Here’s how pros are handling RBC Heritage’s frustrating 14th. ‘Best hole on the course.’
As Grayson Murray prepared to tee off, a huge alligator sunned itself some 25 yards from the green, which must have looked like a postage stamp from his vantage point 192 yards away. There would be no room for error. On the right, a canal of water snaked along the skinny fairway all the way to the putting surface. On the left stood huge pines and oaks. A deep-walled “pot bunker” was another potential land mine that Murray knew he must avoid. Near the green, throngs of fans lined the rope and watched. At a private hospitality house, guests had a front-row seat to watch Murray’s incoming shot.
As another of the world’s best golfers prepared to take on one of pro golf’s toughest holes — Harbour Town Golf Links’ par 3 14th — the crowd seemed to hold its collective breath.
Murray was a casualty on this day, but he wasn’t alone.
During the first round, 10 bogies and four double-bogies were recorded along with 50 pars and five birdies at the 14th for an average of .188 over par, according to the PGA Tour. That made the 14th the hardest hole on the 18-hole course Thursday.
As for Murray, the world No. 59 was shooting par golf when he arrived at the 14th on Thursday afternoon. He departed with a double-bogie 5 after finding the water with his tee shot. As the Raleigh native departed the green, he kicked his golf bag and threw his putter to the ground in frustration, forcing his trailing caddie to scoop it up in his wake.
John Allison has seen such frustration play out countless times at the notoriously difficult hole, which he says is usually the undoing of at least four or five golfers each tournament. For 35 years, the Lexington, Kentucky man has worked as a volunteer in gallery management at the RBC Heritage — all at the 14th.
“They all know it’s the best hole on the course,” Allison says of the pros.
The numbers back up the observations of the long-time volunteer.
In 2021, the 14th was the 24th hardest par 3 hole on the entire PGA Tour, and the eighth most difficult in 2022. Players improved their scores in 2023, when the hole was ranked the 89th most difficult out of 288 par 3 holes.
With the threat of the water on the right, most players to try to play their balls to the left edge of the green or just off of it. Even then, chipping and putting can be dangerous because the green slopes toward the water. Probably a third of the time, players hitting balls from the pot bunker end up rolling the ball all the way across the slanted green and sometimes into the water, Allison says.
Wind that blows through this area can also be confusing to players, Allison adds. He’s seen a pro record a 10 on the par three, and lots of eights.
“The key to this hole is putting,” says Maceo Nance of Columbia, who had a ring-side seat to the action Thursday from the hospitality house.
All day, Nance had been watching how the pros played the hole. Some patterns emerged. “They either over read them or under read them,” he says of the putting, adding, “How aggressive do you want to be?”
The difficulty of the hole attracts the fans and the hospitality house adds to the atmosphere, Allison says. He loves the hole and the people.
“Plus, when you see pro golfers screw up, it makes you feel better,” Allison says. “And they do.”
