Cliff, i know you are now delaying your visit, which makes sense if you are living close enough. A friend & I (Aussies) are here right now (we are playing further south for a couple of weeks but "pre-extended into Nova Scotia). Cabot is amazing. We played Links (AM) and were privileged to play Cliffs (PM). There is a tiny bit of construction golf at Cliffs but otherwise the condition is "mint". I have never played a course with basically zero divots & noone else on the track. Its 4 AM local time (jetlag still!) but here are my top of mind thoughts on Cabot in general:
-they are doing things well all around clearly copying the Bandon model (both golf & non golf)
-the staff are , in general, great & clearly love their jobs
-Links was such a fun course with great variety & plenty of quirk. At lunch, refused to believe Cliffs could be SOOOOO much better (as reputed)
-it was
-have not played Sandhills or their course in China but I have played BT, FH, OS, LF and really love all 3 of those. Cliffs is superior or is , at least to me
-it is a big, beautiful, fun , varied (3 x 3, 3 x 4, 3 x5) course that i would love to play more often
-Cliffs #2 is a totally unique hole that i have never seen the like of before. Not often we get to say that
-contrary to most players, probably, i thought Cliffs #16 just felt a little forced (tiny bitch)
I wish good fortune to those with the balls & the $ to make this happen. Thanks to Andrew & the team for allowing us to play.
Go see it