Who doesn’t want a room with a view or a house within a golf course, smelling the scent of newly cut grass in the morning, looking at the vastness of the fairway while seated in your favorite lounging chair holding a mug of freshly brewed coffee?
Picture perfect, right?
Roger Garcia, the head honcho of online Metronews Central, is one of those lucky individuals I know whose home is right smack at a golf course in Batangas. Another friend whom I know has a condominium unit in Fairways in the posh Bonifacio Global City (BGC) which has a view of Manila Golf.
He’s lucky for he will continue to have such panoramic, pleasing view of the country’s finest golf course because the old guards, the senior members continue to go blind ear on the offers to purchase the 44-hectare Manila Golf course nestled between the heart of the central business district of Makati and the now most preferred location, be it office-mall-condos-restaurants, the BGC.
Many real estate developers, one of them the Ayalas, for years now have been eyeing Manila Golf. I surmise it would be perfect if Ayala triumphs on their purchase plan as the family likewise owns BGC. it could be a seamless annexation.
The running price of a square meter in BGC is roughly around P300,000.
Definitely, the price of Manila Golf is higher simply because the playing rights per share now stands at P125 million from only P400,000 when Mr. Wlliam “Bill” Go, founder and vice-chair of Chinatrust Philippines, bought his.
And no one is selling. Manila Golf fetches the highest price in the market. Comparably, the playing rights per share of Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club, which even has two 18-hole courses - the East and West, is 75 million lower by P50 million.
The approach of the developers was stymied by the senior members. Mr. “Bill” and his select group of friends, who like him are members and themselves, business stewards, consider Manila Golf as their comfort zone.
Their group of 10 – Mr. Bill, Carlos “Charlie” Rufino, chief executive officer of Net Group Real Estate Management Corp; the waste to cash proponent Rufo Colayco, CEO of Metro Clark Waste Management Corp.; Dean Lao, chairman emeritus of D&L Industries that manufacturers specialized food ingredients, plastic, cleaning and aerosol products, among others, meet every Sunday for breakfast without fail if they must.
The enclave prefers the tranquility that the place provides with sporadic shouts of fore in the background. Just a bit of a lesson here for my non-golfer readers: although the exact history is unknown, the etymology of fore comes from the word forecaddie. And golfers yell fore to alert other golfers that they may be in danger of getting struck by their ball.
Heard from the fairways of Manila Golf that senior members are averse to large entourage that rattles the serenity of the place. Allowing the use of their newly spruced up function rooms is far and between.
‘Twas the alleged main reason behind the rejection of World boxing champ Manny Pacquiao’s membership. The former senator was blackballed despite his financial capacity to pay the P12, 000 monthly dues, entrance fee of P0.5 million and P1 million as transfer fee if you’re lucky to be able to purchase a playing right share, because of his retinue of support staff.
As the wheels of real estate development continue to churn, more high-rise and mixed- use buildings sprout but truly hope both the old guards and the young members remain steadfast to dodge the buyers. We need the greens in the urban jungle to stave-off/absorb pollution.
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