Splendido Golf Course

Splendido Golf Course sits within the Taal Lake Yacht Club development in Laurel, Batangas — a municipality that hugs the northern shore of one of the Philippines' most visually arresting bodies of water. Taal Lake, and the volatile volcano island rising from its center, forms the backdrop against which this course was built, giving it a dramatic natural theater that few layouts in Southeast Asia can match. The Tagaytay Ridge looms on the horizon, and the open Batangas air keeps conditions noticeably cooler than Metro Manila, about 2 hours north by road.

The course was designed to take deliberate advantage of its lakeside elevation, with several holes offering direct sightlines over Taal's caldera waters. Rolling terrain and tropical vegetation frame the fairways, and the combination of lake breezes and undulating ground means club selection rarely feels straightforward, even on holes that appear generous off the tee.

Splendido is a private club associated with a broader leisure estate, drawing a mix of Manila-based members and Batangas locals who treat it as a weekend retreat. Playing here is as much about the setting — volcanic, lakeside, genuinely scenic — as it is about the round itself.