Par threes at Harbour Town

[Tommy Williamsen]

On the Harbor Town thread, it was suggested that it had one of the best collections of threes in the country.
Number 4 200 yards

Number 7 195 yards


Number 14 192 yards


Number 17 185 yards


Can we really say that it is a great collection with four water holes of similar lengths? They certainly are difficult and keep you on your toes, but how many 15 handicappers will play them without losing a ball or two?

[Mark_Fine]

Tommy,
I am biased a bit about Harbour Town because it is basically my home course but the par threes are absolutely fantastic.  Yes they are very difficult especially for the higher handicapper or if you play the wrong tees but they are exciting and rewarding to play.  I had a friend down a few weeks ago and he birdied the 17th which was playing into a stiff wind and it was one of the highlights of his golfing career (and he has played a lot of great golf courses).  He hit it to three feet on a back left hole location.
Also, to me “card length” is not all that critical.  Those holes call all play all different distances.  Look where they play for The Heritage - they change the length for some by 30 or more yards.  You should never judge a hole or holes by just the card yardage in my opinion. 
 
By the way, 13 and 15 at Augusta are considered by many to be two of the best risk reward par fives in golf and you could easily lose a golf ball in the water on both 

[Tommy Williamsen]

Mark, HT would benefit from a good short par three without water. I too have great affection for the course. I played in a pro am with Arnie. Augusta has two par threes with no water. You can always make a hole difficult. Just put in a pond. Pine Valley might be the poster child for great par threes.

[Mark_Fine]

Tommy,
#7 from one of the more forward tee boxes to a front hole location (it can play as little as 100 yards) is an absolutely great short par three and water is not in play unless you top it off the tee.  It requires a precise properly flighted shot just over the front bunker and one that avoids the tree on the left.  Just like in the tournament, you can get a wide variety of teeing and hole locations which makes all those par threes play very differently. 

[Tom_Doak]

Tommy:


I’m with you on this, and I was asked for my input by ownership.


The 7th hole was Mr Dye’s short hole originally- it was 153 yards - and it has suffered from the “mission creep” of hosting a Tour event.


But to Mark’s point, if they move up the tees on one of the four holes every day, that’s not so bad.

[Tommy Williamsen]

A couple of the greens are interesting, and at least one or two of them could be more interesting if there were mounding or swales instead of water. I have played the course at least half a dozen times and can't remember the distance ever varying very much. Don't get me wrong. I love the course. I could play it every day.

[Matthew Rose]

#14 has been lengthened at least twice - I seem to remember it playing about 165 or so 25 years ago.