From the Palace in the Sky in Tagaytay City, we next motored, via the Naic-Indang Rd., to the town of Ternate where we visited the 1,024-hectare Puerto Azul Golf & Country Club. This 5-star resort, carved out of heavily forested valleys and towering mountains, was developed during the 1970s Marcos era.
Check out “Palace in the Sky“
We first made a stopover at Paniman Beach along Paniman Bay, one of the resort’s 4 gray sand beaches (the others are Caysubic, Cayokno and Palicpican). During its earlier days, this beach used to be covered with white sand said to have been brought over from Boracay, then unknown to the Filipinos. The white sand is now gone, washed away by the tides.
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| Mel and Grace at one of Puerto Azul’s beaches |
From the beach, we next negotiated a steep road to get to its lookout which has a view of the resort’s 100-hectare golf course, a private club open only to hotel guests. One of the country’s most scenic courses, the golf here is surpassed only by views of Palicpican Beach. Designed by world-renowned golfer Gary Player and Ron Kirby, this 18-hole, 6,556-yard, par 72 (adjustable to 71 for big events like the Philippine Open) golf course has a front 9 with rugged terrain punctuated with mountains, pristine rivers and streams while the back nine is close to the sea.
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| The scenic golf course |
The course takes you through jungle, up and over mountains and finishes up on the beach. An elevator takes you from the 6th green up to the 7th tee. The last two tee shots on the back nine are probably the most dramatic. The par 3 17th Hole, the courses’ signature hole, is protected on its left by one of the deepest water hazards in Philippine golf – the South China Sea. The 18th hole is across the beach. Facilities include the nine-hole par-36 Camandag Executive Links, a driving range, tee house, clubhouse, restaurant, bars, locker and shower rooms swimming pool, sauna and massage.
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| L-R, Alex, Mel, Grace, Jandy and the author at the lookout |
We can also see some of the 17 3 to 4-storey cluster buildings which houses 325 airconditioned rooms. The resort is also home to restaurants, coffee shops, bars, 2 swimming pools, 300-pax ballrooms, 8 60-pax function rooms, business center, jacuzzi, sauna, 6 outdoor and 3 indoor tennis courts, 6-lane bowling center, volleyball/basketball court, two squash courts and 2 nature trails.
Though still open, this resort, once dubbed as “Asia’s Paradise Resort” and the “World’s Golfing Capital,” seems to have been abandoned, reportedly due to lack of financial resources to maintain the site. The hotel and cottages are worn out, the beach is dirty and only South Korean nationals use the not so well-maintained golf course. However, Boulevard Holdings, the owner and operator of the site, plans to renovate the existing hotel and build an 8-room boutique hotel and 150-room grand convention hotel.
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