When we had a thread a few months ago about influential modern architects, we seemed to settle on Pete Dye in general and Harbour Town in specific as the seminal person and work of the post-WWII years. And then silence.
In fact, not only silence but revisionism--there had been a putative review advertised on this site by Ran on Harbourtown as long as two years ago, but it was never posted and after that thread seemed to have been disappeared......
Why?
As for my experience, I played Harbour Town 5 or so times in the late 70's/early 80's and compared it then very farorably with Pebble Beach, which I also played fairly regularly at that time.
Why?
Well.....on both courses, every single shot you hit, from the tee, the fairway, the rough, the bunkers, the fringes or on the greens requires both raw skill and controlling one's fragile imagination. Both opening holes are seemingly pedestrian, but potentially lethal. Both 2nds are short "par"-5's, but HT's requries much more imagination than PB's. PB finishes better (HT's 16-18 are poor imitations of Pebble), but in the middle of the course, Harbour Town really shines. It has far less eye-candy than Pebble, but far more interesting and challenging golf shots. The holes flow naturally in a golfing sense, whereas at Pebble you often feel that the routing was chosen for reasons of golfer views rather than golfer strategies.
Of course, I could be wrong.......
