"World Class Links Golf Course for Inverness" (excerpts)
(reprinted with permission from the ORAN October 5, 2005 Edition)
The announcement of a world-class links golf course for Inverness was made before an exuberant crowd that was ready to usher in a new era for the community.
Rick Beaton, chair and CEO of the Cape Breton Growth Fund, acted as emcee for the joyous occasion, saying they were there to make "a good news announcement."
"I am ecstatic and pleased to be here today, to announce we have an agreement with an investor which will bring this project to fruition," Beaton said.
He commended Warden Duart MacAulay for his council's support and the developer, Ben Cowan-Dewar, president and CEO of Golf Tours International of Toronto, for taking the leadership role with the shareholders to make this project a reality.
MP Cuzner said is will enhance the entire golf product on Cape Breton Island.
The new company - Cabot Links - will retain a world renowned course architect to manage the design and construction. The golf course will be Scottish links style and will be situated on a parcel of land between the Town of Inverness and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The proposed 195 acre site was a former mine site that was remediated in 2003 by the provincial government.
MP Cuzner stated that the CBGF is to be commended for its support on this project. "Golf vacationers are attracted to areas that offer a variety of high-quality courses with a mix of landscapes and course designs. A seaside links-style course will be a great addition to the existing golf offering on Cape Breton Island, extending the stay of golf vacationers," he said.
The Cape Breton Growth Fund will provide funding of $2.5 million in the form of an equity investment, and Cabot Links estimates it will create 20 jobs.
Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage Rodney MacDonald sees the project as a way for the existing golf courses to reach new national and international markets. "Introducing another partner who has established contacts in the Ontario market will mean more promotional opportunities for Cape Breton golf packages, thus increasing tourism visitations," he says.
"It is a new venture bringing changes that are often difficult to make, but Ben is investing heavily in us, so we must have a positive attitude and hold on to it," MacEachen added. "It is also safe to say that Rick is a key figure in this proposal."
"We see the new face of Inverness with the sidewalks, Visitor Information Centre, the lights and now a new golf course," he said.
The decision to establish in Cape Breton was an easy one for the company's CEO, Ben Cowan-Dewar. "the praise that the property has garnered from golf architects and writers who have visited the site confirmed our own beliefs that this was a spectacular opportunity not to be passed up," he said.
"The rolling nature of the land, with its subtle elevation changes and cant towards the sea, makes for a golf setting unlike anywhere else in Canada, and one of very few pure golf experiences in the world. These factors, along with the site's proximity to the Cabot Trail, let us to name the property Cabot Links."
He said that with each visit to the area his appreciation of the land and community grew, and as he saw the many great links courses in Great Britain and how these properties were part of the fabric of the community, he envisioned that for Inverness.
Now Cape Breton will have the Fabulous Five.
He said Rod Whitman, one of the best golf architects in Canada and the world, will design the course.
At the peak of his career, he will design something very special, "the best course in Canada."
He said he will need the support of the community; as the tourists overflow into the entire community he expects the friendliness will continue for our new guests.
Beaton remarked that it is always a risk, but with the funding partners, the Growth Fund for $2.5 million and Cowan-Dewar making up the rest of the $6 million project, the project is ready to succeed.
"It is important as well to recognize those who donated property to make up the 170 acres of land we need for the course. Our municipal government has committed about 70 acres, the MacLeod family has given about 20 acres, John Chisholm, 6 acres and the Department of Natural Resources, 6 acres more. Without their generosity, we would be able to do nothing," Ryan added.
"Ben, we hope you have a long and successful relationship with the community of Inverness, " Ryan said.
"This day marks the beginning of a new day for this community. This is the start of a time of great possibilities. We need you to be prepared for opportunity and to be ready for some change. Inverness will become a destination for people who want a vacation in an energetic, happening place. It will be a community for people to retire to and maybe a place to do business. Perhaps we can slow the constant outflow of our young people by giving them opportunities here. Perhaps some of our children will be able to return to raise their own families. Now there's a chance for all this to happen," he added.
"We have a safe, clean environment, great scenery, fantastic hiking trails, warm salt water beaches, boating, fishing, live-harness racing, a great hospital and a vibrant culture, including the Inverness County Center for the Arts, the Inverness Miners' Museum - and, of course, the area is full of music. On top of this we will soon have a world class, British-style links golf course. It will run along the coast in a place of wind and sea and sun below the village of Inverness. It will offer lovely views and breath-taking sunsets for you as you walk over the old mine fields of Inverness. For golfers it will be a true experience."
Ryan said the IDA's mandate is to use the land for the betterment of the community, and to this end the agreement protects community ownership of the beach and boardwalk, provides access to the beach with paths along Beach Road #1 and near Beach Road #2, while giving the community a world-class golf course.
Ben Cowan-Dewar said the planning and design will continue over the fall and winter with construction of the course getting underway in the spring.
He hopes the course will be ready by mid-2007.
(The significance of a links course in Inverness and Cape Breton where the conditions certainly do exist for an "authentic" setting. It is "New Scotland" [Nova Scotia], after all!)
LINKS GOLF by Nick Faldo
I wish I had a pound - or a dollar - for every time I have been asked to describe the main difference between playing golf in the United States and playing golf in Great Britain and Ireland.
More often than not, I'm afraid, I've given a rather flippant response, such as, "about twenty degrees centigrade." The real answer is this: golf courses in America place an emphasis on conditioning, whereas golf in the British Isles is primarily about conditions. We seem to be obsessed with the weather in Britain; we talk about it all the time. This is probably because it is so unpredictable. The weather invariably influences, and sometimes defines, a round of golf in Britain. Nowhere is it more relevant than on a links course. Here, on exposed land adjacent to the sea, the vagaries of the wind add an extra dimension to the challenge. In essence it determines a player's strategy - how a player approaches a hole and how he or she executes each shot. The wind forces you to think, and it encourages you to use your imagination. What is it the Scots say? ... Nae wind, nae golf."
Links golf is of course the original form of golf. In my view it also remains the finest form of golf. The conditions on a links, and I'm not referring to the elements but also the extraordinary terrain and the way the courses play "firm and fast," is what makes links golf so endlessly interesting.
We are incredibly fortunate in Great Britain and Ireland because there are very few authentic links courses elsewhere in the world: the climatic conditions do not exist to make it possible.
