The drive north-east from the Perth CBD through the Swan Valley is one of the nicest journeys you can make in and around the West Australian capital.
Established vineyards come and go the deeper you get into the valley, where you will find The Vines Resort & Country Club, a former tournament venue where the kangaroos are plentiful, and the landscape is dominated by massive greens and rolling fairways.
It was here during the 1990s that the European Tour made its home for one week a year, co-sanctioning the Heineken Classic and, later, several Johnnie Walker Classics with the Australasian PGA Tour. Both events offered the biggest prize purses in Australian golf and, as a result, attracted superstars in the men’s game including Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, John Daly, Bernhard Langer and a host of others.
Some of the biggest names in women’s golf also played at The Vines in the 2007 Lexus Cup, a team event inspired by the Solheim Cup where the best players from Asia, like major winners Se Ri Pak and Jiyai Shin, were pitted against the finest Internationals including the legendary Annika Sörenstam as well as the likes of Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel and Natalie Gulbis.
The pros in all these events played a composite course with the best holes drawn from the Graham Marsh and Ross Watson-designed Lakes and Ellenbrook courses. In fact, even today, more than two decades after the Heineken Classic moved from The Vines to Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the composite course – incorporating holes 1, 2 and 12 through 18 of the Ellenbrook layout, with the Lakes layout back nine – is often referred to as the ‘Heineken’ course.
The Vines recently announced a masterplan for the entire property to undergo a $9 million upgrade that will ultimately see the composite course brought back into play as the resort’s tournament layout, with a nine-hole short course and a two-tiered driving range to be built. Other areas of what is now much of the front nine of the Ellenbrook course will become part of a residential development.
“WHEN JOHN DALY FIRST VISITED THE VINES TO PLAY THE HEINEKEN CLASSIC IN THE LATE 1990S, HE SHOWED PLENTY OF RESPECT FOR THE HOLE, USING A 3-IRON FROM THE TEE EVERY DAY.”
The first stage of upgrading the composite course has begun with new irrigation and drainage work being carried out, as well as some bunker remodelling.
The best holes across the entire property will remain. Opening a round will be the
