Defending champ Spieth on Harbour Town: ‘I just really enjoy playing this golf course’

Talk is cheap and only the bold go on record before calling their shot.

Yankees star Babe Ruth may or may not have called his home run against the Cubs in the 1932 World Series. Versions vary, but the legend took a life of its own.

Tobin Anderson, coach for 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson definitely predicted his team’s triumph over Purdue in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Prior to the shocking victory over a top seed, he said he believed his Knights could make history. Coach-talk to inspire his team? Probably. But destined for a place in halls of memories.

What about the late Dan Jenkins in 1969 in reporting on the first golf tournament now called the RBC Heritage contested over the new Harbour Town Golf Links? He penned these words for Sports Illustrated:

“One of the more curious aspects of the week was that (Arnold) Palmer was able to win on a course that suited him about like a wig, thick sideburns and a protest poster. Harbour Town is some golf course, folks, just about the best new course that anyone has built in ages, a brutally narrow, abruptly twisting tangle of brooding pines, oaks, palmettos and magnolias with tiny greens guarded by wriggling bunkers and fierce marshes. . . . In an era when architects for some reason enjoy giving us 7,000-yard courses with greens the size of a supermarket parking lot, (Jack) Nicklaus and his partner, Pete Dye, have done the opposite. They have used great imagination and given us nothing short of a work of art. Palmer provided the perfect description, calling the layout ‘a thinking man’s course.’”

True then. True now_and the 55th Heritage that ends Sunday provides an annual reminder of how this golf course has stood the test of time. And no matter which player dons the plaid coat that goes to the champion, Harbour Town will be the real winner once again.

Distances change. Jenkins’ 7,000-yard reference would be perhaps 7,600 today. Harbour Town, less than 6,700 in the beginning, played a 7,125 for Thursday’s first round of the 55th Heritage and still lives up to the “thinking man’s course.”

The tree-lined fairways give the big bombers pause. Yielding distance off the tee for the stake of accuracy means longer shots into small greens, a situation long hitters hate and suits Joel Dahmen just fine.

“I’m one of the more accurate drivers, so length is not my game,” he said after his 5-under-par 66 Thursday. “Here, a lot of guys I played with were hitting 3-woods and 2-irons off the tee and I hit my driver anyway. They’re having 8-irons and I’m having gap wedge or sand wedges. If I can keep that up and drive it that way, I think I can hang around.”

That’s the beauty of Harbour Town. The design that really launched architect Pete Dye’s career is an equal opportunity layout. The list of champions includes both Hall of Famers and obscure players

“You can hit whatever off the tee,” Rickie Fowler said. “At the end of the day, it’s more about being in the short grass and being able to control the ball, especially if it’s windy and gusty, and the greens are firm and fast.

“You need to be playing from the fairway to most hole locations to have a chance. You can play good and shoot a few under, but you can also be a little bit off and (the course) will pick you apart.”

Augusta National and Harbour Town are totally different in terms of geography, yet both demand ball control.

“You have to manage the ball in the right places, very similar to Augusta,” Scott Stallings said. “You can be in the fairway and out of position (at Augusta National). Same thing here.

“While the courses from tee to green look very different _ (Augusta) is probably the slopiest course we play all year and this is probably the flattest _ the ball has to be in the right position.”

Harbour Town is definitely not a grip-it-and-rip-it course, said first-round leader Viktor Hovland in emphasizing Jenkins’ “thinking man’s” layout from 55 years ago.

“It’s pretty narrow, and I can kind of hit that drive where I tee down, grip it down a little bit and hit a low bullet,” he said. “It’s hard for me to hit a disastrous shot” with that setup. “As soon as you start hitting drive up in the air, the wind can start to blow and it’s hard to hit it straight.”

Even if U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick says Harbour Town does not fit his game, he looks forward to the Heritage.

“I just like the design,” he said. “I think it’s a really tough test. I think it’s a really fair test. If you hit the ball well from tee to green, you get rewarded. Even though I have not had my best results around here, it’s high on my list to come and play every year.”

Count defending champion Jordan Spieth among those who relish Harbour Town and its challenges. The place on the schedule, the week after the Masters, kept him away some years, but, he said, “I certainly plan (on playing the Heritage) going forward.”

Harbour Town fits his game, he said, “and I just really enjoy playing this golf course. If you hit good shots, you get birdie looks.” And the antithesis: “If you don’t hit good shots,” he said. “you get to play cool punch shots through the trees.”

The sum? “It stands the test of time.” Spieth said. “It just seems to always do that.”

Yes, Harbour Town always wins, just like Dan Jenkins called his shot 55 years ago. Then and now, it’s a work of art.