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Cape Breton Golf Is AmazingSee Pages 3, 4, 5 & 6!

northwestern ontarioSeptember

2011

There has always been something aboutthe Maritimes provinces of Canada that Ireally like. I think it starts with the peoplethere whom have a reputation of beingabsolutely friendly and will treat you like aking. Their small town values ring home forme and I was really looking forward to atrip to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Islandin particular to experience first hand thegolf they offer. Of course the people wouldbe fantastic as well and I found this to beabsolutely true. My goal in 2011 was to see

Canada coast to coast and in July I had beenable to see the Pacific Ocean in Vancouveras well as play some ocean front golf. Thistime it would be the Atlantic Ocean sur-rounding Cape Breton Island.

You can get to Cape Breton like I did withAir Canada flights to Toronto, Halifax andthen Sydney. West jet also have flights toToronto and direct to Sydney which will put

you at a 45 minute drive away from my firststop at Ben Eoin where I would play thenew Lakes Golf Club.

After a great fine dining experience andstay at the Birches Inn I was off to my firstgolf game at the Lakes at Ben Eoin. TheLakes course has a spectacular setting andgreat grasses. “ We started construction in2008 and completed in 2009. There washeavy rain in the spring and mid summer of2009 so we didn’t open the full 18 until2010 with only 9 holes for play in 2009.The rain has to go through us to get to thewater and it can cause problems. One fair-

way we seeded 7 times because of the rain-water before we got it,” said MatthewBlackburn, Head Superintendent at theLakes Golf Club. “ There was probablyonly 3 trailer loads of sod on the wholeproperty as everything was hydro seeded. Inthe summer we get a few weeks of 28Celsius but it is mostly like today, 20 to 25Celsius. It is growing weather if you cankeep the rain away. I had worked with ourcourse architect Graham Cook at other

courses I worked on and the grasses weused were proven to work in the Maritimesat other courses he has designed at FoxHarbour and Eagles Glen in PEI. We havespent some time cutting out Poiana andhave a new chemical product we can put onthe grasses to keep the Poiana out especial-ly on the fairways. We cut it out of thegreens usually. The best thing about thecourse is there are no weak holes out there.Every hole is strong ”

Pat Laderoute is the Operation Managerand Head Professional at The Lakes. “ Wehad twin daughters so it worked out well tomove from Ontario here to raise our family.The business community has ownership ofthe golf course; it is a community project

with about 120 members. There is alsosome government funding. We have mem-berships and public play,” said Laderoute. “ The site is on three plateaus on the side ofa mountain but Graham Cook used as muchnatural setting as he could. On no 6 it isstraight down hill. This is the only golfcourse I have worked on in my 20 plusyears that people come in after the roundand tell us how good it is. They try to makeus understand what we have here. Usuallypeople just play the round and leave butpeople here are just amazed, especially atnumber 6 and 15 tee decks where you cansee the water and on a calm day you canhear the streams running. You use many ofyour senses, can see, feel, hear the wind andbe in nature.”

The Lakes is getting about 20,000 roundsper year and space tee times out to makeeveryone’s rounds comfortable. That is apretty solid play level on an island likeCape Breton with a population of around120,000. A non-resident pays green fees of$79 in peak and $65 and a cart $38.

“ The golf course has days when youswear you are on carpet. The greens are trueand if you miss a putt you can only blameyour aim. The views are spectacular aswell. You just say wow this is amazing.When you play here you don’t know thesignature hole because they are all so mem-orable. The mountain, lake and undulationsare amazing. There is just so much eyecandy out there.” said Pat Laderoute.

When you are on Cape Breton Island a realtreat is driving the Cabot Trail. The sceneryis just spectacular. My next stop would be a2-hour drive to Highlands links and a stayat the well-known Keltic Lodge. This his-toric hotel is situated in a special locationand is a great place to stay when you playHighland Links. Graham Hudson is theOperations Manager for the Highland LinksGolf Course,was born in Baddeck, NovaScotia and has been at Highland Links for

the last four years and would be my golfpartner.

“ I enjoy playing golf but don’t take it tooseriously. Life is good in Cape Breton; on aday like this it is gorgeous. We have our baddays but it is stunning here. The Federalgovernment owns Highland Links and it isoperated by Parks Canada. This is CapeBreton Highland Park. The course openedin 1941 as a Stanley Thompson Design andit is 100 % original. They haven’ t changedany of the greens and the layout is all thesame. We have been working hard to keepthe integrity of the design in place. Thegrasses are poa and kentucky. Architect IanAndrews, who specializes in bringing backStanley Thompson Designs to their original

state, has looked at the course. We haveredone many bunkers to the original.” statesGraham Hudson.

Highland Links is consistently rated in thetop 100 in the world by golf magazines. “ Itis a combination of everything, the layout,the scenery, the design, playability, the funand it makes for a great day. People comingfrom a club manicured to death ask how weare ranked number 1 to 5 in Canada regu-larly. We work to the standards of ParksCanada and the standards are pretty highwhen it comes to the environment,” saidHudson. “ Every round is different wherethe factor is the wind and the fairways arehard or you may see different types ofwildlife like a moose or lynx. There are notwo days the same and you can just loseyourself in the views and say wow. Eachhole is separate and you see no other holesfrom your hole.”

It costs $102 to play Highland Linksincluding 15% HST, but not including cart,which is $35. This is a peak rate but thereare afternoon and off peak season specialson the web at www.highlandlinksgolf.comwhere they offer daily discounts. HighlandLinks also have a golf club of 200 seasonspass members. They strive forbetween18,000 and 21,000 rounds, which istheir optimum. They have gone as high as27,000 rounds per year but the course is notdesigned for the type of traffic according toGraham Hudson. “ We open the long week-end in May and close the last weekend inOctober traditionally. May and June werewrite-offs this year but the weather has beenreally nice recently,” said Hudson. “ InCape Breton Island we have 6 courses wemarket as a group together and they are alltotally different. We get players from allover the world from Australia to Austria andthe US, Ontario, Quebec and Maritimes.”

Continued next Page

4 Northwestern Ontario Golfing News September 2011

Cape Breton Golf Is AmazingBY SCOTT A. SUMNERNW Ontario Golfing News

Side: The Lakes course provides colourful chairs from whiich to enjoy the scenaryAbove: Graham Hudson GM of Highland Links showed me his spectacular course

Continued From Previous PageLast December a huge storm in the area

created huge problems on some fairways atHighland Links which were covered inwater and then when it receded left lots ofdebris resulting in the fairways having to be

reseeded. Originally the course was built inthe great depression as a work project with200 men and only 1 steam tractor. All thework was done by hand.

After staying in Ingonish and playingHighland Links it was a real treat to drivemuch of the Cabot Trail to my next stopCheticamp. This is a drive as spectacular asyou will find in Canada with great oceanviews. It was great to stay at the brand newbed and breakfast type property, the MaisonFiset Inn in Cheticamp. This was a niceplace to stay and they include a full hotbreakfast that you choose the night before.

My next golf course would be Le Portagewhich I played with member FrankMcLaughlin, who is from Boston and was apolice man and fireman there and lives inCheticamp during the summer. Also playingwith me was Dave Deluzio, age 37, fromWindsor who is Director of Golf and GM atLe Portage Golf Club Cheticamp and hasbeen a pro since age 20. Dave plays in thezone PGA events and enjoys competitivegolf. We also met Claude BourgeiousPresident of the Community RecreationAssociation, which own the course in theCheticamp area, which has a population ofabout 10,000 people.

The course was built in two stages withthe two nines and is in a spectacular settingwith views of the ocean and the mountains.You can even see the actual Cabot Trailhighway winding near the ocean from sev-eral tees. Every hole is different and isolat-ed and you don’t see any other hole. Thecourse is 7000 yards, has a high slope ratingand is difficult by nature as it is cut out ofthe forest with OB on both sides of the fair-ways. There is a premium on hitting itstraight!

“ I love the scenery here and the friendli-ness of the community that welcomes peo-ple like us from outside. When you make afriend here you make a friend for life.People come from all over the world to passthrough the Cabot Trail and if they golf theylove Le Portage GC.” said FrankMcLaughlin.

“ The course, the views and the architec-ture are what I like the most. For me it is avery rewarding job. The people who visithere and our members are very social andfriendly. We have a lot of laughs. It is afriendly place to be and the ocean surroundsus. When the weather is good here you feellike you are on vacation,” said DaveDeluzio. “ Cape Breton is a golf destination.

We are cornered by the new Cabot Linkscourse, Highlands on the west side and thenew Lakes course as well as Bell Bay. Ifyou are a golfer you can spend time here, dothe Cabot Trail and play 5 or 6 awesomegolf courses. The courses are all top choic-

es along with the whale cruises, the seafoodas well as the fiddle music, which is so pop-ular here. You can’t go wrong with so manythings to do in one place.”

The Le Portage GC was in excellent shapeand a fun course to play. It was great play-ing with Dave and Frank. You can get fur-ther information and tee times at www.lep-ortagegolf club.com and on face book orcall them. Also you can book your tee timesover 1 year in advance and they have stayand plays packages with chalets right upfront and can include Whale cruises or fid-dle playing in a package. Cheticamp is oneof the biggest communities outside ofSydney so has a lot of hotels, restaurants tooffer. The green fees at Le Portage are $59taxed in and the cart is an additional $15 perperson. You can also walk the course.

“ I feel we are a $100 green fee for $59 atle Portage. We are looking forward to thenew Cabot Links as they will bring moregolfers to the west side of the island,” saidDeluzio. “ Come play and if you don’t likeyour round I will refund your green fee andyou can put that in print. I guarantee ourgolf course will be an enjoyable experi-ence.”

My next stop would be the new CabotLinks course. See my publishers note articleon my experience at Cabot Links.

My last course to play in Cape Bretonwould be Bell Bay Golf Club located inBaddeck.The course opened in the fall of1997 with 9 holes and in 1998 fully openedand was voted best new golf course inCanada by Golf Digest that year. TomMcBroom designed the course. Bell Bayhas hosted several events like the WayneGretzsky and Friends with Mike Weir, JoeSakic and Brett Hull and the 2005 CanadianMen’s Amateur.

“ We have a 300 acre property and areowned by Cape Breton Resorts with CEOScott McCaulay. They also own DundeeGolf Club, Inverary Resort which is here inthe village as well as a development com-pany of properties,” said Ted StonehouseGM and Head Professional at Bell Bay GolfClub in Baddeck. “ Bell Bay has been greatfor the local economy. It adds to the qualityof the trip for those visiting here. There isHighland Links, the new Cabot Links andwe are right at the hub of the Cabot Trail,with the beginning and the end here, and arelocated on Bras Dor Lakes, world renownedfor sailing. Alexander Graham Bell’s estateis here on the peninsula and he and his wifeMabel are buried on the mountain calledbeautiful mountain. The AlexanderGraham Bell museum is here that showcas-es the tremendous amount of experiments

he had done. We also had a celebration ofthe first flight here recently. There is somefantastic salmon fishing here as well.”

“ I like the championship length of ourBell Bay course at over 7000 yards, but ahusband and wife can come out and playwith our sets of tees. We have many couplescome off the course and say that was one ofthe most enjoyable rounds of golf we’vehad in a long time,” said Ted Stonehouse. “ There are lots of larger landing areas andwe are a fine manicured property, one of thebest in Atlantic Canada. We also have oneof the nicest practice areas with targetgreens. If you are doing site seeing you cango to world class beaches in 1 hour, watchwhales, do a sail tour and see wildlife likemoose or wild eagles. We have people whofly into Sydney or to Halifax and drive here.The trip from Halifax is 4 hours and a veryscenic drive.”

The green fee rate at Bell Bay is $79 withshoulder season at $65 and carts are $17.50per person.Bell Bay will do about 20,000rounds per year.

After a great dinner and stay at theInverary Inn it was a 1 hour 20 minute driveto the Sydney airport for my trip home. Thiswas of my best golf trips ever. I especiallyliked the people, the beautiful settings andthe great golf courses. Cape Breton is aplace you must visit! For further informa-tion see www.golfcapebreton.com

Cape Breton Golf Is Amazing

Page 5 Northwestern Ontario Golfing News September 2011

Side: It was fun playing Le Portage at Cheticamp. We had a great team!Above: Ted Stonehouse GM of Bell Bay was a tremendous host!

It was fun to play Chapples Golf courserecently with Greg Alexander, TomForsythe and Pat Berezowski of GolfThunder Bay. Our round together gave ussome time to see how the courses weredoing this summer.

“ Strathcona is doing well now aftera slow start due to some bad greens butcondition wise it is great shape. We man-aged to get all the repairs done from whenthe idiots with their ATV’s were out thereand ripped them up. The staff got greatcomments on conditioning during theStrathcona Invitational,” said Forsythe.

“ The fairways are much better with the irrigation system which we installed. Thecourse is continuing to mature and fillingin extremely well. We are able to mow thefairways a little shorter and the ball sits upa little better. It is a great place to go andplay and a nice piece of property. It is ourmost difficult golf course and will giveyou our best test of golf. It is a little hilli-er to walk than say Chapples and thegreens are a little smaller. If I could choseonly one course to play in Thunder Bay Iwould choose Strathcona.”

“ Chapples is in really good shape aswell. We had some springtime problemsbut were able to recover from those. Thegreens are rolling well and the ball sits upextremely well on the fairways. It isanother good test of golf. It is in the mid-dle of the city and easy to get to. We offersome nice packages,” said Forsythe. “ It isour busiest course typically. It helps to geta tee time but we offer every third tee timeas a walk on. We will get you out on thecourse.”

Page 8 Northwestern Ontario Golfing News September 2011

Golf Thunder Bay’s Strathcona & Chapples Courses inGood Shape

BY SCOTT A. SUMNERNW Ontario Golfing News

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Top: The view from the Strathcona clubhouse Playing Chapples was agood day on the links!