Days after the best college players clear out of Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Washington, the top seniors move in. Tyler Sweet, Director of Golf at Wine Valley, praises the golf course’s versatility, and that will be particularly apparent in the two-week stretch encompassing the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Men’s Amateur and the Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior Amateur.
“It’s such a great layout,” Sweet said of the golf course. “You can do so many different things with it.”
Wine Valley, which opened in 2009, has twice before hosted the PNGA Amateur, a top-50 event in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (based on strength of field) that is filled with Division I college players. The course also frequently hosts U.S. Golf Association qualifiers and Washington state amateur and open championships.
On July 16-18, Wine Valley will host the Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior Amateur for the third time. Players will compete across four divisions: Senior (age 55-64), Super Senior (Age 65-69), Legends (age 70-74) and Super Legends (age 75 and over).
Wine Valley is a Dan Hixson design nestled into the Blue Mountains in Central Washington. It is ranked No. 3 in the state of Washington on the Golfweek’s Best Public Courses list and also appears on the Golfweek’s Best Top 200 Modern Courses list.
Sweet goes back to the panoramic mountain views.
“They did not move much dirt to build this golf course,” he said. “You’ve got rolling hills through there, it used to be farm fields – whether it was hay fields or alfalfa fields. Just a rolling golf course. It’s just so natural that people just want to come play.”
Picturesque though it may be, Wine Valley has teeth, and players generally feel them around the greens. The course features exceptionally large greens – some as deep as 40 to 50 yards from front to back – which can mean a several club difference depending on hole location (of which there are many). Sweet calls the greenside bunkering rugged and natural and notes that “if you short-side yourself in a bunker, you’re really going to have to work to make par.”
A strong Senior division field includes Kevin VandenBerg of Syracuse, New York, who claimed last year’s Golfweek Senior Player of the Year honors. Jack Larkin, the No. 3-ranked senior in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is also in the field. So is Doug Hanzel, also among the top 10 seniors in the WAGR and winner of the 2013 U.S. Senior Amateur.
The Senior division also includes Jim Pliska, owner of Wine Valley Golf Club. Pliska, who also owns Emerald Valley Golf Club in Creswell, Oregon, has built his career in the golf business while also keeping his game sharp. Pliska played for the University of Oregon in the 1970s, and continues to compete in Oregon Golf Association events. He won the OGA Tournament of Champions in 1986,1988 and 2000.
Jim Starnes, the top-ranked player in Golfweek’s Super Senior Rankings, highlights the Super Senior field. Starnes, of Ft. Myers, Florida, won the Florida Azalea Senior earlier in the year and tied for second at the Golfweek Senior Amateur at Desert Willow in Palm Desert, California.
Golfweek top-25 player Dan Parkinson of Lehi, Utah, is among the Legends field.