Day 2 Taupo-Taupo Golf Club-Centennial
This holiday is all about playing the rural and member clubs that we have not played in the past. We’ve played 72 of New Zealand’s 408 courses with a goal to get to 100 by Christmas this year. So today we played Taupo – Centennial. Taupo Golf Club has 36 holes, Centennial and Tauhara. They very cleverly switch week by week between the two for members and open the other to green fee players.
Weather
A brisk 5 degrees Celsius when we arose and headed out to walk to the 2 Mile Bay sailing Club for coffee and bagels. By the time we teed off at 11am there was a light breeze with cloud. The temperature was unstable, in the sun a tee shirt would have been sufficient but those moments were infrequent and not lasting so a sleeveless vest was the order of the day and by early afternoon when standing waiting a long-sleeved sweater was useful.
The Course
This is a very long 18hole, Par72 for men & Par73 for women course with 3 tee positions to choose from. Yellow tees for me, slope 128 (vs 119 at home), 5524metres (6041yards). Scott played off the White Tees, slope 120 (vs 124 at home), 6032metres (6597)yards.
Where Tokoroa is long with interest, Taupo-Centennial is just long. There is no signature hole that could be identified and I think Scott summed it up by saying it was a perfectly adequate club course and if this was your club it would be ok week after week. I felt like I would struggle to write about it in this blog and found very few photo opportunities.
The condition of the fairways was good and that is probably time of year, Winter we imagine the frosts would kill most of the grass and in summer the heat that Taupo experiences. But in Spring, they were very nice. The fairways were also very wide and there were not too many places that you could get into trouble. The Bunker sand was light and fluffy and the bunkers well maintained and playable. At least Scott seemed to get out ok, I thankfully did not get the opportunity to try.
The greens on the other hand have clearly had some problems. On the first half they were very patchy and speed was due to bareness rather than quality cover. The second half had some very strange patches of nice greens turf but no real improvement to the putting surface. They were quicker than Tokoroa so I did enjoy that.
Best holes?
There was no signature hole as mentioned, we both quite liked the Par 3 #12 which is a slightly elevated tee down to a green protected at the front by 3 bunkers. But sadly the beautiful Tauhara mountain is at your back and the vista behind this hole is the expressway.
Maybe for me the Par 3 #18 because ……finally another Par 3 and the end of a long uninspiring walk. I think if the Par 3 came at #16 the round would feel less dull but after the Par 3 at #12 you tackle 1620metres made up of a Par5 followed by four Par4’s of similar length and very similar style.
Worth mentioning is the #2 hole which runs parallel to Centennial Drive which is a very busy connection road to the expressway so hitting left is not an option.
We both played ok, I was satisfied with my game, I was 23 over and playing off a 21 handicap on this course so given the condition of the greens it could have been worse.
Scott finished 8 over on a 9 handicap so no grumpiness from him either.
Post round clubhouse
Given the welcome had been very nice with the shop attendant showing us around and letting us know details we were saddened to find the post round clubhouse to be the opposite. We went in for a drink but as often happens in these type of clubs a member stepped to the bar in front of me whilst looking me in the eye, I was not particularly put out until he then proceeded to take all his mates orders as they came in and walked past him. When he got up to 5 drinks to be ordered we left.
Food, beverage, accommodation and other activities
On our way back to our Hotel we stopped in at a fabulous Deli & Liquor Merchant on Spa Road called The Merchant. We picked up Kawhia Oysters, Smoked Mussels, Cheese and crackers and then enjoyed a Gin & Tonic on our room deck looking at the lake.
For dinner we walked back to the 2 Mile Bay Sailing Club and ordered a pizza which we brought back to our room for a quiet evening. The Club was heaving with people inside and out so obviously very popular. Their simple menu and simple service was very appealing for the couple of Spring afternoons we have been in Taupo.
The Golf summary – 37/50
