Golf connoisseurs turn to Cape Breton Island to fulfill duffer dreams, and imbibe plenty of fun en route, not to mention single malt elixir.
BY IAN CRUICKSHANK
When golfers start putting together their ultimate places-to-play list, Pebble Beach and the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland always top the itinerary.
However, while Pebble Beach is officially a resort course, its US green fees will send you to the bank for second mortgage. And the Old Course at St. Andrews's is so backed up with reservations that you are more likely to see your tech stocks rebound before getting the nod to tee it up at the Scottish classic.
That is why golfing connoisseurs are turning to the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island to fulfill their golfing dreams. Wedged between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean off the northern edge of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island is drop-dead gorgeous. It has a coastline dotted with tiny fishing villages and an interior of sweeping mountain vistas and the majestic Bras d'Or Lakes, the largest salt-water body of water in North America. Sprinkled across this landscape are four terrific courses, all open to the public and all featuring inexpensive green fees. Even better, Highlands Links, which clings to the rocks above Ingonish Beach on the northeast coast, is ranked as the number one course in Canada and in the top 100 in the entire golfing
kingdom.
Tying these courses together is the Cabot Trail, a 303 kilometre (187 mile) ribbon of highway that cuts through the mountains and past the water.
Any trip to Cape Breton should begin in the south end of the island at the Dundee Resort and Golf Club. The course snakes up the side of South Mountain, through the pines, with views of the Bras d'Or Lakes on almost every hole. But beware the pretty post card scenery on the 16th hole, a 153-yard par three tacked on to the side of the mountain. The tee is perched 35 metres
above the green with no fairway in between, just a gully of gnarly rough. Besides golf, the family run resort also includes tennis, kayaking and hiking but the real fun takes place after dinner when the staff bring out the fiddles and teach guests how to step dance.
About 45 minutes up the road is the village of Baddeck, once a ship-building centre, now known as a holiday spot and the hub of the Cabot Trail. It is also the site of Beinn Bhreagh, Alexander Graham Bell's 243-hectare estate. Bell and his wife Mabel, first arrived in Cape Breton in 1885 on holiday and were immediately smitten with the surroundings. "I have traveled around the
globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes and the Alps and the Highlands of Scotland but for simple beauty, Cape Breton rivals them all," declared the inventor of the telephone.
There is a terrific museum in Baddeck devoted to Bell's life and achievements that besides the telephone included an iron lung, the hydrofoil and one of the first airplanes. The Bells spent 35 summers at their estate (their descendants still own the property) and Alexander and Mabel are buried on top of the local mountain.
The Bell Bay Golf Course sits just five minutes away from the centre of the village and faces the Bras d'Ors and Beinn Bhreagh. Designed by Toronto architect Tom McBroom, who a few years earlier kick-started the East Coast golf boom with his Crowbush Cove design in Prince Edward Island, Bell Bay opened in the fall of 1997 and was named the best new course in Canada. Its
final four holes are spectacular.
"Visually, the strongest holes at Bell Bay are 15 to 18. The course ends with a real crack," says Mr. McBroom. The view from the back of the 18th tee looks over the white, clapboard homes of Baddeck and out to the red and white lighthouse on Kidston Island which for the last 100 years has guided the Bras d'Or boats home to safety.
From Baddeck, the Cabot Trail loops towards the northwest coast of the island and up to Le Portage Golf Club at Cheticamp. Along the way, it's worth making a short detour outside Inverness to stop at the Glenora Distillery. It is the only single malt distillery in all of North America and offers daily tours on how the golden elixir is made.
Cheticamp is an Acadian village, which means that its first language is French and the attitude is pure joie de vivre. Le Portage Golf Club is set on a rise, at the foot of the Highlands and above the Cheticamp harbour where whale watching tours into the Gulf of St. Lawrence kick-off.
On the hour and a half drive from Cheticamp to Ingonish Beach, the Trail rises and dips through the folds of the hills until finally reaching the East Coast and Highlands Links. The course was designed by Stanley Thompson, Canada's most important golf architect, over 60 years ago. Thompson, who was responsible for the mountain classics at Jasper and Banff in the Rockies,
wandered through the bush armed with a sketchpad and flask before emerging with the inspired routing of Highlands Links. It twists and swoops over the cliffs, through the forest, past the Clyburn River and always above the cove where the local fishermen tend their lobster traps. Those same lobsters will be served up for dinner at the neighbouring Keltic Lodge.
At least once during the round, a bald eagle will swoop across the sky and golfers will wonder at least half a dozen times why it has taken them so long to make the pilgrimage to the Cabot Trail
source: Canadian Tourism Commision
This reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor has it been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Canadian Tourism Commission.
Click here for more information on golfing in Canada
Click here for more information on Nova Scotia
BY IAN CRUICKSHANK
When golfers start putting together their ultimate places-to-play list, Pebble Beach and the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland always top the itinerary.
However, while Pebble Beach is officially a resort course, its US green fees will send you to the bank for second mortgage. And the Old Course at St. Andrews's is so backed up with reservations that you are more likely to see your tech stocks rebound before getting the nod to tee it up at the Scottish classic.
That is why golfing connoisseurs are turning to the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island to fulfill their golfing dreams. Wedged between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean off the northern edge of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island is drop-dead gorgeous. It has a coastline dotted with tiny fishing villages and an interior of sweeping mountain vistas and the majestic Bras d'Or Lakes, the largest salt-water body of water in North America. Sprinkled across this landscape are four terrific courses, all open to the public and all featuring inexpensive green fees. Even better, Highlands Links, which clings to the rocks above Ingonish Beach on the northeast coast, is ranked as the number one course in Canada and in the top 100 in the entire golfing
kingdom.
Tying these courses together is the Cabot Trail, a 303 kilometre (187 mile) ribbon of highway that cuts through the mountains and past the water.
Any trip to Cape Breton should begin in the south end of the island at the Dundee Resort and Golf Club. The course snakes up the side of South Mountain, through the pines, with views of the Bras d'Or Lakes on almost every hole. But beware the pretty post card scenery on the 16th hole, a 153-yard par three tacked on to the side of the mountain. The tee is perched 35 metres
above the green with no fairway in between, just a gully of gnarly rough. Besides golf, the family run resort also includes tennis, kayaking and hiking but the real fun takes place after dinner when the staff bring out the fiddles and teach guests how to step dance.
About 45 minutes up the road is the village of Baddeck, once a ship-building centre, now known as a holiday spot and the hub of the Cabot Trail. It is also the site of Beinn Bhreagh, Alexander Graham Bell's 243-hectare estate. Bell and his wife Mabel, first arrived in Cape Breton in 1885 on holiday and were immediately smitten with the surroundings. "I have traveled around the
globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes and the Alps and the Highlands of Scotland but for simple beauty, Cape Breton rivals them all," declared the inventor of the telephone.
There is a terrific museum in Baddeck devoted to Bell's life and achievements that besides the telephone included an iron lung, the hydrofoil and one of the first airplanes. The Bells spent 35 summers at their estate (their descendants still own the property) and Alexander and Mabel are buried on top of the local mountain.
The Bell Bay Golf Course sits just five minutes away from the centre of the village and faces the Bras d'Ors and Beinn Bhreagh. Designed by Toronto architect Tom McBroom, who a few years earlier kick-started the East Coast golf boom with his Crowbush Cove design in Prince Edward Island, Bell Bay opened in the fall of 1997 and was named the best new course in Canada. Its
final four holes are spectacular.
"Visually, the strongest holes at Bell Bay are 15 to 18. The course ends with a real crack," says Mr. McBroom. The view from the back of the 18th tee looks over the white, clapboard homes of Baddeck and out to the red and white lighthouse on Kidston Island which for the last 100 years has guided the Bras d'Or boats home to safety.
From Baddeck, the Cabot Trail loops towards the northwest coast of the island and up to Le Portage Golf Club at Cheticamp. Along the way, it's worth making a short detour outside Inverness to stop at the Glenora Distillery. It is the only single malt distillery in all of North America and offers daily tours on how the golden elixir is made.
Cheticamp is an Acadian village, which means that its first language is French and the attitude is pure joie de vivre. Le Portage Golf Club is set on a rise, at the foot of the Highlands and above the Cheticamp harbour where whale watching tours into the Gulf of St. Lawrence kick-off.
On the hour and a half drive from Cheticamp to Ingonish Beach, the Trail rises and dips through the folds of the hills until finally reaching the East Coast and Highlands Links. The course was designed by Stanley Thompson, Canada's most important golf architect, over 60 years ago. Thompson, who was responsible for the mountain classics at Jasper and Banff in the Rockies,
wandered through the bush armed with a sketchpad and flask before emerging with the inspired routing of Highlands Links. It twists and swoops over the cliffs, through the forest, past the Clyburn River and always above the cove where the local fishermen tend their lobster traps. Those same lobsters will be served up for dinner at the neighbouring Keltic Lodge.
At least once during the round, a bald eagle will swoop across the sky and golfers will wonder at least half a dozen times why it has taken them so long to make the pilgrimage to the Cabot Trail
source: Canadian Tourism Commision
This reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor has it been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Canadian Tourism Commission.
Click here for more information on golfing in Canada
Click here for more information on Nova Scotia
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