Starting around July 3rd,
I went online to check out the weather forecast for July 8-10 in Inverness,
Nova Scotia, Canada. I have been very
fortunate in terms of weather throughout these travels…if my memory is correct,
the only round that was washed out was when Pat and I were rained out of
playing Royal Porthcawl in Wales in June 2015 (and since I had played it 1981,
it was not essential to play…but looking at that wonderful course that day made
me want to play it again and have Pat play it with me). Yes, I have played in some pretty tough
weather…Ireland in late May 2015, a couple of days in England this past June,
and of course, County Louth in April of this year…but no complaints here, been
very lucky. That said, the forecast for
July 8-10 was looking very ominous.
Problem #2 was my right
foot. Back in the 1970’s I developed
tendonitis in the small toes of my right foot from running shoes that were too
small. For some 30-40 years I was free
from symptoms, but during two straight rounds last week (7/4 and 7/6) it reared
it head again. New shoes, yes, but I had
worn them for a few rounds already and they were the same model and size as
previous pairs. Just in case, I brought
along a pair of comfortable running shoes on the trip in case the problem
persisted.
Pat had an interclub match the
morning of July 7 and then rushed home so that we could head to the
airport. Our flight from Logan Airport
in Boston to Halifax, NS, Canada was about 30 minutes late and we were on the ground
driving northeast to Inverness by about 8:20PM local time (one hour ahead of
Eastern). It was raining hard. We stopped in Truro at Frank & Gino’s
Grill (the same place we stopped in September 2013 on our previous trip to
Cabot), had a quick good dinner, and hit the road again. The drive from the Halifax airport to Cabot
is 197 miles and takes at least 3:20. We
arrived safely at Cabot around 12:20am, quickly got to our very nice room and
got to sleep.
Arose Friday morning around
5:30am (our tee time was 7:36) and the rain had stopped and the forecast showed
no rain until late Sunday. Who knows…but
we’ll take it!!
Building the courses: Inverness, NS is an old coal-mining town
abutting the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Cape Briton Island (Cape Briton Island is
the northeastern most part of Nova Scotia).
A rich coal seam was discovered in 1863 and mines were active well after
WW II, with the last mine closing some 25 years ago after a fire. The entries for the mines were close to the
present beach and a good portion of the mines were physically under land now
occupied by the Cabot Links course and the water of the Gulf. The town did not “die” but clearly lost most
of its life after the mines closed; its residents saw little future economic
viability.
In the late 20th
century, several golf architects looked at Inverness and the potential of the
abandoned mines, including Jack Nicklaus…but nothing moved forward. Then finally at the start of this century,
Ben Cowan-Dewar became aware of the potential and started to examine the
prospects. In 2005 Ben reached an
agreement with the town of Inverness to develop a golf course on the
property. Ben also looked very hard at
property lying a couple of miles to the northeast of the old mines, as this
second parcel seemed to be even more promising land for golf course.
By the mid-late 2000’s Ben had
also secured options on much of the land lying 2 miles up the Gulf, and he was
able to convince Mike Keiser (think Bandon Dunes and many other great golf
projects of the last 20 years) to provide financial support. Construction on Cabot Links commenced (and
Ben moved with his wife and family to the town to oversee the process). Cabot Links opened in 2012 to rave reviews,
as Canada’s first and only true links course.
Construction had started on the second site 2 miles to the north on what
was to become Cabot Cliffs. Cliffs had a
soft opening almost a year ago and a full opening in June 2016. Simply put, the reviews have been
unprecedented.
Let’s sidestep for a minute or
two...what is a true links course? About
35 years ago, I learned that links land was land that linked the sea with
land. It was land that had been covered
by the sea during the last ice period that ended about 10,000 years ago. This must have been when the automobile and
electrical power plants started spewing forth CO2 in large quantities (and cows
started farting)…we know this from the eye witness accounts of Al Gore, whose
brain unfortunately permanently froze about 12,000 years ago). In any case, as the glaciers receded, they
exposed large tracts of land that previously had been covered by the sea. Hence, courses such as Pebble Beach and
Bandon Dunes, which sit on cliffs high above the sea are not true links courses…and
courses such as The Old Course, North Berwick, and Prestwick in Scotland are
true links courses (as are many others).
I grew up in Jamaica, Queens, NY, and our house sat at the top of a hill
that stretched across a good portion of Long Island from west to east…the hill
is where the glacier stopped, and property along the northern portions of LI
(and further north in New England) is hilly and filled with rock outcroppings
dragged south as the glacier moved south, while property on the southern
portion of LI tends to be flat and rock outcroppings are generally absent. One final note here…land that is not links
land can be used to create golf courses that play very much like true links
land and examples abound (e.g. Bandon Dunes).
Much of the land now encompassing Cabot Links is considered to be true
links land.
Cabot Cliffs, July 8 and 9,
2016: Pat and I saw Ben at the
breakfast room. He was having breakfast
with a group of golfers from Gulph Mills GC in Philadelphia and we traded
stories about our mutual friends Margo and Bill W. of Gulph Mills. After breakfast we drove over to Cliffs and
after some brief introductions, we teed off on #1…playing as a threesome, Pat,
Ben and me. For this, my 295th
of 295, I wore a golf hat from Kissena Golf Course, the NYC Muni I played as a
kid in Queens (stretched to 4600+ yards) and the 2nd course I ever
played on the front nine...and for the back nine, I wore a hat from Honesdale
Country Club, a nine holer in northeastern PA and the first course I ever
played (August 1955). BTW…Honesdale was
where Art Wall, Jr., 1959 Maters champion, learned the game.
Cliffs is a very very
interesting golf course. Designed by
Coore and Crenshaw, it is only 6764 (par 72) yards long from the tips…but as it
is very exposed to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the wind makes it play
longer. It consists of 6 par 3’s, 6 par
4’s and 6 par 5’s…a highly unusual mix of holes. The par 4’s range from 330 to 404 yards…so
there are no holes between 404 yards and 532 yards (the shortest par 5). However, once again the wind is the great
equalizer, as 404 into a strong wind plays more like 460-480. The holes run in about every direction of the
compass, so one is forced to play the wind from every direction. And you play in at least three different
topological environments…sand dunes, pine forests, and a river valley. Most importantly, there are no two holes that
feel like twins, yet all 18 are clearly at least first or second cousins of all
the others. The winds were about 10-15mph
with some stronger gusts as the morning went on. Just about the right amount of wind to make
the game interesting.
The greens were very slow. Fescue grass in its early years (remember,
this course first opened for play about a year ago) is thick stemmed. The thick
stems also absorb water and become thicker…so it the morning, the stems are
very wide and the greens very slow. As
the sun dries out the ground, the stems shrink somewhat and the green speeds
quicken. The first third of the round, I
would guess the greens were at about 7’ on the stimp and by the end of the
round more like 8.5”. You should note
that as the grass ages through the years, the stem width shrinks (OK…no
comments about men’s stems here please) and the water absorption factor is also
reduced. But because of the slopes and
winds at Cabot, the greens probably become unplayable at slightly above 10’.
There are so many great holes
here that it is tough to name the best, but I will try. Best golf holes are #2, 3-6, 8, 9, 11, 12,
13, and 15. The most dramatic are 5, 9,
and 15-18. I took lots of pictures that
are shown below. I got up and down from
over 16, the par 3 similar to a combination of 15 and 16 at Cypress, and
birdied 17, the drivable par 4 where I hit my drive in a front bunker and got
up an down. Had an 84 (btw, all the
scores posted on this blog are under Equitable Stroke Control…meaning, in part,
that I can’t take more and a double bogey).
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| #1 par 5 turns slightly left, and generally benign... |
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| until you get around the green...this from the back left. |
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| #2 par 4...great hole and tough tee shot to right side of fairway...note Principal's Nose in front of green |
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| Closer look at Principal's nostrils on #2!! |
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| #3 par 4, raised fairway on left desired line off tee but tougher shot... |
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| #5 par 4...great Cape Hole off tee...in dunes section of course...this shows 2nd shot |
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| Green on par 3 #6 falls off in back (pic from back of green) |
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| #7 par 5 requires you to pick the right line off tee... |
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| and then deal with a VERY deep front bunker on your 3rd...this bunker invites you to fly over it |
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| Par 3 9th...126 yards from back and sheer terror...see what awaits over green in pic of Pat in bunker way below |
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| Par 5 10th runs along Gulf and seems ordinary till one sees where the green is perched |
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| Loved tee shot on par 4 #11..big bunker right is beautiful...uphill to tough green to hit |
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| par 3 12th plays 245 yds from back...and green slopes sharply R-->L |
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| Par 4 #13 moves away from Gulf and large mound in front of green reminded me of #16 at Ellerston |
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| The look from behind 13th green |
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| Par 3 #14...taken with a crooked camera...note mound in front of green...like par 5 at Streamsong Red |
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| Don't be long on par 3 #14...here is what awaits if you run thru center of green |
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| Tee shot on par 5 #15...split fairway...left side gives view of green (see below), 2nd blind from right |
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| View from tee shot on left side of 15...down to green |
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| Tee shot on much talked about #16, 176 yards to tiny green |
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| View from 15 yards left of left side of 16th green |
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| #17 par 4 331 yards from back...dramatic drivable Cape Hole |
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| Another view from 17th tee |
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| Looking down to green from top of hill on 17 |
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| #17 from about 60 yards short of green |
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| #18 par 5 along Gulf..note chasm about 100 yards short of green |
The round was so much fun. Playing my last of 295 courses with Pat was
so extraordinary. She has been so so
great through all this (not that she didn’t speak her mind a few times). And playing Cliffs with Ben…the creator of
this place. As the saying goes: “it
can’t get any better”.
After the round concluded Ben
presented me with a Cabot Cliffs hole flag signed with a special note. To be framed with some photos commemorating
this special day.
After lunch, I went back to
Cliffs to get the photos shown above…then it was time for a nap. But first some "action shots":
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| Getting ready to start playing #295 |
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| Fairly good tee shot, especially given the PRESSURE!! |
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| Pat from bunker behind #9...short tough par 3 |
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| Ben, Pat and Paul on 16th tee |
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| Paul hitting into #18...as the 295th is finished |
The next day (Saturday July 9)
we played Cliffs around 11:30. Greens
were of course much faster (about 8.5-9) and, the course was every bit as good
as it was the day before. Had an 83 with
a 40 on the back nine. Wind was similar
to Friday in both direction and velocity.
Once again weather was very good…a little cloud cover but no rain. The luck continued.
Just to summarize…Cliffs opened
last summer, and the only World Top 100 published late enough to allow
sufficient time for enough rating to come in was Golf Digest’s list published
in January 2016. Cabot Cliffs was at #19
on that list.
Cabot Links, July 10, 2016: Pat and I had played Links twice in September
2013, and loved it then. We wanted to
play it again to see if it was still as good as we remembered. With a 4:45pm flight out of Halifax we needed
to play early and were able to secure the 7:12am tee time.
Links was designed by Rod
Whitman a Canadian architect and opened for play in 2012. It zoomed onto most World Top 100 listings
(#82 and #75 on Golf Magazine in 2013 and 2015 respectively, #42 and #93 on
Golf Digest in 2014 and 2016 respectively, and #62 on Top100golfcourses.co.uk
in 2016). My sense is that #60-70 is
about right. It is Canada’s only true
links course (see earlier definition).
Links sits hard by the Gulf of St Lawrence, on top of a bluff that is
about 20’ above sea level. The entire
property slopes toward the sea and that must be kept in mind on almost every
shot. It plays very firm and fast just
as a links course should. The bunkers
are deep and to be avoided (same true at Cliffs). At 6854 yards par 70 (compared
to par 72 for Cliffs), and more exposed to the wind, it probably plays a good
400 yards longer than Cliffs.
The hole sequence at Links was
altered since 2013 and I like the new sequence.
The best holes are also numerous here and certainly include #2, 4, 6, 9,
11, 13, and 15-18. Unfortunately, I was
too engrossed in the round to take any pictures…but the round was great
fun. I doubled #2 (thinned a flop shot)
and #10 (drove into a very deep crater/bunker and took 2 to get out) and ended
up shooting a five over 75. Yes, the
wind was down but I really played well with all aspects of my game. Great way to finish up the trip. Sorry, didn't take any pics of Links
************************************************
SO NOW WHAT??
OK, my three bucket lists are
done, finished. Oh, BTW I did get a
brief scare last week regarding the MacWood spoof list. My nephew Noah was recently in Cuba, comes
back and says that Havana Country Club still exists and he has photos of
it…nine holes with tree branches stuck in holes to serve as “flagsticks”. Remember…it is on the MacWood spoof list but
has generally been considered to be goneso (just like freedom…no longer exists
in Cuba). So if it does exist, do I have
to visit Cuba? There I was preparing my
emotional response to this critical question, when I did some more searching on
Google, and discovered that Noah’s club was Havana Golf Club, which was
formerly Rover’s Athletic Club, and is located about 5 miles south of the site
of Havana Country Club (which became a Art and Theater School…since closed). Soooo…crisis averted!!
Seriously though, the last few
years have been great fun and exhausting.
I have met hundreds of wonderful people and seen so many sights. Frankly, my rush to get these lists done was
in part because, at the age of 71, who knows how long the legs will keep going?
I have learned that completing these
lists is a little like being a racing greyhound chasing that mechanical
rabbit. As soon as you get close, a new
list comes out and there are more courses to play. I distinctly remember early January 2016 when
Golf Digest introduced their 2016 list and all of a sudden I had 11 new courses
to play (a bunch of which I had never heard of!). I wanted to get these done before a new bunch
of lists were published. Who knows what
will be added when new lists start coming out in 2017 and beyond.
Also, there are a good number of
fabulous courses on the list of 295 that I have only played once and/or have
not played in over 10 years. I want to
go back and enjoy these and for the past few years I have not had the
time. There will also be two benefits to
taking more relaxing trips…one is obvious, less wear and tear on the body. The other is more important…my dear bride Pat
will go on those trips...she hated the thought of flying from city to city (or
country to country or continent to continent) every day…and she was right!
So, I am hereby announcing my
“retirement” from chasing World Top 100 lists.
I still plan to play great courses around the world…but will focus more
the one I have played only once and /or have not played in the last 10
years. If it makes sense, I will play
some new courses…but only if it makes sense.
I will also maintain my
spreadsheet…so that others can try to climb this mountain!
I will also travel domestically
playing great courses…and keep this blog going.
I have not forgotten that I still owe you a post about dealing with
DHL. And I played Piping Rock Club and
Friar’s Head this past week and need to write them up. Lastly, I want to go through my travels and
create a list of Hidden Gems played, plus some statistics on my travels. So, plenty to bore you with in the future!!
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