Globalization comes to a Philippine seaside community, which has to defend its ancestral lands against golf course development.

A Philippine government plan to transform ancestral farmland into a tourist resort sparks a dramatic conflict when villagers actively resist the development. As peasants and fisherfolk organize to stop the golf courses and yacht marinas, their seaside community called Hacienda Looc becomes a violent flashpoint in a larger, national battle over land and revolution. THE GOLF WAR is a provocative portrait of one community's fight for survival against forces of economic 'development', contrasted with views of developers, bureaucrats, and golf boosters in the Philippines, including Tiger Woods.