Cabot Cliffs: Nova Scotia Golf Where Every Hole Looks Like A Painting
By Dave McKibben
When I booked my round at Cabot Cliffs at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, as a side trip during my wife’s family reunion in Pictou, I knew I was in for a treat. But I’d just returned from a magical guys trip to Scotland, where I played four of Golf Digest’s top 100—St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal Dornoch and Castle Stuart. So I wondered, how could a Canadian course in the middle of nowhere (four hours northeast of Halifax) possibly top the best courses in Scotland, the home of golf?
But as I strolled the pristine fairways of the Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw-designed course with my son Jacob and our exuberant young caddy Ben – the Atlantic’s waves crashing into jagged cliffs hundreds of feet below – I turned to my playing partner and we shook our heads in amazement at the beauty that engulfed us. I wasn’t having my best round, spraying some drives off the tee and playing several shots above my 15 handicap, but my wise 77-year-old partner jolted me back to reality and perfectly captured the moment.
“People who don’t play golf are really missing out,” said Jim Duvall, who was visiting Cape Breton from Columbus, Ohio and playing with his son, Jamieson.
There’s something about sharing a 4½-hour round of golf with your son on the edge of North America, where every otherworldly hole looks like a painting, that nongolfers will never understand. You don’t want it to ever end.
The first hole of the 6,835-yard masterpiece gives you a glimpse of the splendor and challenge that awaits. The 581-yard par 5 overlooks the Atlantic and a significant part of the course. In the distance is the village of Inverness. The fairway is forgiving, though a series of bunkers along the right spell trouble for golfers fond of hitting slices off the tee.
Crenshaw and Coore brilliantly routed a dozen holes next to or above Cape Breton’s towering cliffs, so nearly every hole feels like a signature hole on Golf Digest’s 14th-ranked course in the world. My personal favorite was the 11th, a 404-yard uphill par-4 that cuts away from the ocean into the forest. My faded drive found a massive bunker on the right side. I escaped the bunker with a long iron to the left side of the fairway that tumbled up the hill, leaving a blind approach shot. Unable to see the pin, I launched an 8-iron from 150 yards to within two feet for a tap-in par.
Jamieson Duvall, a 4-handicap from Columbus who played from the tips, loved the 7th. The first par 5, with probably the scariest tee shot on the course, a long carry over a lake to a landing zone planted next to a forest.
“I enjoyed the sightline and playing back into that forest,” Jamieson said. “People go there for the high visibility holes on the water like 16 and 17, but each person is going to have their own favorite. You might go The Louvre for the Mona Lisa, but I guarantee you’re going to wind up liking 50 other paintings while you’re there.”
Jason Neal, my wife’s cousin, played Cabot Cliffs a few years, but once he heard his family reunion was going to be held a few hours away, he booked two times at Cabot Cliffs, one at Cabot Links and another at The Nest, a par-3 course on Cabot’s sprawling campus.
“I’ve played a lot of top-rated courses internationally and in the U.S.,” said Neal, who lives in Toronto and played the four Cabot rounds with his son, Connor. “What sets The Cliffs apart is its stunning landscapes and using those landscapes to put in challenging tee shots with long carries to fairways. So, you must figure out how aggressive you’re going to be off the tee. I played conservatively; I didn’t want to get baited into the hero shot.”
Our caddy Ben was essential in navigating the cliffs, blind tee shots, contouring fairways and tricky tiered greens. He kept our group loose, allowed us to walk the 18 holes without the burden of lugging our bags, which gave us plenty of time to take pictures and videos of our journey. Just like Scotland and most of Europe, the three courses at Cape Breton are walking only, which wasn’t a problem for me. I felt like I was floating on air for six miles in my new Sqairz ProS2’s, easily the most comfortable golf shoes I’ve ever worn. The square toe design allowed my toes room to spread out, giving me extra cushion and balance throughout my swing.
My 26-year-old son wasn’t as fortunate. His feet began aching a few holes in, as he was severely cramped in his size 14s. On the 11th hole, he asked Ben if he could play barefoot. A few holes later, shoeless Jacob began the greatest four-hole stretch of his golfing life. He drained a 50-foot birdie putt on the plunging par-5 15th, then bogeyed the dramatic 176-yard, par-3 16th over the cliffs after 3-putting from the bunker. On the intimidating and marvelous short par-4 17th, which features a blind uphill tee shot over a cliff with two bunkers framing the green as the only target, he sliced a three-wood that appeared doomed for the drink. Magically, it tumbled down the hill and landed four feet from cup. He holed his eagle putt and parred the par-5 18th, which required shots over two ravines, by 3-putting from 100 feet.
“It kind of felt like it wasn’t me playing golf, like someone else was playing for me,” Jacob said. “I realized I made my first eagle, without wearing shoes. Sort of surreal.”
Jamieson Duvall, a 4-handicap from Columbus, marveled at my barefoot son’s closing stretch.
“It goes to show you how important foot comfort is,” Duvall chuckled. “Some of what golf has to be is fun. It’s about not taking yourself so seriously and taking a moment to get outside of yourself, temporarily shunning common golf etiquette. That story will be with him forever and he’ll remember feeling what it was like to hit those shots without shoes.”
Playing paradise at Cape Breton, a green gateway splashed with lakes and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, isn’t cheap. Cabot Cliffs and Cabot Links, ranked 25th in the world by Golf Digest, cost $329 for resort guests in high season (June 26-Sept. 13) and $413 for day guests.
Duvall and his dad Jim played Cabot Cliffs twice and Cabot Links once. They didn’t feel cheated.
“When people call this place Canada’s Bandon Dunes, I would agree with that,” Duvall said. “It’s not misleading to people who want that same Bandon experience. Like Bandon, you feel like you’re disconnected here. There’s no major development surrounding the courses, which makes it feel pristine and raw, almost like you’re conquering the unknown.”
We stayed at an Airbnb in Pictou, but there are plenty of lodging options on site: rooms at the 72-room Cabot Links Lodge start at $225 per night, larger residences are available at the Golf Villas, Cliffs Residences, Hillside Homes and Dunes Cottages, where rentals range from $606 to $3,351 per night.
