I was at Cape Breton Highlands Links over the past week with Ian. Frankly, I'd have a hard time supporting any other Canadian golf architect working at Highlands Links. Ian's the right man for the job.
However, there's a long road tangled with red tape ahead. Some serious politiking needs to be done in order to get the "green light" to do everything that's necessary, and more important, to simply find the required finds. And, a focused plan to continue to preserve what is hopefully restored is most crucial. Highlands Links was renovated during the late 1990s, and much of what was done then is seriously deteriorated already.
This said, many trees were marked for removal over the past week and will apparently be cut very shortly; specifically around many greens, which are in serious peril because of a lack of sunlight and air flow.
It's going to be interesting to see how this pans out. My fingers are crossed that the "right things" will be approved and funded. This is a very, very important golf course to restore and preserve, for many different -- all important -- reasons.