Cabot Cliffs

Overview: Cabot Cliffs follows the rugged coastline of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, moving between high ocean bluffs, rolling dunes, woodland and wetland. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw shaped the routing to keep the natural landscape in view while giving each section a different strategic identity. The course can open toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence, then turn inland through narrower ground before returning to the cliffs, so wind and elevation are active design elements rather than scenery alone.

History: Cabot Cliffs was developed as the second 18-hole course at Cabot Cape Breton after the success of Cabot Links. Construction began in 2013 on land north of the original course, and the Coore and Crenshaw design entered preview play in 2015 before its formal opening phase. The project helped transform Inverness into an internationally recognised golf destination while preserving the strong contrast between Cape Breton's dunes, coastal grassland and cliff-top terrain.

Did You Know? Cabot Cliffs uses an unusual balanced par pattern: six par-threes, six par-fours and six par-fives. That structure gives the course an even distribution of hole types while the land keeps each group from feeling repetitive. The famous cliff and dune setting is therefore matched by a deliberate piece of routing mathematics.