Harbour Town holds firm on Golfweek ranking of resort courses

Harbour Town Golf Links has held its spot at No. 13 on Golfweek's annual ranking of the country's best resort courses, though the bigger intrigue might still be a year off.

That's when Sea Pines officials will get a full measure of reaction to last summer's wall-to-wall regrassing at the site of the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing. Indications are most of this year's judging came before Harbour Town closed for five months.

"I can tell you we haven't had many (panelists) since we reopened," said John Farrell, Sea Pines' director of golf. "So we'll be interested to see how it's received. It's not just the golf course; it's the entire experience."

Harbour Town's expansive clubhouse also is less than a year old, having opened just weeks before last April's PGA Tour arrival.

Golfweek panelists rate courses in 10 categories, including quality of course features, variety and memorability of holes, conditioning and the "walk in the park" feel.

"You can play out here," Farrell said, "and without an awful lot of effort have tremendous recall of the holes and the shot values."

This marks the third straight year that Harbour Town has come in 13th, part of an elite cluster that sees only minimal adjustments from year to year. The only recent newcomers to the top echelon are the twin Streamsong courses in central Florida.

Pebble Beach regained the No. 1 spot for 2016, switching places with Oregon's Pacific Dunes, with Pinehurst No. 2 holding third. Kiawah Island's Ocean Course is No. 8, the only South Carolina layout rated above Harbour Town.

Three other state courses are among Golfweek's top 30, including Bluffton's May River Golf Club at Palmetto Bluff standing at 30th. Just ahead of May River are No. 25 Dunes Golf & Beach Club (Myrtle Beach) and No. 26 Caledonia Golf & Fish Club (Pawley's Island).

Golfweek also recently unveiled its newest rankings of the nation's top residential golf courses, with Long Cove Club heading a list of six Beaufort County courses among the top 100.

Long Cove Club ranks 19th in the 2016 compilation, with Spring Island's Old Tabby Links at No. 26. Farther down the list come both of Colleton River Plantation's layouts -- Jack Nicklaus' design at 75th and Pete Dye 88th -- joined by No. 83 Wexford Plantation and No. 93 Belfair (West).

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Harbour Town holds firm on Golfweek ranking of resort courses."