National Post
October 8, 2005
Robert Thompson
Ambitious East Coast
links project takes
shape: Architect also
built acclaimed Alberta
courses
A new project on a unique
site in Nova Scotia has the
potential to become
Canada's next great golf
course.
The Cabot Links project,
which will be built in the
Cape Breton town of
Inverness, could become one
of Canada's few true seaside
links, akin to many of the
great courses in Scotland
and Ireland.
"It is such an amazing,
unique site," says Rod
Whitman, the Canadian golf
architect who is designing
the course and has worked on
award-winning clubs like
Alberta's Blackhawk and Wolf
Creek. "It is exactly like a
site in Scotland. It will
certainly have a British
flavour."
Cabot Links is being built
as part of an initiative
between Toronto entrepreneur
Ben Cowan-Dewar, who is
currently raising money to
start construction, and the
provincial and federal
governments. The Cape Breton
Growth Fund, an organization
whose goal is to help
promote economic growth in
the area, said this week
that it would contribute
$2.5-million.
The announcement marks the
latest in a series of
attempts to get a golf
course built on the site,
which had previously been a
mine and was capped using
government money. A group of
investors attempted to build
a Jack Nicklaus course on
the site, but their proposal
was deemed too costly and
failed to attract investors.
A second attempt, using
Canadian architect Graham
Cooke, also floundered.
"There's a lack of coastal
sites for golf, especially
in Canada, making this a
rare opportunity," says
Cowan-Dewar.
He envisions a course
similar to that of Bandon
Dunes Resort in Oregon.
Bandon Dunes has three
Scottish-style courses at a
remote location. Golfers
from around the world have
sought them out for their
authentic links flavour.
Aficionados regard links
golf, which is played on
vast, sandy areas adjacent
to the ocean, as
representative of the true
nature of the game. Links
golf allows players a great
number of options, including
running the ball along the
hard ground. Many of the
world's best courses -- like
The Old Course at St.
Andrews or Muirfield in
Scotland, or Royal Portrush
or Royal County Down in
Ireland -- are links.
Whitman pictures a course
with fantastic seaside
views, punctuated with pot
bunkers and sandy dunes.
Aside from its authentic
links appeal, the Inverness
project should also attract
golfers making the
pilgrimage to Highlands
Links, the great Stanley
Thompson-designed course in
the north end of Cape
Breton.
The aim is to have the
course open late in the
summer of 2007.
"When you've got this sort
of site and the golf course
we have proposed, I think it
has the possibility of being
compared to the great
courses," said Whitman.
