Cabot Cliffs

Perched dramatically along the rugged coastline of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Cabot Cliffs represents one of the most significant golf course developments in Canadian history. Designed by the acclaimed architectural duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the course opened in 2015 as the sister layout to the already celebrated Cabot Links, creating what many consider to be Canada's premier golf destination.

The story of Cabot Cliffs begins with an unlikely pairing between Rodney MacDonald, the former Premier of Nova Scotia, and entrepreneur Ben Cowan-Dewar, business partner of renowned golf developer Mike Keiser. Their chance meeting in Toronto fifteen years prior to the course's opening set in motion what would become one of the most ambitious golf projects in North America. Cowan-Dewar, who had founded Golf Travel Impresarios at age 19 and harbored dreams of building a golf course since constructing a small hole on his family's farm at age 12, acquired 40 parcels of land on the northwest tip of Nova Scotia to realize his vision.

What sets Cabot Cliffs apart is its extraordinary topographical diversity across three distinct landscapes. Ron Whitten of Golf Digest described the course as 'the second coming of Cypress Point,' while architect Bill Coore himself gushed that the property had 'more variety in terms of its natural holes, without doing anything to them, than any site we've had.' The course seamlessly transitions from Lahinch-like sand dunes in the south to Pebble Beach-type ocean cliffs in the north, with stretches reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands woven throughout.

The routing showcases this diversity brilliantly, with holes 4-6 running along a tidal wash and beach that evoke the British Isles, while the back-to-back par-5 7th and 8th slash into and out of a rolling pine forest that could be mistaken for a Rocky Mountain vista. The drop-shot par-3 9th, backdropped by the pulsing surf of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, would not look out of place on the Monterey Peninsula.

Cabot Cliffs features an unusual routing with six par-5s, including three within a four-hole stretch, and six par-3s, plus an additional one-shot bye-hole beside the fourth. This unconventional par-72 layout stretches 6,764 yards from the tips, playing across fescue turf that provides the firm-and-fast conditions essential to links golf. The coastal maritime climate brings strong, variable winds that can dramatically alter playing conditions from hole to hole.

The signature hole is undoubtedly the par-3 16th, which has become one of golf's most photographed holes. The teeing area sits literally on the edge of an 80-foot cliff overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with the two-tiered green positioned on an isthmus of land jutting into the gulf, bracketed by cliffs front and rear. The right-side lower tier measures only 13 feet deep, demanding precision in the constantly changing coastal winds. The strategic play is to the left side, as balls will release right with room behind the green from that angle.

The course's acclaim was immediate and overwhelming. Golf Digest named it the best new course of 2015, with the publication's panel of over 1,200 low-handicap golfers selecting Cabot Cliffs as a runaway winner by five points over runner-up Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point. The course was immediately ranked among the world's best upon opening and now holds a position on Golf Digest's World's 100 Greatest Golf Courses list.

Score Magazine's panel of eighty golfers ranked Cabot Cliffs as Canada's number one golf course in 2016, a position it has maintained through 2020 - remarkable for a course that didn't exist during the 2014 rankings. Golf writers have compared it favorably to the world's greatest public access courses, including Pebble Beach, Pacific Dunes, Royal Dornoch, and Royal County Down.

The course has attracted professional golfers from around the world, with LPGA Tour star Brooke Henderson, winner of 13 LPGA titles including the 2016 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, recently playing the course and describing it as 'so amazing and beautiful.' A local priest even incorporated the ninth hole into a sermon, calling it 'the closest place to heaven.'

What makes Cabot Cliffs truly exceptional is how it balances dramatic scenery with strategic golf. While less accomplished players find it thoroughly enjoyable and playable, stronger golfers discover subtle design features worthy of extensive study. The fescue turf allows some tee shots to roll seemingly forever, but errant shots that miss greens face the same fate, creating risk-reward scenarios throughout the round.

The course represents the pinnacle of naturalistic golf architecture, where Coore and Crenshaw's minimalist philosophy allowed the spectacular landscape to dictate the routing. Holes away from the ocean, including the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 13th, and 14th, are considered among the most memorable on the property, proving that great golf architecture transcends scenic beauty alone.

Cabot Cliffs stands as a testament to what's possible when visionary developers, world-class architects, and extraordinary land converge. It has elevated Canadian golf onto the world stage and established Cape Breton as a bucket-list destination for golfers worldwide.