Bandon East?
GOLFWEEK STAFF

That might be a stretch, but Mike Keiser is at it again.

The creator of Bandon Dunes is at work on Cabot Links, a seaside course in the town of Inverness on the west coast of Cape Breton Island. Keiser is building the public course in partnership with Golf Club Atlas Developments, a Canadian firm, and course operator KemperSports, which also manages Bandon Dunes. Cabot Links is scheduled to open for play in June 2011.

Canadian architect Rod Whitman was picked for the project. Though not well known in the United States, Whitman came highly recommended by, among others, architect Bill Coore, according to Josh Lesnik, president of KemperSports.

Lesnik characterized the site as “unique in North America” because the course will sit between the town and ocean, with holes running away from town toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There will be eight seaside holes.

“The way the land tilts down to the ocean (will make) you feel like you’re playing on the ocean the whole time,” Lesnik said.

Lesnik acknowledges there will be inevitable comparisons to Bandon Dunes, given that Cabot Links is not near a major population center and is not being designed by a brand-name architect. Bandon Dunes launched David McLay Kidd’s design career.

“Bandon Dunes was somewhat modest at that time,” Lesnik recalled. “It started with 70 overnight rooms and one golf course. This, if anything, might be even more remote.”