RBC Heritage by Boeing - Hilton Head Island

Get your plaid on! If you are obsessed with golf, love golf, have a mild interest in golf or a people-watcher, Hilton Head Island in April is the only place to be. The exact place being Harbour Town Golf links April 14-20, 2025.

In 1969, visionary Sea Pines developer Charles Frasier announced a PGA-level golf tournament to be played over Thanksgiving weekend on Harbour Town Golf Links. Hilton Head Island was a hidden gem at the time, and many were skeptical that anyone who was anyone in the world of golf would play in the first Heritage Classic.

People were wrong. Both Arnold Palmer (you don’t have to be a fan of golf to know the name) and Jack Nicklaus (another well known name who just happened to help renowned golf course designer Pete Dye lay out the course) committed to play. Palmer won the tournament and the rest, as they say, is history.

In 1969 the purse was $100,000 ($770,000 in today’s money). This year the RBC Heritage by Boeing purse is $20 million (and a coveted plaid jacket for the winner). Thanks to some of the biggest names in the sport and extensive TV & streaming coverage, over 100,000 spectators from all over the globe converge on Hilton Head Island bringing over $130 million to South Carolina.

The RBC Heritage combines the highest level of golf with one of the oldest traditions in sports. Tournament week is opened with a reenactment of a Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews tradition. Festivities kick off with a parade around the Harbour Town Yacht Basin to the sounds of the Citadel’s Pipe and Drum band. The past champion receives his Captain of Gentlemen Golfers plaque and kicks off the tournament by using an authentic hickory club to hit a featherie-style golf ball (originally made from cowhide and boiled bird feathers) into the Calibogue Sound accompanied by a cannon shot.

The tournament is about more than just pomp, circumstance, and golf.  It’s about the money BUT not just for tournament winners. In addition to the money infused in the local economy by tournament participants and attendees, the Heritage Classic Foundation has distributed $56.9 million to charities throughout South Carolina and Georgia since 1987. With 100 registered charities, the Heritage Classic Foundation distributed a record $3.993 million in 2024 alone.

Spend a beautiful Lowcountry spring day at Harbour Town sightseeing and people watching. Buy something plaid. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://rbcheritage.com