Story & photos by Mike Besa
Just off the beaten track that is the Tagaytay Ridge on the Diokno Highway heading down to the town of Lemery in Batangas is the sleepy, scenic Canyon Woods Residential Resort. A project of Tagaytay Grasslands, a subsidiary of G2 Global, Canyon Woods seems to have somehow survived and prospered while other golf clubs and resorts have fallen on hard times.
Canyon Woods found their salvation in the overseas Filipino. Not the contract workers, but the longtime expatriate looking to come back to the motherland to retire and enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of hard work. To them Canyon Woods was an easy choice. The development is beautiful with drop-dead-gorgeous views almost everywhere you look. The streets are lined with pine trees and the houses look like they’d look at home in the California highlands. Unlike many golf developments, there’s a thriving community of full-time residents here. This isn’t a weekend getaway for the people here; the majority live here year-round and there lies its charm. Of course, once word got out that people were buying into the dream of Canyon Woods, more followed and that brings us to where the resort is today.
The club boasts a good range of facilities for the members and their guests. The showcase feature of the resort is the Clubhouse, a 9,800-square-meter affair designed by renowned architect Francisco Mañosa that features first-class dining facilities, convention/function rooms, business center, 49-seating capacity mini-theater, a posh health-and-wellness spa, salon, gym with Cybex machines and free weights, indoor heated swimming pool, gift shop, recreation center and children’s playground.
Along the fully landscaped nature trail lies one of the most distinguishable landmarks in the area, the Pavilion Campsite. The biggest of its kind, the Pavilion Campsite showcases a 25,000-sq-m recreation and sports center. It houses badminton, basketball, tennis, volleyball and squash courts, a man-made lake, an 18-hole crazy mini golf, outdoor swimming pool, and bowling and billiards at the Bowling Center. There’s literally something for everyone here.
Nestled in one of the resorts prime locations high up on the property is the Chapel of the Most Holy Name of the Child Jesus. This auspicious center of worship can accommodate 200 people, making it an ideal site for weddings and other significant religious occasions. Anticipated Mass is celebrated at 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays, again placing the needs of the growing community at the forefront of the development.
Guests have a choice of lodging while at Canyon Woods but I’m partial to the Casitas. Also designed by Francisco Mañosa, the Casitas provide a wonderful view of the mini golf or the man-made lake and the pavilion. Each room of the 20-unit Casita is equipped with the finest amenities to make members’ and guests’ stay a most comfortable one. On the other hand, the Villas, inspired by North American woodland architecture, have two to four rooms each. These villas cater to the families who prefer to stay under one roof. The Lodge consists of 20 deluxe rooms and five suites with bedrooms that conform to the Club’s look with style-parquet flooring, exquisite upholstery and rustic ambiance. Finally, the Peak is a full-blown hotel with its own swimming pool that offers some of the best views of the property.
The golf course is a surprisingly difficult nine-hole track. Designed by Golf Force’s Boy Escaño, it requires a complete array of shots and good course sense to post a good score. The layout meanders along the mountainside, you will be asked to carry ravines, traverse water and hit blind shots to unseen fairways on sheer faith. There are even a couple of holes to take your driver out and let one rip. It’s short, but you’ll find use for quite a lot of clubs in your bag. Since you play all the holes twice to make a full 18, Canyon Woods provides another set of tees not significantly longer than the first set. I found that a fun way to enjoy what the course had to offer was to go around the first time to get a feel for it then take some risks on the second nine. Good fun, that.
For example, No. 1 is a short par 4 of about 220 yards. The green is fronted by a ravine and a pretty deep bunker and just dares you to go for it. The sensible thing would be to take an iron off the tee then hit onto the green. It’s really straightforward played this way. But take the driver or a 3-wood and let it rip when you play it again. There’s even a sign in the back of the green that exhorts you to “Go for it!”
No. two requires a 110-yard shot, a green guarded on three sides by water. Find the green and birdie is a real possibility. Three is a 280-yard par 4 with enough room for most to pull driver and make a go for the green. It’s well within reach of the longer hitters but beware of OB lurking to the right and a ravine just left of the green. Four is the first of the truly difficult holes. The longest par 4 on the course, it’s cut right on the edge of the mountain with a ravine guarding the right side of the fairway. Trees obscure your view of the landing area, adding further to the difficulty of the task at hand. The green is severely elevated (a good 40 feet above the fairway) and will penalize shots long and short. A false front sees to it that anything short rolls back down to the fairway below and the green sits adjacent to the pond that fronts the second hole so anything long or left goes in the water. The ducks that make their home there won’t be of any assistance determining your point of entry, so exercise prudence with the approach shot.
Five is a medium-length par 3 of about 150 yards but the green sits so far down below the tee box that you’re effectively playing a shot of 120 yards off the tee. Six is the only par 5 and the most difficult hole on the golf course. It’s short and on another layout, a lot of golfers would have no trouble reaching it in two but at Canyon Woods, the tee shot is blind over a ravine. The landing area sits on a flattish spot on the ridge from where you traverse yet another ravine before taking on the elevated green. The green’s no picnic either; it’s got a severe slope built right into the middle of it.
Seven and eight are both short par 4s that require you to shape the shot off the tee to the left, a tough task for the average golfer. Seven requires a wedge over a second ravine to approach the green. Eight presents a different opportunity for the golfer that hits a high ball. I found that I could take a 6-iron off the tee and carry the trees that separate the tee box from the ninth green. That puts me in flip wedge distance of the most scenic green on the property. The round ends with a 185-yard par 3 that plays longer than it reads on the card. The sliver-thin green faces the tee shot dead on to receive the golf ball, which is a good thing with OB so close to the right side.
The only caveat is that a short section of the Diokno Highway that leads to Canyon Woods from the Calamba-Nasugbu road has been closed because of continuous landslides. A new bridge is currently under construction and will reconnect Canyon Woods with the rest of Metro Tagaytay when it’s completed. Until then, you have to take the route through Talisay and Laurel in Batangas to make your way there. A bit of an inconvenience, but the drive down from the Tagaytay Rotunda is one that car enthusiasts will appreciate. It’s a gorgeous two-lane road through old-growth rain forest.
If you love golf and love a challenge, the nine-hole course at Canyon Woods will provide you with both. It might be a bit of a trek to get there, but the challenge of the golf course and the rest of the club’s amenities will make up for it.
Image credits: Mike Besa