Lauderdale: Spirit of the Heritage like catching the wind

Much has been written about the Harbour Town Golf Links.

I’m partial to one of its earliest descriptions by the late Furman Bisher. He called it purgatory with 18 holes.

The great Atlanta columnist said the fairways are so narrow, you couldn’t shoot a .22 rifle down some of them. The 18th, he said, “is designed to be played in four strokes. Actually, there is only one way to get there when the wind is presiding. You call a cab.”

Charles Price, one of the best golf writers ever, said course designer Pete Dye was regarded as the “enfant terrible of his profession.”

Price, who in 1969 helped assemble the field — and the writers — for the first playing of what we now call the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing, wrote:

“You won’t need a scorecard to tell you when you are playing a Pete Dye course. They are as unmistakable as Confederate courthouses.”

But my favorite words on Hilton Head Island’s annual dance with the devil that kicks up its heels for the 48th time this week, come from our own former sports editor, the late Terry Bunton.

In telling us how Arnold Palmer won the first one, Bunton wrote this about the drama on that chilly Sunday afternoon:

“Richard Crawford had the honor at 17, but his tee shot fought a losing battle with the wind and plugged in the left bunker.”

I can hear the dull thud. I can feel it plugging into the heart of Crawford, an excellent golfer and good man.

Palmer fought the wind with his 4-iron, and won. That turned his trip down 18 into a cab ride. And the world’s most beloved player gave instant fame to the odd course in an out-of-the-way place we call home.

In some ways, our fame still rides on fickle winds.

Inside the ropes, players with almost robotic skills duel in a do-or-die world. There are no trophies for participation, no paychecks for those who miss the cut. Their game has no mulligans. No foot wedges. No pity.

Outside the ropes, we too have become PGA Tour grinders.

Whatever the weather, field, purse or sponsor, the Heritage marches deeper and deeper in the plaid heart of a community searching for an identity.

Sea Pines founder Charles Fraser deliberately laced traditions into the tournament that at once seem silly, but somehow necessary.

He, too, is gone. But the dreaming Fraser left us to “get our plaid on,” with bagpipers screeching in a distinctive opening parade, a cannon blast over Calibogue Sound — and an open invitation for the world to come see us.

Not many small towns get the opportunity to host the world’s best. Our forefathers etched that into our DNA. The Heritage came with great expectations. Fraser expected everyone in town to be there, and to be smiling. And to open our doors to outsiders and regale them with the enthusiasm for home that bubbled behind his dancing eyes.

The Heritage makes us march to a different piper. It’s Easter and Christmas, spring cleaning, street party and royal and ancient yardstick. It tells us how are we measuring up to the hopes and dreams of our forefathers.

What the Heritage and its Harbour Town Golf Links mean to Hilton Head is hard to put into words. It’s a spirit that stands on tall shoulders, and rides again on fickle winds.

Your Guide to the RBC Heritage

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 8:57 PM with the headline "Lauderdale: Spirit of the Heritage like catching the wind."