Tucked away in the largest golf complex in the country is theoretically the most difficult golf course in the country.
With a Blue tee course rating of 74.1 and a slope of 133, the Faldo Course of the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club is a beast to play. Bring your A-game or make sure your pro golfers license is up to date if you ever want to play it from the tips.
The course is part of a 4-course golf/residential development by Sta Lucia Realty and Alsons. Conceived during the halcyon days of Philippine golf in the early 1990s when optimism in real estate and golf club shares were at its peak, it included golf courses designed by 3 Hall of Fame golfers and the nephew of a Hall of Famer.
The course was built in General Trias, Cavite amid terrain that featured a lot of ravines that have been carved over the years by creeks and waterways. Sir Nick Faldo made ample use of these terrain features in his routing so there will be a lot of penalty areas to contend with here.
Faldo might start out benignly with the shortest Par 4 on the course but by the time that you have huffed and puffed over the front nine you will realize that the course demands drives that are properly placed, approach shots that end up in the correct area of the green and a really deft putting touch. The greens will be a merry mix of huge and small, some with undulations that would put a motocross track to shame.
Things get more interesting on the back nine and the Tenth features a fairway bunker that runs diagonally across the line of play. If you play it cute and hit a booming drive over the bunkers, just make sure your ball bites and doesn’t fall into the penalty area that cuts into the fairway.
The Fifteenth will dumbfound you trying to hit a green that slopes away from you, directly towards a penalty area. Throw a wedge up in the air along with a prayer that your ball will come to rest on this green. You can actually go through this hole lots of times and still be wondering how to play it.
The final hole though puts the feather in the cap, the cherry on the sundae, the cheese in the burger. If you think you’ve had enough of the ravines of Faldo, think again. The tee shot on the Eighteenth is all carry. There’s this yawning penalty area that you just simply have to cross since there is no place to compromise. Once safely across though, it’s just a short shot to the green so all swell that ends swell.
The Faldo course may play long and difficult especially when the wind picks up, but to the true golfer who revels in confronting the challenges that the game has to offer, the course is still a joy to play.
