Cabot Links Update
Many are keen on seeing what Keiser, a Chicago businessman who made his fortune in greeting cards, will come up with next. He's already built four courses on the Oregon coast -all of which have won numerous accolades -with a short course in construction and two more full-length facilities in planning. Along the way he's become the patron of links golf -unique seaside courses played on firm turf near the ocean -and has supported links in Australia and Scotland.
Keiser came to the project in 2007, just before the economic slowdown. Though the recession delayed the course's construction, it will be completed in time for the preview rounds in July. And Keiser, who has visited the course frequently throughout construction, is thrilled with what he sees.
"Two years ago I thought the course might be pretty good," Keiser said when I walked the course with him early last fall. "Last summer I was hoping it might be like [Royal] Dornoch or Turnberry, just in Inverness. But the holes they are turning out so well."
Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 08:56 PM
Reader Comments (9)
Concerns me...
Also, like Bandon, Cabot Links will be a very long drive from any airport serviced by airlines. The nearest would be Sydney Nova Scotia, which basically only has commuter service to other airports in the Maritimes. Otherwise it is five hours to Halifax.
Because of all that, it had better be good.
Union Bay? Great if you love oysters. Patience if you are waiting to play golf there anytime soon.
I cannot wait until it opens.
You must have a fantastic radar detector to make it in three hours.
I just plugged Halifax International Airport into Google Maps for directions and driving time to Inverness NS - it is 4 hours on the nose. Also, I have found in the past that the driving time on Google Maps assumes no traffic, no pit stops, and driving at least the speed limit the whole way. So, if you make it in 4 1/2 hours, you are making it in good time.
Highlands LinKs is on the mend from that vicious storm damage. Consulting architect Ian Andrew's website has some photos of the ongoing work. He, his assistant and a dedicated ,in-house team are doing a fine job from all indications. The place is certainly special and Cabot Links will need Highlands in good shape to draw the consistent numbers needed to make it a profitable venture.
It's a shorter season there than Bandon, so the discounted winter-rate numbers that help carry Bandon won't be in the mix for Cabot, and certainly not for just one course. There is another course planned for the Inverness area, where Cabot is located, but that will take a couple of years to complete, minimum.
Cabot Links looks to be very impressive and once it gets the warmer temps and conditions to grow sound turf, they should be in good shape. The cool Spring weather hampered everyone's early efforts on projects of any scale up Nova Scotia way this year. In the end, we all bow to mother nature.