The wait is over: Iconic Sea Pines golf course to reopen soon. What’s changed?
Hilton Head’s best-known golf course is reopening this week after receiving a major facelift.
The Sea Pines Resort will unveil the renovated Harbour Town Golf Links on Nov. 11.
The 56-year-old course closed in May for an “extensive restoration project,” according to a press release. Five-time RBC Heritage winner Davis Love III served as the lead consultant for the restoration project.
The course’s acclaimed design is the product of American golf course architect Pete Dye and his wife, Alice. Dye sculpted the course through the forests of Sea Pines, creating a course challenging for amateurs and pros alike.
“We are all committed to protecting the strategy and integrity of Pete’s design,” Love said in a statement.
The iconic golf course first opened in 1969, and has hosted the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage ever since. Legendary golfers such as Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson are among the tournament’s most high-profile winners.
Has anything changed?
“Renovation” isn’t always a popular word on Hilton Head.
Longtime residents and visitors, who love the beauty of the island’s iconic landmarks, are quick to complain when things change. For example, news of the redevelopment of part of the South Beach Marina, which is also in Sea Pines, garnered a mixed reaction from residents on social media.
According to a press release, the renovated golf course will stay true to its original design, with some minor changes that will be difficult to spot.
“There won’t be places where people go, ‘oh my goodness, where did this come from?’” Sea Pines Director of Sports Operations John Farrell said in a statement. “Most changes will have to be pointed out to people.”
All greens, bunkers and bulkheads have been rebuilt, and improvements have been made to the agronomy and maintenance of the course, according to a press release. Even the species of turf has remained the same, with TifEagle on the greens and Celebration Bermuda on the fairways, tees and rough.
Here are the changes, according to the press release:
- Hole 7: Less sand around the green
- Hole 13: The dirt is a little higher around the boards
- Hole 14: Pot bunker “may not be as hard as it was”
- Hole 16: Bunker “looks a little different from what Pete built”
“This is still going to be a Pete Dye golf course,” Farrell said.
Behind Pete Dye’s design
Each hole in Harbour Town Golf Links is like a puzzle designed to challenge golfers to figure out the way Pete Dye wants them to shoot.
The course was designed around the same time as the Robert Trent Jones Course at Palmetto Dunes was being built with its massive greens and huge bunkers. Dye wanted to do something different that would set him apart from other designers.
He sculpted his design out of the existing landscape, carefully placing small greens and tiny bunkers in strategic locations and using existing trees as obstacles.
“Pete carved Harbour Town out of the woods,” Love said in a statement. “No one had ever done that before. He went through the woods and left trees in place as hazards.”
The result is a carefully sculpted course that rewards strategic thinking and often punishes aggression. Golfers can’t just try and hit the ball as far as they can on the first go — they must carefully study the landscape and plan out each shot in advance.
Golfers are rewarded for their persistence with a climactic moment in the 18th hole: Aim for the lighthouse.
In his book, “Pete Dye Golf Courses: Fifty Years of Visionary Design,” golf journalist Joel Zuckerman argues that Dye’s design “remains an absolute standout in the golf world.”
“It’s the understated, inland hole-to-hole genius of this design, admired by and bedeviling tour pros and resort duffers both, that maintains Harbour Town’s lofty reputation,” Zuckerman wrote.
This story was originally published November 10, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
