Similar Stories to Inspired By Scotland, Golf Course In Atlantic Canada on Bing News

INVERNESS, Nova Scotia (AP) — Ribbons of manicured turf weave through dunes land, connecting the shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the higher elevation of town in this remote corner of Cape Breton Island. There is an adjacent pub with samplings of single-malt Scotch, but no motorized golf carts or beer wagons on the course itself. [...] Cabot Links has been ranked among the world's top 50 courses since opening in 2012, and it could be surpassed by a second 18 holes next door - Cabot Cliffs - that is scheduled to debut later this year. Though many courses bill themselves as "links-style" - rolling terrain without tree cover and perhaps next to a body of water - purists believe the land must be waves of sandy hillocks that connect, or "link," a beach to more tillable areas farther inland. Students of golf development will recognize the similarity of Cabot Links to the coastal Bandon Dunes resort in the United States, an even longer drive from the Portland, Oregon, airport than Cabot Links is from Halifax. Bandon Dunes' creator, Mike Keiser, who became a partner in Cabot Links, now is a driving force for the second 18 holes at Cabot Cliffs, along with Masters' champion Ben Crenshaw - who perhaps is without peer as a traditionalist in golf architecture. Guests of the lodge benefit from reduced green fees and the new golf option of Cabot Cliffs may encourage longer stays. The front nine has a "true links feel" near the beach like the older course, but the back nine "will be wild in the wind as it winds its way up the hillside culminating with the drama of the closing holes along the cliffs" - hence, the new course's name.