The long, storied Heritage of Harbour Town

text size

Verizon Heritage: Tee Times | Coverage | Explore the Course | Top moments

Developer Charles Fraser just wanted to sell a few more lots in his getaway community of Hilton Head Island, S.C. He didn't intend to create the perfect antidote to the brain-frying, nerve-fraying battle for the green jacket just up the road in Augusta, Ga.

Nick Faldo hits his tee shot on the iconic 18th hole. (Getty Images)

Forty years later, the lots are long gone, almost an afterthought to the relaxing, let-your-hair down atmosphere that is proving to be the perfect follow-up to the crucible of The Masters, this week's Verizon Heritage.

And yet a few of the same characters that made Augusta National the place to be in early April were just as involved, maybe even more connected, to the birth of the tournament that has now followed it on the schedule for 25 years.

And those same legends have indirectly brought as much laughter and joy to the golfers (and fans) in Hilton Head as they brought drama to Augusta the week before.

Charles Fraser was not a golfer, but he recognized in the late-1960s that a world class golf course and network TV exposure could help sell real estate, especially if there were breathtaking views involved.

So he called the most famous name in golf's phone book at the time, Jack Nicklaus, to ask if the Golden Bear would build him a venue that would draw both the world's top pros, and a lot of attention (translation: real estate traffic) to his pristine -- but out-of-the-way -- paradise on the largest barrier island in the Atlantic Ocean south of Long Island.

When the call came, Jack had won only seven of his majors and still hadn't turned 30, but was already looking ahead in his career, and it was well-known that course design was a serious interest.

He just hadn't built any yet. But he immediately called someone who had, a relatively unknown from Indiana named Pete Dye, and Harbour Town Golf Links launched not one, but two design careers.

The layout under and around the ancient oaks and pines of the island, featuring numerous waste areas with bunkers and ponds bordered by railroad ties, was a radical departure from the trend toward brawny, wide-open layouts and was initially panned by players.

But though it has been modified only slightly since, and is still one of the shortest courses on TOUR, it has stood the test of time and now is ranked on many of the players' personal top 10 lists.

Davis Love III at Harbour Town in 1996. (Getty Images)

But as a tournament venue, Harbour Town got its jump-start when Fraser cajoled Arnold Palmer to join the field for its 1969 inaugural held the week after Thanksgiving (the late November start was the Heritage's spot in its first four years). Palmer agreed to come, but only after Fraser pulled some strings to allow Arnie to land his plane at Hilton Head's tiny island airport.

The King conquered Harbour Town, closing out the tourney at the signature 18th hole that still didn't have any houses beside it, and under the scaffolding of the still-not-completed landmark 93-foot-tall lighthouse behind the green.

Back then, players stayed in homes of residents as there were only four hotels on the entire island, but the maturation of the tournament has paralleled the growth of the island.

Most players now stay right on-site at Harbour Town, making it an extremely family-friendly venue where Dad can go off to work on tournament week while the family heads to the beach, with a daily reunion near the bike trails and other recreational opportunities around the yacht basin.

Greg Norman and Davis Love III are among those who've brought their boats and lived just off the 18th green, near the party venues that allow players and locals to mix and mingle all week long.

After Jack (and Pete) and Arnie, the biggest contributor to the continued success of the Verizon Heritage is its spot on the schedule. Most tournaments detest being locked in the week after a major, but Hilton Head has embraced its spot right behind the Masters since getting the date in 1983. While only one player (Bernhard Langer in 1985) has won both tourneys the same year, many have used Harbour Town to "get well" after Augusta.

In fact, only four times in the 25 years that the Verizon Heritage has followed the Masters has the Hilton Head winner not been in the Augusta field.

And while the last three winners claim Hilton Head as their first TOUR win, the list of multiple winners here ranks with any tournament anywhere. Davis Love III has five Verizon Heritage titles and Hall of Famers Hale Irwin (three times), Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Payne Stewart and Hubert Green join Fuzzy Zoeller and Stewart Cink among owners of the Heritage tartan jacket, yet another unintended contrast to Masters green.

The 40th Heritage champion might be a veteran looking to add to a Hall of Fame resume, or a young gun dreaming of a Hall of Fame future, but there's no doubt he'll add to the heritage of a tournament born with the touch of the King, the Bear, and a non-golfer who wanted to develop a little island retreat that now has 23 golf courses in 45 square miles.