Here in the Philippines, when it comes to exclusivity, two golf clubs always come to mind: Manila Golf and Wack Wack. These two courses occupy some of the most expensive real estate in the country, resulting in share prices in the nine figures.

But in my experience, there is one course that seems to be even harder to play, or maybe I just don’t get invited there much.

It’s the course between Sta. Elena and Canlubang in Laguna, the playground of top pros and amateurs backed by ICTSI, the ultra exclusive The Country Club (TCC).

I am not sure if it’s just me, but I seldom get to play TCC.

As someone who gets to play in several corporate events yearly, I would say favorite venues for the top corporate tournaments would be Sta. Elena first, Wack Wack second, and Manila Golf, third.

I am sure TCC hosts a few tournaments too, but nowhere near the volume the top three venues do.

Anyway, I last played TCC in 2017 for a corporate tournament and just last week, was fortunate to play its pristine fairways after a long time.

Since I don’t get to play TCC much, I was quite excited.

I actually can’t remember any holes apart from maybe 2 or 3, so it was like playing it the first time.

Adding to the excitement was the reason I was there — to play Ryder Cup-style matches with my high school batchmates (Ateneo HS 1996) against a team from a batch younger (Ateneo HS 1997). This much-anticipated friendly battle was made possible by our host at TCC, Arpee Manhit, from batch 97.

Of course, weeks leading to the match, our group chats were buzzing, finalizing pairings, formats, rules.

For average Joes like us, this is as close as we get to team golf and the excitement of matchplay battles. I’m sure if we played somewhere else, it would be just as much fun, but getting to play the exclusive TCC added to the thrill.

TCC has a reputation for being long and difficult. I got to play it a few times in the 1990s because my college teammate was a member.

Funny though, I don’t remember it to be particularly long. Keep in mind this was the 90s and equipment wasn’t as long as it is today.

But maybe as young men, we were hitting it longer than we are now that we’re in our mid-40s.

Our TCC Match Play was organized as follows: 14 players per team, divided into seven pairs. Of the seven pairs, two pairs play best-ball, two play high-low, two play scramble and one pair plays aggregate. Total of seven points to be won, the team that scores four points wins.

After a hearty breakfast with sweeping views of the course, we were off.

TCC’s fairways are quite generous.

While there is trouble lurking, proper aiming and percentage play means there isn’t much to worry about from the tees.

We were all playing from the blue tees and on paper, at 6882 yards, it seemed long-ish, but not impossible.

We generally played the course without much wind but after nine holes, we all felt we’ve played 18.

TCC plays long even without wind, longer than any course I can think of. Maybe it’s the lack of roll, or the fact that their holes seem to play mostly uphill on approach shots, but boy were we tired just halfway through our round.

From the blue tees, there are just two par 4s under 400 yards. I remember hitting decent drives and still needing a 3 wood for my second shot, and that’s without any wind. I can just imagine TCC’s long par 4s when it’s against a stiff breeze.

On a calm day and with decent drives, I was hitting 6 iron third shots into the par 5s. Honestly, TCC should be played from the whites or it’s just too tiring.

But since all of our matches were played from the same tees, and we all got a beating from the course, it was still lots of fun and very exciting.

The ending? Batch 1996 won, 4-3.

Very close, and the deciding point came down to the last hole. I’m sure a rematch will be in the works soon.

TCC is a beautiful course, kept in pristine condition, the fairways, bunkers, and greens, all immaculate.

If there was a PGA Tour-level course in the country, I think TCC would be it. It has a nice layout, plenty of length when played from the tips.

The holes also offer variety in the way they look, and the shots required.

Everything is just topnotch from the practice facilities, to the food, and the service. Having very few members means they get to enjoy utmost privacy. It’s like a private playground for the members.

Of course, low membership also means that the operating expenses are divided by less people. The steep monthly and annual dues are surely worth the privacy and exclusivity to those who can afford it.