Vines (Ellenbrook)

Sitting north east of Perth in Western Australia, the Vines Resort is home to two of the best resort courses in the country. Three 9-hole circuits were constructed between 1987 and 1989 by Graham Marsh and Ross Watson before Marsh added an additional nine in 1997 to form the 18-hole Lakes and Ellenbrook layouts.

The fourth loop at Vines now make up holes 3 to 11 of today’s Ellenbrook course and they blend seamlessly into the initial configuration – even though there’s a higher density of housing adjacent to the more modern fairways – with water coming into play at a handful of the new holes.

Greens here are large, averaging around 700 square metres, which might be expected of a resort course intent on offering as many different pin positions as possible. Then again, hitting the green at Vines is one thing, getting it into the hole is another altogether.

The Heineken Classic tournament was held at Vines between 1993 and 2001 (played over a composite course during the last few years of its tenure) but it moved onto Royal Melbourne for four years in 2002 before dropping off the professional circuit due to lack of sponsorship.