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 The tight tree-lined fairways at Harbour Town Golf Links, site of this week's Verizon Heritage, aren't appealing to the claustrophobic golfer. As South Carolina-native Jonathan Byrd puts it, "You start driving badly, it gets tighter and tighter, looks like a bowling alley."
Not so subtly the overhanging limbs of live oaks draped in Spanish Moss, plus the occasional pine tree encroach upon the short grass at Harbour Town, placing a premium on accuracy off the tee, well accuracy period. That 'the walls are closing in on me' feeling doesn't completely discourage driver; defending champion Boo Weekley still likes to hit that club as much as possible. But for others, Big Bertha won't be coming out of the bag as often this week.
"If I hit driver every hole on this course, well, 14 holes, I can pack up Friday night, because I'm going home," said five-time winner Davis Love III Wednesday. "I'm good, but I'm not that good. I can't hit it straight enough."
The beauty of Harbor Town is how the course has remained largely unchanged over the years since the Heritage was first played in 1969. Little length has been added to a layout that still measures under 7,000 yards, plays to a par of 71 and requires golfers to shape their shots, find specific spots on the fairways and hit dead-on accurate tee shots in order to find the PGA Tour's smallest greens.
But don't leave home without your imagination, because there are plenty of ways to accomplish those tasks; you've just got to find your comfort-zone.
 "It's a golf course where it's all about precision of how far you've got to hit it," said Weekley, who will attempt to become the first player to win three consecutive Heritage titles this week. "If you can control your distance, you'll play good here."
Another PGA Tour regular to win multiple times in Hilton Head is Stewart Cink, who is looking to add a third Heritage victory to his wins in 2000 and 2004. Cink said there are really two distinct schools of thinking you can employ when playing Harbour Town.
"I think that what this course does is it puts people in two camps psychologically," he said. "You either get into the camp where you feel like you're in jail because of the trees and how close everything is, plus the small greens.
"Or you feel like your goal is well-defined by a smaller target," Cink added. "I think I go in the second camp, so I just feel at ease."
The 2006 winner of the Verizon Heritage, Aaron Baddeley, says he really enjoys thinking his way around the golf course.
"This golf course, you've really got to use your imagination, because you can hit it in the fairways and have a tree in the way," Baddeley said. "You have to shape your ball around the trees. So it's something I enjoy doing, playing the game and shaping the golf ball."
In addition to the more relaxed atmosphere offered by Hilton Head Island, the course setup is also the polar opposite of Augusta National. The tournament has refuted the assumption that a reluctance to add length would leave it exposed to ridiciulosly low scores. If the wind picks up, like it did in 2007 when play finished on Monday due to severe wind gusts that downed trees, single digits under par can win the tournament.
Love III said this golf course doesn't favor any particular type of player, it's really about playing good golf, just as designer Pete Dye intended.
"The technology has changed, yes, but you've still got to chip and putt," Love said. You still have to hit your driver, whatever you hit off the tee, in the right spots on this course or you can't play it, no matter how far you hit it.
"(John) Daly and J.B. Holmes should do well, because they can hit 3-iron off the tee and put it where they want to, and if you play smart, and play the way Pete (Dye) wants you to play, you can play the course no matter what style you play."
Byrd discussed the ultimate strategy in very simple terms, saying "You figure out how to play the golf course and you just go play it that way. You're going to hit it behind some trees, you're going to hit it in the pine straws. You might hit it in the hazard once in a while, but the name of the game is keep it on the fairways, hit it on the greens and make birdie shots if possible and keep plugging."
The Smallest Greens on the PGA Tour
According to PGATour.com, the average green at Harbour Town Golf Links, site of this week's Verizon Heritage, is 3,700 square feet, compared to your average PGA Tour green which tends to measure in the neighborhood of 6,600 square feet.
For further reference, consider that the par-4 14th hole at Augusta National Golf Club is just under 10,000 sqaure feet.
"There's really not (any greens smaller than Harbour Town), as far as actual size," said Stewart Cink. "Some courses where the greens get really firm, the greens play small because you have such a small area to hit to. like Augusta National. But for green sizes, these are the smallest."
Like the head varsity cheerleader dating the starting quarterback, the dimunitive greens are a perfect match for this tremendously unique Pete Dye design.
The Long and Short of it
The par-3 192-yard 14th hole at Harbour Town is one of the most difficult par 3s on the PGA Tour. In 2005, it was. Including the major championships, No. 14, which is flanked by water on the front and to the right leaving little room for error, was the most difficult hole in relation to par.
Armed with superior technology and balls that fly forever, the players on the PGA Tour don't encounter many par 5s they can't reach in two, but this week they will.
The par-5 15th, which measures 571 yards from the Heritage tees, is a true three-shot hole. Due to an extreme dogleg left, it's highly probable that no player will reach the green in two this week. The design limits access to the green, just the way Pete Dye planned it. Dye tucked the green back left and surrounded the green with quite a few trees, each important to the hole's defense.
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