Originally built by a New Zealand governmental body, the Wairakei International Golf Course (now known as Wairakei Golf & Sanctuary) is a high-profile resort built on the border of the Wairakei forest near the charming lake town of Taupo on the North Island. Set over steeply undulating ground with a pine forest providing an impressive backdrop on the perimeter holes, the layout is noted for an unusual bunkering arrangement and strong visual appeal thanks to the creativity of the bunker shapes as well as several photogenic ponds and streams.

Originally designed in 1970, the golf course at Wairakei has recently been improved through a significant investment in course conditioning and infrastructure. On the design side, some of the bunker placement and green shaping seems quite random. An example is the down and dogleg 9^th hole, which is bunkered on the right but gives you the best angle of approach from the wider and safer left side. The plunging then rising 6^th is another example, a fine driving hole its green is shallow and set beyond deep bunkers, with most golfers hitting an uphill approach from a downhill lie across sand and with no area to run the shot in. The bunker in the middle of the 3^rd fairway, the tees on the 7^th 16^th and 17^th, traps on the 11^th and 12^th and trees in the 14^th fairway are also likely to confound the golfer.

Wairakei Golf & Sanctuary was one of the first courses that Peter Thomson, Mike Wolveridge and Commander John Harris ever worked on, and the layout was restyled by Thomson and Wolveridge in the late 1990s. Apparently Thomson wanted to pull down all the trees, and certainly the 2^nd, 7^th, 13^th, 14^th and 17^th could do with some heavy pruning. To elevate the track into the absolute upper echelons of New Zealand golf it is likely that some redesign and further tree work would be required.