Harbour Town Golf Links and the RBC Heritage
Near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
In the fall of nineteen sixty nine, Hilton Head Island hosted its first major professional golf tournament, on a course that had been carved out of the Sea Pines forest just two years earlier. The Harbour Town Golf Links had been designed by Pete Dye, a golf course architect known for visually dramatic and challenging layouts, with significant input from Jack Nicklaus, who was at the time the most celebrated golfer in the world. The inaugural Heritage Golf Classic attracted Arnold Palmer as its headline player, and his participation gave the tournament instant credibility.
Palmer, who had gone more than a year without a professional victory, won the inaugural event. Nicklaus won the tournament in nineteen seventy five. Harbour Town Golf Links became one of the most recognizable courses on the professional tour.
Its landmark feature is the Harbour Town Lighthouse, a red and white striped lighthouse at the marina, built as a visual marker for the resort development. It is known more as an emblem than as a working aid to navigation, and it became the visual symbol of not just the golf course but of Hilton Head Island itself. The tournament, now called the RBC Heritage and held each April, draws players from around the world to the same winding tree-lined course where Palmer won in nineteen sixty nine.
The combination of sea breeze, tight tree-bordered fairways, and the lighthouse backdrop at the final hole has made Harbour Town one of the most discussed layouts in professional golf.
