Review: The Heritage Golf & Country Club

In fact, the former teacher would introduce himself as ‘DGI’ – Damn Good Ideas.

Inglis, who sadly passed away in 2003 from Motor Neurone Disease, was one of the great movers and shakers in Australian golf for nearly two decades.

He was the driving force alongside Frank Williams in founding the Australian Masters tournament in 1979, and later the Johnnie Walker Classic. He was also instrumental in establishing The National Golf Club on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

I first met Inglis in late 1996 during a visit to the Yarra Valley and the site of the proposed The Heritage Golf & Country Club. Inglis had just gone into partnership with Dr John Tickell – a doctor, best-selling author and businessman – who had earlier developed the Hyatt Regency Coolum Resort on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Over the next few hours, Inglis outlined his ambitious plan.

Integral to the early success of The Heritage was signing Jack Nicklaus to create two signature courses across the 730-acre property dominated by river flats on both sides of the Yarra River. One course would lie south of the meandering river, while the second would be to the north and venture into more dramatic terrain. Of course, high-end residential estates would be built, an impressive clubhouse and spa as well as a boutique hotel would feature.

At the time of our meeting, Inglis had been selling memberships to the private club for nearly a year but it would be another four years before the new country club members would get to strike a blow on what is known as the St Johns Course – named after the Order of St John of God Catholic religious order that formerly owned the land.

Nicklaus’ St John layout was a tough and slow construction with tens of tons of sand required to cap the fairways and greens above the clay base of the flats. But as the saying goes “all good things take time.”

St John opened for play in 2000 and Nicklaus’ first private ‘Signature’ course design in Australia has been critically acclaimed ever since.

Nicklaus was renowned as the most powerful player of his generation, but he was also its finest strategist. He could win a tournament based on smart play and, at other times, on pure heroics. Nicklaus, the course architect, incorporates these same attributes into his creations. The St John layout rewards players who think their way around the course and know exactly when they can be aggressive in chasing a good score. The Golden Bear once said that to make your best score you must “map and then play your way through each hole most intelligently.”

“For many years now, that is how I have designed my courses,” he added. “My number one goal, then, in terms of creating individual shot values, is to make the player use his mind ahead of his muscles.” Strategy is the order of the day at The Heritage. But it is important that you tackle the course from the appropriate tee to fully understand the challenge Nicklaus was creating with each hole.

The examination of skill begins at the 2nd after a gentle opening par-4. At 380 meters (from the Blue tees), this par-4 calls for an accurate drive to a fairway that lies diagonally to the tee. The further right the tee shot is placed on the fairway, the shorter the approach to the green. There is a catch though as this part of the fairway slopes markedly into rough bordering a large lake. The lake also cuts the fairway in two short of the green, which is angled to your approach and guarded by six sprawling bunkers. The good player seeking a birdie here ideally requires a left-to-right shaped drive and a right-to-left shaped approach shot to even entertain breaking par here.

Water is also a major feature of St John’s best par-5, the 468-metre 9th. A strong drive here certainly brings the green into reach for two shots, but only if you risk hitting your tee shot into water or sand down the left edge of the sweeping dogleg left hole. Ideally, if you take your drive over the huge fairway trap, your ball will get a friendly kick forward, from a downslope, and into the go-zone. The wide, angled green features four bunkers – two short right as well as another two long and left – ensuring the best approach into the putting surface is from close to the water.

Arguably the best par-3 on the St John course is its penultimate hole. The 153-meter 17th is perched high above several back nine holes, just inside the boundary of the highest residential viewing points over the course. The player with the ability to hit a high left-to-right tee shot can eliminate the deep scheme of bunkers short and left of the green, which – like so many on Nicklaus’ course – is angled to your tee shot.

Nicklaus proposed a route for the second layout, known as The Henley Course, which is north of the Yarra and well away from the residential development. Inglis died before the Federal Government finally, in 2003, approved the construction of the layout under its environmental living guidelines.

Rather than pay the fee for another Nicklaus signature course, Tickell opted to commission local course architect Tony Cashmore, who had earned acclaim for his creations at The Dunes and the Beach Course at Thirteenth Beach. It was a great decision as the more natural and wilder looking links-style Henley offers a significant point of difference to the sculpted manicure of the parkland St John Course.

As you might expect with holes laid across river flats, water and wetlands dominate the scene for most of the front nine. But Cashmore’s fairways are generously wide, while the greens are large and receptive so the water hazards can easily be avoided with good ball-striking.

Like Nicklaus’ St John layout, there is plenty of strategy built into Cashmore’s creation. The par-5 2nd hole is a fine example. At 445 meters from the blue markers, the green is easily within reach for the longer hitter, but getting the best line into the putting surface requires a tee shot that skirts by the massive fairway bunker cutting into the driving zone from the left. This is the best position to work a shot onto the green and avoid a pond lurking short right. That said, club selection – for your second or third shot – needs to be spot on to not only dodge the water, but also stay out of the three expansive bunkers left and long of the green.

The first par-5 on the back nine – the 470-metre 13th – leads you away from the river flats and into the biggest elevation change to be found across The Heritage property and to the edge of the Warrandyte State Forest. The climb from the 13th tee takes you through a valley towards a kidney-shaped green. Again, skirting the crop of four bunkers left of the short grass will leave the best playing line up the hill to the perched green, which lies beyond four large sandy hazards.

Perhaps the most memorable hole on The Henley is the 447-metre par-4 16th, which plays much shorter than the scorecard suggests as the hole plunges straight downhill from one of the highest points on the layout back to the river flats. While it may play shorter, the real challenge here is putting a quality strike on your approach shot from a steep downhill lie into a green where deep bunkers hug the right edge.

There is no doubt the two courses at The Heritage complement each other beautifully. If you have the time to play both during a visit you will really like the different golfing experience each presents, while also enjoying the common threads like strategy and the rewards for good shot-making.

During my latest visit to compile this story, some 26 years after that first meeting with Inglis, I was very impressed at the presentation of the playing surfaces of both courses. That hasn’t always been the case at different times during the club’s short, and sometimes rocky, history.

However, under the current owner – Chinese billionaire businessman and developer, Wang Hua – there appears to have been significant investment in both courses, fully complementing the designs of Nicklaus and Cashmore.

Before or after your round, take some time to drink in the view from the front of the impressive clubhouse. It is a striking vista with the different shades of green of Nicklaus’ course set against the various shades of brown of the surrounding Yarra Valley hills.

The Heritage is a private member’s club, but interstate and international golfers can contact the club to arrange a limited tee time. Visitors are also welcome when accompanied by a member, while guests staying at the adjacent Yarra Valley Lodge can also book tee times.

FACT FILE

LOCATION: Heritage Ave, Chirnside Park, Victoria

CONTACT: (03) 9760 3200

WEBSITE: www.heritagegolfclub.com.au

DESIGNERS: Jack Nicklaus – St John Course (2000); Tony Cashmore – The Henley Course (2006).

PLAYING SURFACES: Bentgrass (greens), Santa Ana couch (St John fairways), Wintergreen couch (Henley fairways).

COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Jason Newman (Henley), Jordan Dunstone
(St John).

PGA PROFESSIONALS: Michael Dean (head professional), Sean Crowe.

GREEN FEE: $100 (weekdays), $115 (weekends). The Heritage is a private member’s club, but interstate golfers can contact the club to arrange a tee time.

MEMBERSHIP: Private, corporate and junior membership is available. Check the club’s website for full details.

ACCOMMODATION: The four-and-a-half star Yarra Valley Lodge adjoins The Heritage and offers well-appointed guest rooms and at least half the rooms enjoy a view across the St John Course. Lodge guests are welcome to book tee times.