Centennial Golf Course, Taupo, New Zealand

Centennial Golf Club stone age golfer

I played Centennial Golf Course, Taupo, a few days ago, for the first time in 20 years.
Since my game, way back then, they've removed a lot of trees, giving it very much a links feel. However, the lack of trees has not made it any easier.
Off the women's tees, most of the par 4's are well over 300 metres long so you need to be driving straight and hitting the fairway woods and long irons well.
If you have a mean slice or wild hook, take lots of balls. Although there isn't any water, the long rough is very gnarly and swallows balls quicker than a hypochondriac swallows pills.
(I'd just like to mention here that we three women didn't lose one ball, while the male in the group lost three.)
We played at 11.00 on a Monday and, on a perfect still, sunny day, pretty much had the course to ourselves. It's very relaxing when you have no golfers ahead of or behind you.
If you don't already have it, buy a copy of the New Zealand Golf Guide. New Zealand Golf Guide

10th green at Centennial

 (It's great for reduced green fees, but also wonderful because of all the course and contact info it contains.)  We got $15 off our round by presenting the book, so only paid $32 for our round. That has to be the bargain of the year for a course in such good order in the middle of winter.

The first hole is superb. A very sharp dogleg left, 225 metres, where you can't take driver off the tee or you'll go in the trees on the far side, if you're lucky, or the fairway bunkers, if you're not. It's one of only two par 4's under 300 metres, the 17th being the other one. A wee draw with a rescue wood worked well for us.

I'm trying to think of a signature hole, but there are so many good holes that I'll have to adopt a few aliases.

The 5th and 6th are on my list. The 5th is a long par 5, 450 metres, downhill at the end to a hidden green. (Alas, the shape of the hole matched my score as I missed the green left with my 3rd and ended up double-bogeying.)

The 6th is a 149 metre par 3, with a deep donga left so don't go there. I did, and had a sunken lie so used my rescue wood to bump the ball up on to the green. Then I sank a 20 ft putt for par.

The greens on Centennial are excellent. Reasonably quick without being scary fast, and they're all the same speed. They look dark green, certainly much darker than the greens I'm used to playing. I suppose that has something to do with all the frosts they get  in Taupo.

The 14th is a 338 metre dogleg left, with a raised green protected by bunkers left and right. Takes a good drive and a damn good second shot (probably with a fairway wood, if you're chicken/sensible and don't cut the corner) to get on this green.

2nd shot to 14th green

If pushed, I'll select the 16th as the signature hole on Centennial. Once again, it's a dogleg left, 337 metres where you need a long, straight drive to set up for a second shot across a valley to the green. A very long green which I managed to hit in two. It's just a shame that my ball was at the back and the pin was at the front. Three-putted for a bogey ... sigh.

Fantastic golf course and, although it chewed me up and spat me out, I'll look forward to returning because I'm sure I can score better.

That's the one good thing about playing badly, providing you're an optimist.