Insider: Harbour Town's links favor no specific player type

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Brian Gay ranked 189th on TOUR in driving distance in 2009 but won The Heritage by 10 shots.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Davis Love III has won five times at Harbour Town and he's always been considered a long hitter. Jim Furyk won The Heritage a year ago and he falls sort of in the middle when it comes to distance off the tee. Justin Leonard and Brian Gay may not be able to out-drive the best player on the Hilton Head Island High School team, but each has won here.

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So, how is it possible that one golf course can be played so effectively by such a wide variety of players?

"You just have to play golf and you have to play good golf," said Heath Slocum, who was runner-up here in 2002. "It's not a long driver's course and it's not a putter's course. You have to hit every club in your bag and at the end of the week it's the guy who plays the best who wins."

Last year Furyk defeated Brian Davis, another short hitter, in a playoff. In 2009 it was Gay who won by a tournament-record 10 strokes. The two previous years it was Boo Weekley who became a local hero with his homespun homilies and exceptional iron play. Three champions, each with a different style of play.

"Look down the list of champions and you see all different sorts of players, all very good ball strikers," said Matt Kuchar. "This is definitely a ball-striker's course. Jim Furyk is a really good ball striker. Boo Weekley is a really good ball striker."

And it helps to be able to maneuver the ball around the course. Imagination and intelligence can come in handy.

"I think it's all about working the golf ball," Furyk said. "There's a lot of strategy involved, but you have to hit high shots, low shots, curve it right to left, left to right. If you don't have control of the golf ball you're going to struggle on this course."

The course measures only 6,973 yards, one of the shortest layouts on the PGA TOUR schedule. But there's something about the genius of the Pete Dye layout that helps level the playing field. Perhaps it's the green complexes, which are small by today's modern standards. (You could probably fit a couple of the Harbour Town greens inside a few of those monster-sized greens at Redstone in Houston.) Or maybe it's the existence of the pine trees, which hug most fairways. Their branches often extend into uncomfortable places and sometimes come into play when you least expect it. It forces players to make an intelligent decision.

"It's about hitting fairways, but a lot of times it's about hitting the proper side of the fairway and that may depend on day-to-day, with the pin placements," Furyk said.

Furyk used No. 9 and No. 11 as examples. "If you don't hit the right side of the fairway, you have to carve a shot around trees and hit it low or hit it very high or hit it around branches," he said. "It's actually a very fun golf course to play."

Mark Wilson, a two-time winner on TOUR this season, pointed to No. 15, a 571-yard par 5 that makes a late dogleg to the left. It makes the decision to go for the green in two shots a temptation for the big hitter, who must decide if the risk is worth the potential reward.

"You can drive it down 330, but it's a tough second shot," Wilson said. "Most of the time (at other courses) you drive it way down and have a clear shot to the green. There's holes like that that play with you and entice the long hitters to go for it when you probably shouldn't. Maybe that helps out some of the most average-length hitters like myself."

Kuchar, another guy who falls in the mid-length category, learned about the fifth hole through playing it numerous times that it's better to miss the green of the par-5 on the right side. A miss on the right leaves a simpler uphill chip.

"There's things you pick up after playing it enough years you feel like it can help save you a shot over the course of the four days, maybe two shots, from course knowledge," Kuchar said. "Those shots come in handy at the end of 72 holes."

So while bombers like Love and Ernie Els (second in 2007, seven top 10s in 11 starts) certainly have a chance, the odds aren't tilted in their favor. Just asked Brian Gay, who ranked 192nd on TOUR last year in driving distance; he lapped the field in 2009, leaving a lot of the long hitters in the dust.

Stan Awtrey is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.