Daniel B.
Yelp
Without a doubt, Harbour Town Golf Links is a five-star golf venue. I've played at a lot amazing courses over the years. In terms of course conditions, layout, scenery, service, amenities, and simply overall fun factor, Harbour Town stands up to, if not surpasses, all of them. There's a reason why Hilton Head is a favorite stop among PGA Tour pros, their families, and caddies.
Harbour Town unveiled a new clubhouse in March 2015. It's exquisite and first class all the way. The clubhouse is modern, grand, and elegant, but it's not overdone. It's a living monument to the Heritage golf tournament and its past champions who have been immortalized in a series of beautiful paintings inside the clubhouse walls. You can find the Heritage champion's tartan plaid jacket and championship trophy just inside the main entrance. The clubhouse and golf course are open to the public, so go check it out.
The men's locker room (and, from what I've heard and seen from pictures, the ladies' locker room as well) is a sight to behold. The stairway to the men's locker room is lined with a multitude of paintings of past Heritage champions. The spacious locker room has TVs, complimentary snacks and sweets, and large glass displays once again showing off the Heritage champion's tartan jacket along with golf clubs and autographed flags from past tournaments. There are numerous lockers, many of which are named, belonging to past champions like Jim Furyk and Matt Kuchar.
For anyone playing the course, the lockers are complimentary, as are the showers. There's a locker room attendant who will clean and shine your shoes for free (you'll have to tip, of course). Spike replacements are $13 per set and shoe laces are $2. The sinks and showers are all very nice (check out my pictures) and include a comprehensive host of toiletries such as disposable pre-pasted toothbrushes, mouthwash, deodorant, talcum powder, combs, razors, shaving cream, lotion, sunblock, soap, shampoo, and conditioner. There's a classy men's lounge with a bar (the locker room attendant pours drinks), TV, reading materials, menus for the restaurant downstairs, and comfortable indoor and outdoor seating. The covered outdoor patio has great 2nd floor views of the practice putting greens and range, 1st tee, and 9th green.
The pro shop is stocked with a nice array of Harbour Town and Sea Pines logo merchandise in all the latest and fashionable brands and styles. I picked up a couple golf shirts and a lightweight water resistant hat. The shop is bigger and carries more items than the typical pro shop. They even have Scotty Cameron putters and an engraver.
Range balls are included with your round and can be found at the range. They use the best: Titleist Pro V1s. You hit off both grass and mats at the range. The practice putting greens feature big pins with wooden sticks and tartan flags.
An automatic pellet ice and water machine is located at the cart staging area. The carts are Club Car and come with coolers already packed with ice and bottles of water, towels, and tees that feature the Harbour Town lighthouse and signature red and white stripes (fine attention to detail). The carts do not have GPS, but the course is marked with plenty of yardages - a sprinkler head or drain, with yardages to front, center, and back, is never far away.
As for the course itself, it's difficult. From the tips, it measures 7,099 yards with a 75.6/148 rating/slope. Because of the difficulty of this course, I recommend playing one set of tees up from the tees you normally play from. I've played this course from both the white tees (6,253 yards, 71.4/136) and gold tees (5,867 yards, 69.6/131) and it always provides a stiff test. A premium is placed on accurate, well-placed shots, both off the tee and on the approach.
The course is notorious for its tiny "postage stamp" greens. Keeping the ball in play is critical to a respectable score and there are plenty of bunker-filled, deceivingly open, tree-lined corridors to navigate. Elevation changes are minimal. Of course, the most scenic and memorable holes are Nos. 17 and 18, bordering the Calibogue Sound. The 18th hole, with the iconic red and white Harbour Town lighthouse situated behind the green, is one of golf's most famous finishing holes.
The course has always been in superb and pristine condition the times I've played it. You shouldn't expect less of a regular PGA Tour host course. It's cart path only at all times.
All that said, it's expensive. We paid $155 per golfer (Sea Pines property owner rate), plus about $23 total to cover some sort of entertainment tax, for our last afternoon round here. The before-11am rate was $190 per golfer. The general public rate was $275 per golfer ($190 twilight) plus a mandatory $30 forecaddie fee (not including gratuity) per golfer.
Sea Pines property owners get discounted tee times with no forecaddie required, 10% off all merchandise in the pro shop, and 10% off food and drink at the grill.