Harbour Town Golf Links is a par 71 course and 7,099 yards (6,491 m) from the back tees, relatively short for a PGA Tour event; most are on courses that average 7,300 yards (6,680 m). For its inaugural tour event in 1969, the course was set at 6,655 yards (6,085 m). It has slick and firm Bermuda grass greens that are small in size; they average 3,700 square feet (340 m2) in area, while the average on tour is 6,600 sq ft (610 m2).

Several holes have a very small margin of error between greens and water hazards (4, 8, 14, 17, 18). Tee shots and lay-ups must be placed in the strategic part of fairway in order to have a direct shot into the green. Sometimes golfers get blocked out by overhanging trees, even if they are in the fairway. Holes in which players may be blocked out from the fairway include numbers 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 16. Compared to other courses Harbour Town has high percentage of holes with this challenge.

The ninth hole is a tight par 4 that can be reached from the tee with a long drive. It normally plays around 325 yards (297 m), tempting golfers to go for a small green guarded by bunkers. The two finishing holes are along Calibogue Sound, so the water line can vary due to changing tides. The hazard line is permanent, but shots can be played off the sand at low tide. On the final two holes, wind off the water must be factored. The seventeenth hole, a par three, plays southwest and usually into a headwind. The eighteenth is the signature hole and heads northward; its entire left side is guarded by the sound and the right is lined with out of bounds stakes. The red-and-white-striped Harbour Town lighthouse is a backdrop, often a good target for approach shots to the green.

Via Harbour Town GL on Wikipedia