Harbour Town Golf Links debuts restored greens, bunkers and bulkheads at the RBC Heritage, with Justin Thomas praising the subtle but smart changes.
Harbour Town Golf Links will look familiar to players at the RBC Heritage, but it won’t play the same.
After last year’s tournament, the famed Hilton Head layout underwent a major restoration led by Davis Love III and Love Golf Design, with a clear mission ... protect Pete Dye’s original vision while upgrading the course for modern championship golf.
That matters this week because Harbour Town Golf Links, RBC Heritage, and Pete Dye course restoration are all central storylines as players adjust to rebuilt greens, updated bunkers, and several strategic changes across all 18 holes.
The work touched nearly every part of the property, from green complexes and tee boxes to bulkheads, cart paths, lagoons, and waste areas.
Defending champion Justin Thomas said the light-handed approach stood out right away.
Thomas, who returns as the reigning RBC Heritage winner, praised the renovation for keeping the course’s identity intact rather than overdoing it.
In his view, that was the biggest win. Harbour Town still asks for precision, still features tight doglegs and small targets, and still rewards players who think their way around the course.
The biggest changes came on and around the greens. Several putting surfaces were expanded, reshaped, lowered, or raised, while bunkers were rebuilt and, in many cases, converted to stacked-sod faces that should sharpen the course’s visual edge.
Several cart paths were also removed from prominent areas and rerouted into waste zones, creating a cleaner, more classic look.
A few holes may draw the most attention. The par-5 fifth now features a larger lagoon and a repositioned live oak near the green, while the ninth green was raised by 14 inches.
The finishing hole also got a notable tweak, with the tee shifted roughly 10 yards farther back and closer to the marsh.
In other words, Harbour Town hasn’t been reinvented. It’s been tightened, polished, and made a little meaner. That could make this year’s RBC Heritage even more interesting.
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