Cabot Links 2015

[Brent Hutto]

For those of you who have visited Cabot Links, two questions...

Is there any chance the July 4 weekend might be too early in the season to find the course in its best condition? Traveling that far north it would be nice to go when the days are at their longest but on the other hand I'd think the later in the season the better the firm-and-fast conditions.

Is the surrounding area as nice as it looks for a non-golfing spouse to access the beach or possibly the nearby town of Inverness? I'd probably play 36 holes on at least a couple of days and that leaves a lot of time for my wife to do her usual "beach vacation" type stuff.

I guess a third question is whether they have any push/pull carts available. I don't see any mention of them on the web page.

[Shane Wright]

Brent,

July 4 would be just fine for conditions.  I went in late July and conditions were perfect.

Inverness is a super charming town.  It will definitely feel as if one is at a small quaint village in Scotland or Ireland.  But as for stuff to do for your wife for 10 hours while you are golfing, I doubt you will find much.  If she is someone that can sit and read a book all day and walk along the beach, you are cool.  If your wife is type A, goes a million miles an hour, and likes lots of choices (my wife) then I'd say this is not your spot.

Pull carts are available and very good.

Now if you decide to make the trek to Highland Links, your wife will certainly thank you.  There are a zillion cool stops and visuals to make it memorable.  When we first arrived at Highland Links, coming back with my wife was definitely one of my first thoughts.  There were couples, hiking, bike riding, lobster fishing, shopping, site seeing, and of course, GOLFING.

Shane

[Howard Riefs]

Cabot Cliffs is expected to have its soft opening in July.  If you're going next summer, why not give yourself some wiggle room and look at later in the month or August, if possible? 

http://www.golfadvisor.com/articles/cabot-cliffs-inverness-nova-scotia-canada-14789.htm

[Guy Nicholson]

Hi Brent, I think Cabot Links will be great in early July. I've played it in June and August and had no issues with F&F either way. Cliffs will be either just opened or about to open at that time, so there'll be some buzz around that. And yes, there are pullcarts.

Surrounding area is low-key but great for a day or two. You could walk Inverness beach all day long. And there are several of others worth walking within a half-hour's drive. (West Mabou Beach is a great one.) Inverness is a small town but it has some attractions -- add in Mabou and Cheticamp and there's enough to keep busy. That's without even touching the national park, Louisbourg and Baddeck, on the usual tourist circuit.

[Brent Hutto]

Howard,

I had seen some mention on this forum about the Cliffs soft opening. In honesty, that wouldn't really be a big attraction. As weird as that sounds for a long-time GCA'er. Guess I'm just a conditioning snob or something. But it is a good suggestion, just not sure it's a big deal for me personally.

Shane and Guy,

If we go it'll be a pretty short trip. Probably arriving late on a Thursday evening and leaving mid-day on Sunday. So if there's a Real Beach worth spending some time on, my wife can easily blow a couple of days there. And speaking of Type A, the resort has free Wi-Fi which means she'll also probably bring her laptop too! Although come to think, by that point she'll have been retired for several months and may not feel the urge to keep up with work stuff. Wish I was retiring this year too.

[Carl Johnson]

If you have any interest at all in local music, go down to Mabou, 20 minutes south, for supper and entertainment at the Red Shoe Pub.  http://www.redshoepub.com/  Check their schedule before you go for times and cover, if any.

[Brent Hutto]

Carl,

I have a feeling I'd like a lot of the local music. There are some Cape Breton fiddlers I'm familiar with (Brenda Stubbert, the late Jerry Holland, Paul Cranford the "lighthouse keeper" and fiddle-tune archivist) who are more over toward Sydney on the other side of the island. But surely the kind of stuff you'd hear around Inverness is from the same stylistic tradition.

If we were planning a longer trip I'd probably try to drive over there at some point but it's 2+ hours from Inverness to Sydney. But yeah, I'd love to hear some good tunes while I'm there.

[Matt Kardash]

FYI, the water is actually quite warm in Inverness. A local told me in the summer it is about 75F and is the warmest water north of North Carolina on the east coast due to some fortunate currents. So that makes hitting the beach a very nice option.

[Charlie_Bell]

I'm a big Cabot Links fan, having visited (from Connecticut via the Lighthouse area of Nova Scotia) for two of the last three summers.  Both times I played in mid-July, and conditions were very firm and very fast.  That said, it is a maritime environment, and thus the weather can do just about anything in a given summer.  THAT said, over the two decades I've been going there, summer weather in NS is truly San Diegan -- predominantly 70's, sunny, and breezy.

[Don Hyslop]

Inverness Beach is a beautiful 1.5 km long stretch of sand. Great beach!
http://www.nsls.ns.ca/inverness-beach

[Bill_McBride]

Carl,

I have a feeling I'd like a lot of the local music. There are some Cape Breton fiddlers I'm familiar with (Brenda Stubbert, the late Jerry Holland, Paul Cranford the "lighthouse keeper" and fiddle-tune archivist) who are more over toward Sydney on the other side of the island. But surely the kind of stuff you'd hear around Inverness is from the same stylistic tradition.

If we were planning a longer trip I'd probably try to drive over there at some point but it's 2+ hours from Inverness to Sydney. But yeah, I'd love to hear some good tunes while I'm there.

The Keltic Lodge at Highlands Links has live music every night I think.  The night Mr Whitaker and his friend Mr Carter were there, we three happily harmonized with the Celtic singer on "Hotel California."   I think he took a break right after that. 

I agree that Inverness has some good things going on.  We went to the track for harness racing one night.  The local restaurants were good and there is a glut of lobster so the price of lobster rolls was excellent.  I loved it and would also love to take my golfing wife there one day. 

[Bryan Izatt]

The beach is pretty nice.

[Brent Hutto]

The beach is pretty nice.

Bryan,

Is that a bit of the golf course you can see in this photo?

[Bryan Izatt]

Yes.  The picture was taken from a beach boardwalk that parallels within a few yards one of the holes on the back nine.

[Brent Hutto]

There's a course at the beach we go to here in South Carolina where about four holes run alongside a road. It's surprising how often I'll be playing one of those holes at the exact moment my wife ride by on her bike. Maybe the same thing will happen at Cabot while she's walking on the boardwalk!

[Brent Hutto]

As it turns out, the weekend after July 4 is what we settled on. It's a three-day weekend of golf on July 10th, 11th and 12th.

From what I gather, there is some chance I might get be able to finagle a round a Cabot Cliffs by then. Which would be cool but the "town course" will suit me just fine if the new course isn't available.

[Chris DeToro]

Should be a fun trip...let us know how it is.  I'm planning a similar venture (non-golfing spouse) for early September. 

[Adam Lawrence]

This, in my opinion, is one of the great strengths of Cabot/Cape Breton as a destination. The surrounding area is fascinating, with the mix of Scots Gaelic and Acadian French culture. You aren't far from the visual spectacular that is the Cabot Trail (and if you visit Highlands Links too, as you should, you get to drive the whole trail). The malt whisky distillery just south of Cabot is a great visit, especially if you haven't toured a distillery before. I've said to a number of people that, given the choice between a Cabot trip and a Bandon trip, I'd go to Cabot. The surrounding area is a big part of that (but I prefer the Cabot vibe to that at Bandon too).

[Bill_McBride]

This, in my opinion, is one of the great strengths of Cabot/Cape Breton as a destination. The surrounding area is fascinating, with the mix of Scots Gaelic and Acadian French culture. You aren't far from the visual spectacular that is the Cabot Trail (and if you visit Highlands Links too, as you should, you get to drive the whole trail). The malt whisky distillery just south of Cabot is a great visit, especially if you haven't toured a distillery before. I've said to a number of people that, given the choice between a Cabot trip and a Bandon trip, I'd go to Cabot. The surrounding area is a big part of that (but I prefer the Cabot vibe to that at Bandon too).

Agreed, there is a lot more extra curricular activity in Inverness than Bandon, which is a very sleepy town.   Did I mention there is a track with harness racing in Inverness?    Bandon trips always mean staying at the resort.  We went out every night in Inverness. 

[Mark Fedeli]

I'm considering a trip to Cabot in late August, and would like to bring the lady. This thread gives me high hopes that my non-golfing better half will also find many things to enjoy. In fact, it seems like that's what makes Cabot especially unique in North America.

She hates the typical resort experience and is very interested in exploring different regions, cultures, food, etc, and has no problem with small towns, inconsistent weather and relative isolation. She loves the beach and she even likes to fish.

I'd be very thankful if those who know the area could provide more info about what activities are around Cabot that she will also appreciate, both day and night. We also plan to explore the rest of Cape Breton too (including a stop at Highlands Links) so if you have some pointers for that area or anything else in Nova Scotia it would be great.

[Bill_McBride]

I'm considering a trip to Cabot in late August, and would like to bring the lady. This thread gives me high hopes that my non-golfing better half will also find many things to enjoy. In fact, it seems like that's what makes Cabot especially unique in North America.

She hates the typical resort experience and is very interested in exploring different regions, cultures, food, etc, and has no problem with small towns, inconsistent weather and relative isolation. She loves the beach and she even likes to fish.

I'd be very thankful if those who know the area could provide more info about what activities are around Cabot that she will also appreciate, both day and night. We also plan to explore the rest of Cape Breton too (including a stop at Highlands Links) so if you have some pointers for that area or anything else in Nova Scotia it would be great.

Mark, send Ben Cowan-Dewar an email or IM.  He lives there year around and should have a handle on the whole thing. 

[Mark Fedeli]

Thanks, Bill. Will do.

[Brent Hutto]

Mark,

Not wanting to in any way discourage your trip but in the end it turns out my wife and I will not be making the trip we were considering for this coming July. She wasn't totally enthused about it to start with and as time went by she just couldn't quite get behind the whole idea. Partly because she truly, deeply hates flying and basically needs a real strong motivation to take any trip that involves airline travel.

I'd imagine I'll hook up with some GCA buddies or something and go there myself one day but it won't be in 2015, alas. Just wanted to update the thread since I originated it.

[Andy Shulman]

Brent - To do Nova Scotia right, you need to go for at least a full week because of the travel, both by air and on the ground.  While I was able to fly direct to Halifax from DC, many folks have to catch a connecting flight through Boston or Toronto.  However you get there, once on the ground, Halifax is a solid five hour drive from Highlands Links.  Cabot is roughly 3 1/2 hours from Halifax and about two hours from Highlands Links.  In my mind, if you're going to go all that way, you don't want to rush around while you're there and you might as well visit two very memorable courses (I also played Bell Bay) and take time to enjoy some of the many worthy non-golfing activities.

My very accommodating non-golfing girlfriend and I were there last August.  She spent the afternoon at Inverness Beach and had a great time on a beautiful day.  So, it was well worth the effort - and will be even more so when Cabot Cliffs, which I toured, opens - but it's not really conducive to a long weekend trip, especially with a non-golfer. 

[John Cowden]

One of the best attractions of Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton in particular, is the local music.  Seek it out.