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South Carolina is one of the great golf states in this country. Its 187-mile coastline is littered with engaging golf courses from North Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head Island and plenty of heavy-hitters and hidden gems in between. A golfer could spend two weeks making a slow crawl down the coast from the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand down through the Lowcountry and still barely scratch the surface of the great golf that South Carolina has to offer.
Two pilgrimage spots on such a sojourn would be The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort just south of Charleston and Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island. They're not just South Carolina-great, they're American destination golf icons. Built in different eras of the Hall of Fame career of architect Pete Dye, they occupy honored places in the history of modern American golf. When it opened in 1969, Harbour Town was a key departure from the midcentury-modern mien of heavily shaped exterior features, large elevated greens and showy bunkering. Instead, it brought intimate scale and crackling danger spots accented by railroad ties, giving it an almost forgotten quality. Coupled with a dynamite three-hole finish on gorgeous Calibogue Sound, it has been a favorite of visitors and PGA Tour players - including Jack Nicklaus, whose collaboration with Dye established the "signature architect" age - ever since.
The Ocean Course has also been marked by pro golf's influence since its own day one, which happened to be the 1991 Ryder Cup, one of the most important three-day weekends in golf history. That "War By The Shore" turned the Ryder Cup from a curiosity into a frothy showdown between the U.S. and European teams that bubbles hotter and hotter every time it comes around. Two subsequent PGA Championships - won in 2012 by Rory McIlroy and won in 2021 by Phil Mickelson - give it perpetual prestige. So does the course itself, a feat of engineering that snakes between marsh and Atlantic Ocean in a routing reminiscent of Scotland's ancient links, but with the big shoulders of any great championship course.
But which golf course is better? To settle this common 19th-hole debate, let's pit Harbour Town and The Ocean Course against one another the old-fashioned way: match play.
Harbour Town vs. The Ocean Course: Match play
Hole 1: Harbour Town's first hole is one of Pete Dye's best opening-statement holes, showing golfers exactly what they're in for aesthetically and strategically. The Ocean Course's first is something of a gentle handshake - an early opportunity for golfers to strap in before the challenge to come. Harbour Town 1 up
Hole 2: Two excellent par 5s - a superpower of Dye's - do battle here, both offering a chance to bank a birdie. The Ocean Course's second gets the nod here for its switchback shape and the way it introduces golfers to the front nine's marshy scenery. All square
Hole 3: The Ocean Course's mild start continues with a short par 4 characterize by an overturned-bowl green guarded in front by a sandscape with a tree in the middle of it, while Harbour Town turns up the temperature with a long two-shotter with some brilliant greenside bunkering. Harbour Town 1 up
Hole 4: Finally, Dye flashes a wicked grin at The Ocean Course with a long, bruising par 4 with marsh left and right and bunkers surrounding three sides of the angled green. At Harbour Town, the first of a strong set of par 3s, with a heart-shaped green guarded by a lagoon rimmed with railroad ties. I could go either way here, but I'll lean towards The Ocean Course for living up to its reputation for brutality. All square.
Hole 5: Phil Mickelson made The Ocean Courses first par 3 - a mid-iron shot to a huge front-right-to-back-left green - famous when he holed a sand shot in 2021, while Harbour Town's sharp dogleg-left par 5 with a tiny green has no iconic moments of its own, despite some clever strategy. Tie goes to The Ocean Course for history and setting. The Ocean Course 1 up
Hole 6: The beginning of a run of eight straight holes that head almost due west at The Ocean Course is a solid if unspectacular par 4, while Harbour Town's 6th hole has a little bit more going on, with a subtly bending fairway and a skinny green. All square
Hole 7: A bit of a breather par 5 at the Ocean Course, especially downwind, is no match for Harbour Town's superb 7th, one of the coolest-looking inland par 3s I've seen, with its gnarled tree formations and bunkers surrounding a pushed-up green. Harbour Town 1 up
Hole 8: Arguably the toughest hole on the course, Harbour Town's 8th shows Dye's ability to quietly extract suffering from golfers, whereas the par-3 8th at The Ocean Course almost rubs it in golfers' faces with a green that is so steeply elevated in front and so exposed to the wind - and therefore extremely firm - that it feels impossible to hold. Harbour Town 2 up
Hole 9: Harbour Town extends its lead with one of golf's best short par 4s: a narrow straightaway jog to a one-of-a-kind, fortified V-shaped green where woe awaits any approach missed in the wrong spot, which can change dramatically depending on the hole location. It's not that The Ocean Course's 9th hole is bad - it's a solid long par 4 with a cool green - but it's up against a juggernaut here. Harbour Town 3 up
Hole 10: Both back nines start with strong par 4s, with Harbour Town's offering a sneak-peak at the open-marsh finish. But I love how the island back tee area at The Ocean Course sets the table. Harbour Town 2 up
Hole 11: The third of a run of six straight par 4s at Harbour Town is a solid hole, but it's outdone by my favorite of The Ocean Course's four par 5s which, when playing downwind, offers the chance for two exhilarating shots that can end up on or close to a complicated green. Harbour Town 1 up
Hole 12: Harbour Town's middle third closes well, with a characteristically subtle dogleg-right to an interesting green shape, but The Ocean Course counters with one of its best holes, a bruising par 4 with water all up the right side. All square
Hole 13: The Ocean Course doubles down here with another challenging, watery two-shotter while Harbour Town serves up a superb wood-and-wedge par 4 with an L-shaped green fronted by an iconic railroad tie-rimmed bunker. Harbour Town 1 up
Hole 14: This battle between two all-time Pete Dye par 3s is just about too close to call. Harbour Town's 14th is a snarling little nightmare, while The Ocean Course's 14 is a big mean bully with its elevated oceanfront green. Both holes are pivotal moments on their respective courses, and it feels impossible to choose a winner. Harbour Town 1 up
Hole 15: The Ocean Course's seaside stretch run continues here with a strong par 4, though perhaps not as noteworthy as some others on the course, while Harbour Town counters with a Pete Dye specialty: a par 5 where the temptation to go for the green often seems to land even the best players in trouble. Harbour Town 2 up
Hole 16: This is the point where Harbour Town changes color from the deep green of the forest to the blue sky and water of Calibogue Sound, and the par-4 16th is a cool par 4 with an awkward dogleg scheme complicated by both sand and two tall pines in the fairway. But The Ocean Course's 16th hole is one of the great par 5s in the Dye oeuvre, made more iconic by Phil Mickelson's swashbuckling birdie there to put the 2021 PGA Championship in his pocket. Harbour Town 1 up
Hole 17: The Ocean Course's furious comeback continues here, as it follows an iconic Pete Dye par 5 with an iconic Pete Dye par 3 that has been iconic since it opened at the 1991 Ryder Cup. It's a bad beat for Harbour Town's 17th, which is a delightfully fiddly par 3, too. All square
Hole 18: The original finishing hole at The Ocean Course might have on this matchup on the strength of its history, with Bernhard Langer missing a putt that would have secured the '91 Ryder Cup. But the hole has been redesigned over the years and is still a satisfying finisher, but it is hard to beat the candy-striped lighthouse presiding over Harbour Town's world-famous closer. Harbour Town wins, 1 up.
This close hole-by-hole match on paper is a testament to the quality of both golf courses. If I telescope out somewhat to include each course's relative intangibles, Harbour Town consolidates its lead, but not by much. As I have traveled and seen hundreds of golf courses, I've concluded that Harbour Town's whole look and feel is directly on my wavelength, and while The Ocean Course has, well, the ocean, it's not a course I feel like I could play every day. I would gladly play Harbour Town every day. Reasonable golfers can disagree, though, and I am not too keen to argue with someone who sees The Ocean Course as the greater achievement. I do think a golf life that includes rounds at both courses is far richer than one that does not.
Tim's Harbour Town/Ocean Course 10-round split: 6-4 in favor of Harbour Town.
Where do you land in the Harbour Town/Ocean Course debate?
Comments (2)
To me The Ocean Course was more playable off the tee for the average golfer. But also had some impossible short game shots that I couldn’t make when in the wrong spot. I didn’t feel that HT had that. But it would punish you off the tee for not being in the correct part of the fairway
Chris, I think you're broadly correct about The Ocean Course being relatively friendly off the tee. Where it really challenges players is everywhere else, in my opinion, occasionally to the point of abuse, at least on a breezy day. Harbour Town is tremendously well-balanced in its challenges; all aspects of it are just tricky enough that different types of player can find a way to put a score together. To me, that makes Harbour Town more sophisticated than The Ocean Course.