winners makes the U.S. Open champs look quite sad