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Centurion

Centurion - Gauteng

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General Manager: Gavin Woodroffe
Golf operations & club pro: Jannes Sik
Greenkeeper: Carel Buitendach (Ingadi)
Club captain: Abie Grundlingh
President: Boet van Staden
CRITERIA SUMMARY: Total points 67.2 out of 100
Conditioning14.4 / 20
Playability14.5 / 20
Aesthetics9.1 / 15
Design Variety10.1 / 15
Shot Values10.2 / 15
Memorability8.9 / 15

Course Summary

Five tees / Par 72

Yellow 6654 metres, CR73.9/136
White 6357 metres, CR72.6/132
Blue 5966 metres, CR70.6/128
Red 5432 metres, CR67.8/116
Green 5034 metres, CR65.4/116
Women’s blue, CR76.8/141
Women’s red, CR73.3/135
Women’s green, CR71.1/123

Visitor green fee

R465 weekday
R580 weekend

Course designer

Peter Matkovich 1996

Contact

012 665 0279
www.centuriongolfestate.co.za

Previous ranking

69 (2023), 73 (2022) & 77 (2021)

Centurion was one of the early golf estates in Gauteng, and its central position between Sandton and Pretoria, with easy access to the N1 highway, has made it a popular residential option. The parkland course, where water comes into play on 10 holes, has matured and improved in recent years, offering risks and challenges yet also being eminently playable for higher handicaps.

A feature of the course, overlooked by the clubhouse, is a large dam around which the closing holes on each nine are played. It creates an exciting finish for golfers.

The eighth is a short par 3 with an island green in the middle of the dam, and that’s followed by a short par 4 which offers alternative fairways for golfers either taking a longer but safer route left of the green, or carrying their tee shots directly over the water to a narrow strip of fairway short of the green. There have been four holes-in-one here from golfers going for the green with their tee shots.

The back nine also concludes with a par 3 and par 4, but the 418-metre 18th is a far more challenging proposition than the ninth, one of designer Peter Matkovich’s best par 4s. Water must be carried off the tee, and it then guards the entire left hand side of the fairway all the way to the green.

Centurion experimented for three years from 2018 to 2021 when they switched their finishing holes around with the agreement of Matkovich, making the ninth the new 18th. But they have since reverted to the original routing.

Several Sunshine Tour professionals have made Centurion their home, one reason being that the course is a strong test from the back tees, with well-guarded and relatively small greens complexes that reward precise shot-making. The gently sloping greens reflect classic design values by Matkovich and are an integral part of Centurion’s character.

The Hennops River runs through the course, making it prone to flooding in the wet season, and it comes into play where it curves around the green of the par-4 sixth, on the right of the par-5 seventh off the tee, and short of the par-5 15th green. And a feature hole is the par-4 16th, where the approach shot needs to carry the river to a raised green perched above the river bank.

Read: CENTURION OFFERS VARIETY WITH COMPOSITE GOLF

Additional Course Facts

Course Record

62, Desvonde Botes, 2013 Sunshine Tour;
Duane Keun, 2016 IGT Tour;
Louis Albertse, 2018 IGT Tour;
Matthew Spacey & Malcolm Mitchell 2019 IGT Tour

Feature Holes

Centurion is famous for the two golf holes which sit inside the large dam in front of the clubhouse. The par-3 eighth has an island green, ringed by a bunker to avoid firm shots running into the water, while the short par-4 ninth offers two different fairway routes to a green sitting on a peninsula with water on two sides. From the tee, bold hitters can aim directly at the green over the water. Straight shots have a fairway on which to land. A safer tee shot is to go left to a wider fairway and then play a short approach over water to the green.

Practice Facility

Attractive range close to clubhouse with grass bays and mats, open to visitors. Club members eligible for range membership. Kyle Phelan is the teaching pro.

Did You Know

1/ Centurion is a large residential estate with 875 homes, yet the course mainly steers away from the housing and has a distinct parkland look to it in the holes which border the Hennops River edging around the property, and those overlooked by the clubhouse.

2/ It’s a 10-minute drive from Centurion to SuperSport Park cricket stadium. Centurion has a metro station on the Gautrain rapid transit system.

3/ There is a 4-hole mashie course, plus tennis and squash courts.

4/ Centurion members receive reduced green fee rates at Silver Lakes, Woodhill, Ebotse, Arabella and Zebula.

5/ Head professional Jannes Sik has a club fitting studio adjoining the pro shop.

Accommodation

There are golf suites and B&B options inside the estate.

Club Champions

2024 Vian Jansen van Vuuren & Gina da Silva
2023 Keagan Crosbie & Gina da Silva
2022 Keagan Crosbie & Zane Kleynhans
2021 Francois van der Walt & Zane Kleynhans
2020 Matthew Rossouw & Gina da Silva
2019 Reinhardt Blaauw & Gina da Silva

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Course Reviews
My first visit in five years to Centurion and the course has come on substantially. It appeared to be less claustrophobic off the tee than before, with more generous fairway landing areas. The closing holes on each nine (7 to 9 and 15 to 18) are testing with water in play on each of them. Mistakes at these holes can ruin a round, and you have to play them with caution. Measures have been taken to improve safety on the dogleg right par-5 12th where homes either side of the fairway have been struck by golf balls over the years. With the white and yellow tee boxes moved further back, and lowered, the temptation to cut the corner of the dogleg and shorten the hole (523m from white) has been reduced. Golfers have got the message and are being sensible, aiming towards a marker pole in the fairway.
Sabelo
17 June 2024
Centurion is playing better in all respects than it has done in years and the greens are superb. The excellent par-5 seventh is back to where it was before the flooding of recent times from the Hennops River when it often had to be played as a par 3. A low berm has done its job in diverting the overflow of water away from tees and fairway when the river rises too high. Interestingly, Centurion have lowered two tee boxes (4 and 12) for protective reasons. The previously elevated tees had seen hooked tee shots at the long fourth endangering golfers on the second green and balls hitting estate homes on the par-5 12th. There the back tees have been lowered and taken further back -- the number of impacts on houses has fallen 50 percent. A challenging Matkovich design for the club golfer, notably the start over the first six holes with four superb 4s measuring 441, 439, 369 and 364 from the white tees.
Stuart McLean
08 June 2024
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I played the course on December 30. Having worked at Centurion for many years and having my son live on the residential estate, I was disappointed by the overall conditioning. I understand it's a difficult time of year, but this was more long-term effects on the conditioning. The tee boxes were spongy and had not been verti-cut for months. The greens were soft with hundreds of pitch marks as well as other diseases. The clubhouse facilities and service are good, and club pro Jannes Sik has a nice, well-stocked shop.
Kevin Stone
04 January 2024
Course in good condition but would have preferred the greens a little faster.
Ignis van der Merwe
08 December 2023
Fantastic course to play, my favourite in Gauteng. Visually pleasing to the eye. Well-maintained and the greens roll smoothly.
Robert Mulligan
22 May 2023
Our fourball tried one of Centurion's new composite courses. Called the Hennops (after the river through the estate), it offers mostly a variety of yellow and white tees, plus two blues and one red. We had to pay attention on every tee to make sure we followed what was on the scorecard. From the back tees we played three par 5s, three par 4s (including the tough 18th) and two par 3s. We played blue tees at No 6, which made this a short par 4, and No 11, which I found a better par 3 at 171 metres than 200. The solitary red tee was the par-5 15th, playing 480 instead of 550. None of us went for the green in two over the river, but I did think about it before noticing it was stroke 2. Perhaps they should have different strokes for this course? The round was enjoyable, and I would recommend golfers also try the John Vorster Drive course, which uses just blue and red tees. It was on the same scorecard.
Dieter ten Haag
28 December 2022
One of my favourite long par 3s in Gauteng is the 11th at Centurion. This has evolved into a particularly attractive looking hole as well as a dangerous one. Centurion has a problem with golfers not repairing pitch marks on the greens, but the 11th green is mostly unscarred as few golfers hit it in regulation. It is a hole where the safest option does seem to be a lay-up even though there's no water hazard. I like the thatch-roofed lapa on the tee box, the wonderful greenside bunker under the bushveld trees left of the green, and the desert scape down the right of the hole with its variety of plants. With so many distractions how can you concentrate on the tee shot? Talking of tees, Centurion's are better than most. They are closely mown, firm, level and well presented. Quality tee boxes are not appreciated enough. Centurion reminds us of what can be achieved.
Stuart McLean
30 March 2022
Centurion was closed for three weeks after the damaging February floods which engulfed half the golf course. The height of the water had to be seen to be believed and most of the lower part of the course resembled a lake for three days. It's a tribute to greenkeeper Mark van der Linde and his maintenance team that it's playable again and looking exceptionally good despite the scars the water left. Much reseeding of fairways has taken place as part of the mop-up. The seventh has been shortened to a par 4 for that reason. The par-4 16th which crosses the Hennops River also gets hammered by any flooding, as does the fairway of the par-5 opening hole. Curiously, Centurion's bent grass greens (which have endured for 25 years) continue to impress. Not only are they free of poa but they have a healthy texture and roll superbly. One of the course's main assets.
Stuart McLean
30 March 2022
Centurion have switched back to the original Matkovich routing of their course, after a 3-year experiment in which the two finishing holes on each nine were transposed. The par-3 eighth and short par-4 ninth built in the middle of the large dam fronting the clubhouse became Nos 17 and 18 during this time. Now the club have reverted to the old 18th, a dangerous risk-reward 418m par 4 where the tee shot carries a corner of the dam, with water then flanking the entire left side of the hole from tee to green. Centurion has several strong par 4s, principally the 465m second which must be one of the few Stroke 1 holes in South Africa which hasn't a single bunker, or even a water hazard near the green (another one is the 8th hole at Humewood). Sheer length makes this a formidable hole for the club golfer. The fairway rises slightly from the tee before executing a soft right turn around trees towards a 3-tier green.
Stuart McLean
11 December 2021

Quite uncanny that my latest visit to Centurion follows further flooding on the course at the end of November. Centurion has been unfortunate with flooding in recent years, as rain falls in the catchment area of the Hennops River in Kempton Park, and this narrow river then overflows its banks as it surges through the golf courses at Irene and Centurion. The par-5 seventh is usually the worst affected hole at Centurion, the river dumping tons of silt and rubbish on the fairway, but some other greens were briefly underwater. Irene upstream had SA Open qualifying on November 30, and the course had to be shortened to a par 67 to enable any play. Yurav Premlall shot 64 and went on to win the Freddie Tait Cup in the SA Open at Sun City as the leading amateur.

Stuart McLean
11 December 2021
Centurion has experienced a difficult summer with the flooding of the Hennops River on to the course in December. The water was so high it was flowing into houses adjoining the ninth. The flooding dumped tons of river sand and hundreds of tyres on to holes bordering the river. Remarkable clean-up from staff. The course still bears a few scars (No 16 suffered the most damage) but nearly all the holes are in great condition again. The growth of trees has seen Centurion blossom into an attractive "parkland bushveld" layout.
Stuart McLean
24 March 2020
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