Cabot invests in ‘otherworldly’ Lofoten Links far north of the Arctic Circle in Norway

Golf 24 hours a day? It’s possible at Lofoten Links, but that’s only a part of the attraction.

As Cabot has expanded in the past several years from its roots with two courses in Nova Scotia into a global operator with resorts stretching from Europe to western Canada, there have been long summer nights when the sun never sets on the Canadian-based company.

That’s now more true than ever.

Cabot will announce this week that it is investing in Lofoten Links in Gimsøysand, Norway, one of those mind-bending locations for golf with a rugged seaside layout that has earned a spot on plenty of traveling golfers’ bucket lists. The course ties for No. 72 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of international courses.

During the summer, the sun never drops below the horizon at Lofoten Links, which is nearly 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle and flush against the Norwegian Sea. Twilight simply rebounds into morning for golfers with the stamina to keep swinging, and the course is open 24 hours a day in June and July.

“Having played golf there a couple of times, teeing off just before midnight, it’s just one of those experiences that I think every golfer should aspire to have in their lifetime,” said Ben Cowan-Dewar, co-founder and CEO of Cabot. “If you’ve had a taste of it, you’re keen to go back.”

But don’t confuse Lofoten Links as some sunshine gimmick. Originally opened in 1998 as a six-hole layout, the course has been expanded by architect Jeremy Turner, reaching a full 18 in 2015. Built on an old Viking site with two Viking graves on the course, it’s as mind-bending and extreme a golf environment as might be imagined. The coastal holes in particular are lined with rocky outcroppings, the links having been carved into stone.

“I was there five years ago and sort of fell in love with the property and the destination,” Cowan-Dewar said. “I mean, it’s just such a beautiful sight. … It’s a course that has gained a lot of recognition globally and for great reason. I think the chance to be a part of it just felt too good to be true.”

Lofoten Links Cabot
The northern lights shine above Lofoten Links in Norway. (Courtesy of Cabot and Lofoten Links/Jacob Sjoman)

Cowan-Dewar has overseen Cabot’s rapid expansion from its Cape Breton foundations in Nova Scotia to include ownership of courses at several far-flung points. The company’s properties now include Cabot Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, Cabot Citrus Farms (formerly World Woods) in Florida, Cabot Bordeaux (formerly Golf Du Médoc Resort) in France, Cabot Highlands (formerly Castle Stuart) in Scotland and the in-development Cabot Revelstoke in western Canada.

Cowan-Dewar said Cabot will work with Lofoten Links’ current ownership group, led by founder Frode Hov, whose family has owned the land for more than 400 years. Cowan-Dewar and Hov discussed a possible partnership several years ago, but talks ceased during Covid. With global golf travel buzzing these days, Cowan-Dewar said now is the right time to invest in such an off-the-beaten-path location – similar in that regard to Cabot’s courses in Nova Scotia.

“For us now, it’s really about making the investment work with their team and just trying to help them realize the full potential of their amazing asset,” Cowan-Dewar said. “Frode will still be very much involved and will oversee things on a day-to-day basis.”

Lofoten Links will retain its name without Cabot branding at least for the foreseeable future, different than the company’s other owned and operated properties that carry the company’s name. The property currently has several nearby lodges for guests, and Cabot is likely to help expand on accommodations.

Lofoten’s golf season runs from May until the middle of October, and with plenty of hiking and kayaking available plus the frequently brilliant displays of the northern lights a powerful attraction, it won’t be just golf filling the rooms. Golfers who want to see the northern lights must plan accordingly, with the nightly shows beginning in mid-August after the sun begins again to dip below the horizon toward the end of summer.

Could there be more golf in the works at Lofoten? Mike Keiser, the founder of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort and an early investor in Cabot, has said many times about the number of courses available that one plus one equals three when it comes to developing a far-off golf destination.

“To get to that formula, first you need one course, and Lofoten has a great one,” Cowan-Dewar said. “That’s always the hardest part. I think there is a potential for more golf, and I think that’s one of the things we’ll certainly look at. I think there is an opportunity. We really just want to see the first course reach its whole potential and then be able to go from there.

“I think the setting is truly otherworldly. … It’s just about building on top of what is just an extraordinary foundation.”

Check out a selection of images by international golf photographer Jacob Sjoman below:

Cabot, environmentalists at odds over proposed state land swap to expand Citrus Farms in Florida

Cabot proposal to expand Citrus Farms meets significant statewide headwinds.

One of golf’s fastest-growing course developers and owners, Canadian-based Cabot, has found itself in conflict with various environmentalists in Florida.

At stake for the developer is the possible addition of new golf holes at Cabot Citrus Farms north of Tampa. Cabot has proposed swapping 324 acres of the Withlacoochee State Forest land adjacent to the resort in exchange for 800-plus acres of Cabot-supplied timberland several counties north.

But aside from the change in usage and status for the small sandy forest adjacent to Citrus Farms, Cabot’s plan runs counter to the interests of multiple organizations and many individuals who argue that such a deal might be the top of a slippery slope on which more public land would lose protections.

This debate comes on the heels of even greater recent friction between environmental concerns and golf development, heated by a secretive but since-scrapped proposal to build golf courses in a Florida State Park in southeast Florida. Judging by public commentary on social media and in newspaper editorials, the debate about converting public land into golf holes isn’t over.

Withlacoochee State Forest
The Withlacoochee State Forest website describes the breadth of the activities available, including biking, hiking, fishing, boating and much more in a publicly owned amenity that stretches across five counties.

Cabot bought the former World Woods Golf Club in 2022 and quickly set about renovating its two existing courses. With the resort now branded Citrus Farms, architect Kyle Franz has completed the 18-hole, full-sized Karoo course, which has opened while work continues on the second main 18. Citrus Farms also includes two new short courses, and the resort will include homes and upscale cabins that will be part of a rental pool. If the land swap is approved, more golf could be built.

Citrus Farms sits on rolling, sandy terrain near Brooksville, just inland from the Gulf of Mexico. On the resort’s western flank sits the 324 acres of land owned by the Florida Forest Service that is part of the Withlacoochee State Forest, which includes multiple tracts and distinct environments among its total 164,073 acres stretched across five counties. The plot of protected land that Cabot desires is less than a mile wide, with the four-lane Suncoast Parkway directly on its opposite flank.

Cabot has proposed trading for that land, offering the state a much larger parcel in Levy County some 60 miles to the north.

“We pursued whether there was a chance to come up with a win-win, which would be the state getting greater land of significantly greater acreage and preservation value in return for land on which we could build additional golf to the west of Citrus Farms,” said Ben Cowan-Dewar, the Canadian co-founder and CEO of Cabot.

Cabot Citrus Farms
Cabot Citrus Farms’ Karoo Course (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

Cowan-Dewar has overseen the recent transition of Cabot from a regional company with two popular golf courses in Nova Scotia into a rapidly expanding worldwide developer with properties in Scotland, France, Saint Lucia and both sides of Canada, with more destinations surely to come. Citrus Farms was Cabot’s first foray into the U.S.

“What we proposed is something we have done in Cape Breton (in Nova Scotia), a property swap to be able to build more golf which will create more economic development, more jobs and a more attractive destination,” said Cowan-Dewar, who estimates Citrus Farms could eventually provide as many as 500 jobs in largely rural Hernando County. “And in return, we give something to the state that I think they feel is of real value to them. That process is one we had done in Nova Scotia with great success.”

The land swap would be unusual in Florida, where state-owned conservation lands have traditionally been granted much greater protection. Opposition to the proposal has been ramping up, including from organizations that monitor Florida’s land and wildlife.

“The underlying thing is the precedent that this would create, the idea that anywhere in the state of Florida you could have a developer in a community that looks at adjacent conservation lands as vacant,” said Julie Wraithmell, the executive director of Florida Audubon and vice president of the National Audubon Society, a 600,000-member conservation organization that strives to protect land and wildlife across the U.S.

Wraithmell said developers might see an open piece of land and think, “Gosh, wouldn’t it be improved with a mini-mall, or with a golf course, or with a car wash?” But she said that such an idea, and the fact the state will contemplate such a land swap, flies in the face of constitutional protections that Florida’s conservation lands have traditionally enjoyed. She also pointed out that environmental tourism combined with Florida’s state parks and forests is a significant economic driver, as is golf.

“If your readers are golf enthusiasts, I’m sure that they do have interest in courses and opportunities” to play, Wraithmell told Golfweek. “I would just say that it’s about the right use in the right place that is the issue here. It’s not an opposition to golf, but it is that these protected places are important to Florida, not just for bunnies and trees but for our quality of life.”

Such objections to Cabot’s proposal have gained steam in recent weeks, especially since the proposal to add golf to Jonathan Dickinson State Park – nearly 200 miles away on the opposite side of the state. That plan was leaked by a state employee who later was fired. The proposal was then formally announced, protested and quickly scrapped in what has become more rare in Florida than a snowball: bipartisan political opposition.

The Cabot proposal had flown under the radar until it was quickly – and without previous announcement or public commentary – sent from the Florida Cabinet and Governor Ron DeSantis to the state’s Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC), a 10-member group with representatives from various state agencies. Among other duties, the ARC is responsible for evaluating any land swaps involving state-owned conservation properties. The ARC will provide advice to DeSantis and his state cabinet, which then will have final say on approval on Cabot’s proposal.

The ARC next meets Sept. 12 in the state capitol of Tallahassee, but the Citrus Farms proposal is not included on the published agenda for that meeting. There has been no timeline given for when the ARC might make its recommendations, when the group would provide any insight to data and opinions that might be used in making its recommendations, or when there might be a chance for public comment periods.

It’s unlikely Cabot’s proposal would have garnered as much attention if not for the Jonathan Dickinson State Park controversy, which united typically disparate voices. It’s worth noting that while golf is a common thread, the protected lands in question are quite different.

Jonathan Dickinson State Park is a popular respite from nearby and rapidly expanding population centers such as Jupiter, Hobe Sound and West Palm Beach. It’s 11,500 acres include boating and tours, cabins, canoeing, hiking, horse trails, swimming and picnic areas in one of the fastest-growing regions of the United States. The proposed golf courses there would have taken up more than 800 prime acres and forced a reconsideration of the park as it has traditionally been known. That park sees more than 120,000 visitors per year.

Cabot Citrus Farms map
The 324 acres of land Cabot has tried to acquire in a land swap sits just west of Citrus Farms and stretches less than a mile wide to the Suncoast Parkway, a major toll road. Highway 98 runs just south of the resort and the patch of Florida State Forest, which provides a wildlife corridor since the toll road was completed. (Map by Google Earth)

By contrast, the state forest land that Cabot wants – part of the Withlacoochee Oak Park South Trailhead – is much less utilized. It includes rough trails and a basic parking area, and there is no official number available as to how many people might hike among its 324 acres. Squeezed between a large highway and Citrus Farms, it is a small part of the much larger Withlacoochee State Forest. Cowan-Dewar pointed out that the land in question was declared part of the state forest only as the Suncoast Parkway was being built beginning in the late 1990s with construction running for decades and still continuing. The environmental groups counter that the parcel is still valuable as a corridor for wildlife that was displaced by the road project, along with other benefits.

Also worth noting is that state parks and state forests are managed separately with different goals. The 10-year plan implemented in 2015 for Withlacoochee State Forest explains the need to preserve land and provide recreation, while also offering the possibility that timber assets can be made available for purchase to lumber companies, with the efficient generation of revenue acceptable. In general, Florida State Parks are managed to much tighter standards of environmental protection than are Florida State Forests.

Still in question is the value of the 861 acres in Levy County that Cabot will provide to the state if the swap goes through. That land has been used for timber production, and multiple studies by state organizations and universities have pointed out that such land and its curated pine trees provide less valuable habitat for wildlife than non-timbered and more natural parcels. It will be up to the ARC to decide officially if the former timberland is worth more to the state and its citizens – in cost, potential revenue and environmental impact – than the acreage next to Cabot.

None of this, of course, is new in Florida. Competing interests long have placed developers and environmentalists into opposing camps. Expect the debate to continue.

“I think it’s heartening to see the way that Floridians are standing up,” Wraithmell said. “I think that everybody is kind of saying that there is no lack of places to play golf in Florida. But it is increasingly rare to find the kinds of places where wildlife is able to thrive and Floridians are able to have these kinds of natural outdoor experiences.

“Both (golf and protected areas) are important parts of the Florida economy. But it’s not a zero-sum game. We don’t have to sacrifice conservation lands in order to also provide golf recreation for our residents and visitors.”

Cowan-Dewar, meanwhile, hopes Floridians don’t confuse Cabot’s proposal with the Jonathan Dickinson State Park conflict.

“I can tell you 100 percent that we had nothing to do with that,” Cowan-Dewar said. “I think they got conflated, although they are very separate and very distinct. …

“For us, this has represented a very meaningful investment into Hernando County and into the state, and I think it’s been an unbelievably welcoming jurisdiction in Hernando. We have been thrilled to be able to grow these jobs and really grow the destination.”

Cabot expands to France with purchase of Golf Du Médoc Resort and two courses by familiar names

Cabot keeps growing with move into France.

Stick another pin in the global map for Cabot, the Canadian-based golf resort operator that in recent years has expanded to properties in Scotland, the Caribbean, the U.S. and soon to western Canada.

This week, Cabot co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar will announce the company’s expansion to France with the purchase of Golf Du Médoc Resort in Bordeaux. The resort, home to two golf courses designed by Bill Coore and Rod Whitman, will be rebranded Cabot Bordeaux.

Those course designers’ names are extremely familiar to Cowan-Dewar, who employed Whitman then the team of Coore and Ben Crenshaw to build the 36 holes at Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. It was there the company got the off the ground with the introduction of Cabot Links in 2012 and Cabot Cliffs in 2015. Both those courses have achieved high acclaim with rankings among the best courses in the world – Cliffs is No. 11 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of courses outside the U.S., and Links ties for No. 43.

Cabot Bordeaux
The Rod Whitman-designed Vignes Course at Golf Du Médoc Resort in France, which will be rebranded as Cabot Bordeaux (Courtesy of Cabot)

Cabot Cape Breton was not the first example of Whitman and Coore design layouts at the same site, however. Before partnering with Crenshaw, Coore opened the Chateaux (Castle) Course in 1989 at Golf Du Médoc Resort. Whitman’s Vignes (Vines) Course followed in 1991.

“Both courses are just really, really wonderful golf,” Cowan-Dewar said. “It’s just a beautiful, idyllic setting. …

“The courses are really quite even, so we’re pretty excited about that. People will debate, as they do in Cape Breton, over which is their favorite course. And that’s a mighty good problem for us. There’s nothing better than people finishing their trip and trying to decide which one they liked better when there is no obvious choice.”

Cabot Bordeaux
The Bill Coore-designed Chateau Course at Golf Du Médoc Resort in France, which will be rebranded as Cabot Bordeaux (Courtesy of Cabot)

The resort sits less than a half hour’s drive northwest of Bordeaux, considered the wine capital of the world and around which live some 1.4 million people. Not far inland from the Bay of Biscay, Bordeaux is some 320 miles south of Paris.

Cowan-Dewar said he had traveled to France several times but never the Bordeaux region until visiting Golf Du Médoc Resort last year. It was the golf that caught his attention.

“It’s entirely site specific,” he said when asked about the move into France. “I’ve long heard about it, and Rod and Bill would talk about it a fair bit. So you think how small a world it is, this is the only place in the world they worked side by side before Cabot. And with 36 holes of Ben and Rod’s work, it just seemed a little like fate, right?”

Cabot Bordeaux
The hotel at Golf Du Médoc Resort in France, which will be rebranded as Cabot Bordeaux (Courtesy of Cabot)

Cowan-Dewar explained that Golf Du Médoc Resort was founded by two French titans of industry, one of whom has passed away. The other turns 90 years old this year and is still friends with Coore and Whitman. The opportunity to take the reins at such a property was too great to pass up, Cowan-Dewar said.

 “As you can imagine, with Bill and Rod the golf architecture was terrific, as was the entire destination,” he said. “I think the city, the destination and the region were all amazing.”

Cabot Bordeaux will include a preexisting 79-room hotel, an upscale restaurant showcasing regional cuisine and a world-class spa. Cowan-Dewar said additions to the 400-acre property might include the two- and four-bedroom style of cabins and cottages that have proved popular at other Cabot properties. The hotel was built in 2007 and was recently updated, and Cabot will undertake various projects to ensure the property remains fresh with updated location-specific activities and expanded amenities.

Cabot Bordeaux
The spa pool at Golf Du Médoc Resort in France, which will be rebranded as Cabot Bordeaux (Courtesy of Cabot)

The courses will receive polishing as Cabot takes its cues from Coore and Whitman, with the work most likely focused on the typical updates needed for drainage and playing surfaces at any 35-year-old courses. The resort also has two driving ranges, one of which includes the Bernard Pascassio Training Center. Cowan-Dewar said one of the ranges will be converted to a par-3 course, a move that has become a staple at top resorts in recent years as players look for more golf than 18 holes a day.

“It’s almost impossible to have a property like that now without a par-3 course,” he said. “They’ve become such demand drivers that converting a driving range into a par-3 course seems like a win right off the bat.”

It’s all part of a rapid expansion for Cabot, which has gone from 36 full-size holes of golf to 90 in recent years, with another 54 on the books to open soon.

In 2022 Cabot purchased the Scottish Castle Stuart and its 18-hole links course designed by Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen. That property was rebranded as Cabot Highlands with plans to add 18 new holes by Tom Doak next year.

The company then completed Cabot Saint Lucia’s Point Hardy Golf Club to great acclaim in 2023, including several of the most scenic golf holes in the world designed by Coore and Crenshaw on cliffs above the Atlantic Ocean.

Later in 2023 the first 18-hole course, named the Karoo and designed by Kyle Franz, opened at Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida, with another 18 slated to open this year. That property is a rethink of the sandy site’s former World Woods Golf Club, and it also includes two short courses.

Also in the works is Cabot Revelstoke in western Canada, with Whitman designing the mountainous 18-hole layout there.

“It’s a little overwhelming to think about, you know, but it’s very exciting,” Cowan-Dewar said of the expansions. “It’s all driven by the golf. We have found that if we focus on great golf, the rest just follows naturally.”

In the span of three years, Cabot will have gone from a famous but regional player to a worldwide force in the golf industry, and more additions to the brand are likely. Cabot Bordeaux will certainly add a French sophistication to the company’s newfound international flavor.

“Anyone playing Cabot Bordeaux is going to enjoy a distinctly French experience,” Coore said in a media release that will be released to announce the news. “Going from Cabot Cape Breton to Cabot Highlands to Cabot Saint Lucia to Cabot Bordeaux offers experiences that are as different and as varied as you could ever imagine.”

Bandon Dunes 25th anniversary: Ben Cowan-Dewar proves the Bandon model works other places

Ben Cowan-Dewar was inspired by Mike Keiser: ‘No one since Old Tom Morris has had more impact.’



(Editor’s note: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is celebrating its 25th anniversary and Golfweek Travel Editor Jason Lusk put together a comprehensive package for the occasion, complete with Q&As of pivotal people in and around the operation. To see the entire package of stories, click here.)

BANDON, Ore. – Ben Cowan-Dewar, who dreamed of building a far-away golf resort in Nova Scotia, Canada, has learned much by studying Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon.

The Canadian developer has partnered with Mike Keiser on several of the best new golf course properties in recent decades, most notably the two highly ranked courses at Cabot Cape Breton. Cowan-Dewar has in recent years expanded to Scotland, Saint Lucia, Florida and soon western Canada.

Cowan-Dewar spoke with Golfweek about the inspiration and financial backing he derived from Keiser, the developer of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, which in May celebrates its 25th anniversary. 

How much have Bandon Dunes and Mike Keiser influenced your career?

It would be hard to imagine Bandon having a more profound effect on many people’s lives than it did on mine. When I first went there (in 2001), I was a lover of golf courses who went to this far-off place and played Bandon Dunes and Pacific. I think it gave me the ability to dream, you know. I’ve been dreaming since I was a kid about building a golf course, but I think to see something like that on the coast, it sort of gave me a dream. …

There’s no chance I would have even been able to undertake Cabot 19 years ago had I not seen Bandon. I think Bandon gave me the ability to dream really big dreams. And then Mike, in his partnership and mentorship, really helped fulfill them. It had an absolutely profound effect.

Bandon Dunes Cabot
Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser and Cabot founder Ben Cowan-Dewer (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)

What was your first conversation about Cabot with Mike Keiser like?

We were two years from partnering, and he was busy with trying to get Trails open. And, you know, he said he had bitten off more than he could chew in remote golf. That partly was a natural defense for a man who was probably assaulted on a weekly basis by some young buck who wanted to build a golf course in the middle of nowhere.

At the end of that conversation, which I call a very polite brush-off, he said, “Hey, wait, you’ve got to get more land, because you won’t be able to buy land for a second course (Cabot Cliffs) after the first course (Cabot Links).”

In 2007 he partnered with me and made the dream come true, and from those humble beginnings, we built on that foundation. 

He’s been an exemplar, a mentor, a partner, a father figure, and I’ve been blessed to know him.

Is it fair to say that no other modern golf developers had the impact that Mike has had? 

I would say, not even close. I would go further than that to say no one since Old Tom Morris has had more impact.

It’s been only 25 years, and if you think about Barnbougle (in Tasmania, and in which Keiser invested before it opened in 2004), and you think about Cabot, those were two that he was directly related to early on. Then you think about all of the other stuff that’s been built in that period of time since. 

I just can’t think of anybody else. You said “modern” but I would drop the modern and just say, who’s had a greater impact on golf development in history? I can’t think of anybody. 

What are some main lessons you’ve learned from Bandon or Keiser?

I have a book of what I call my Keiserisms. Mike has this unbelievable ability to make things seem very simple, even if they are anything but. I think when you have the success that he has – he’s had two very different types of businesses (golf and greeting cards), and he’s been a global leader in two different sectors. Some of that is getting people to follow you, and he has that in spades, but he just has so many really simple truisms. 

One of my favorites is to do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going do it. That means if you say you’re going to have something on Tuesday, you don’t wait and have it on Wednesday. Well, that sounds pretty simple but it’s a hard thing to live by.

Simply being someone that people want to work for, to me that is one of his greatest hallmarks. You see that with all of the great architects in the world that have lined up and wanted to work with him. 

And he just has the ability to draw the very best out of people. 

Bandon Dunes Cabot
Mike Keiser was an early investor in Cabot in Nova Scotia, Canada (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)

So many developers and courses have tried to follow the Bandon model, but few have been able to pull it off as well. What do they miss? 

I think there’s a couple of things. One, Mike said at Cabot in the early days that Cabot will be different than Bandon in 20 ways, he just didn’t know which 20 ways yet. For a man that had done the impossible at Bandon, he wasn’t trying to carbon copy it and say this is a franchise model.

And so I think whenever you’re trying to copy an original, it’s probably pretty hard. He had the original, and he didn’t go and try and copy it. He tried to make everything authentic to the locations he worked in.

He obviously focused on a couple of really key ingredients, but I think like any really good business that is consumer-facing, it’s really about delivering to your customer the very best product you can. People can lose sight of that and have their own vision, and it’s just not as customer-centric as Mike would be in his business.

What’s it like to play golf with Mike? 

He’s fast. He’s good a player too, but he’s fast more than he’s good. And that suited me quite well. He is competitive, and he loves the competition, but above all else he is fast.

On the opening day of Cabot, we stood on the first tee and saw every golfer tee off, like he has done at Bandon. So we didn’t get to play until the next morning. 

The next morning we were playing with the premier of Nova Scotia – for you, he was the equivalent of a governor – and Mike told the premier, let’s play at 8. And Mike was on the tee at 7:41, and he said, “Do we need to wait for him?” I said, “Well, he is the premier.” Mike’s ball was in the air before 8, and the premier was running down to meet us having seen us out his window. So speed trumps all.

Cabot Highlands reveals routing plan for new Tom Doak course in Scotland

Tom Doak is building a second 18 at the gorgeous Scottish property formerly known as Castle Stuart.

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A 400-year-old castle. Crisscross fairways. Stunning ocean views reaching from water’s edge to higher and farther back. A giant rolling hill. A front nine loaded with par 4s, then a more conventional back nine with two par 3s and two par 5s. Expect humps, bumps, hollows and fun bounces, all along the northern Scottish coastline not far from Inverness.

Tom Doak’s routing for the yet-to-be-named second course at Cabot Highlands was released by the resort’s Canadian-based ownership group this week. It’s a sure bet the famed American designer utilized his vast knowledge of Scottish golf design – accumulated through years of on-the-ground study of the country’s greatest natural links – to create this much-anticipated layout that should open to preview play in 2024 and fully in 2025.

Cabot Highland Scotland Doak
The routing plan for the new Tom Doak-designed course at Cabot Highlands in Scotland shows No. 1 to the left before the layout crosses an estuary and plays to a far point along the coast to the right, then returns to an 18th hole that crisscrosses the first hole. (Courtesy of Cabot)

There’s just one thing: The second course at Cabot Highlands won’t sit on traditional links land. Instead of a totally natural golf site, this property has been farmed for decades, much of it pressed smooth as it rolls past the castle and down that gorgeous hill toward an estuary and the Moray Firth beyond.

That means Doak and his Renaissance Golf Design team have been tasked with creating much of the shot-making drama. On a piece of land that has seen farm tractors instead of greens mowers, they must interject the fun and intricate terrain features that make up the best of Scottish golf.

Doak, of course, knew this when he accepted the job. His stated goal from the beginning: Take what the land offers, don’t overcook anything and, when in doubt, take a drive along the coast for a design refresher at some of the best links courses in the world. It might be St. Andrews to the east, or Royal Dornoch on the opposite side of the firth. Just along this little section of seaside, there’s a wide sampling of classic Scottish links courses to provide inspiration.

Tom Doak Cabot Highlands Castle Stuart
Tom Doak discusses his new course at Castle Stuart/Cabot Highlands near Inverness, Scotland. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

“The good thing about trying to do this in Scotland instead of in Florida is, if you’re ever not sure, you drive right over there (pointing out window), or drive up north, and go have a look at a few other courses,” Doak said during a tour of the land in late 2022 as he worked on the routing. “You know, I think most architects, we do too much. The things that are cool about the contouring here (in Scotland) is that it’s small scale and it’s wrinkly, but there are large expanses of fairly flat stuff in with that. It doesn’t just keep going with jittery contours forever. Even the most complex golf courses have big areas of relatively flat areas. …

“You think about it, we’re working on something now that we’re trying to bring in some links contours, so it’s almost like we’re going around and looking at things and sampling (other courses). Like, ‘We could do something like that little stretch somewhere else.’ “

Castle Stuart Cabot Highlands
Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen designed the original 18 at what was then named Castle Stuart in Scotland. Rebranded as Cabot Highlands in 2022, the highly ranked layout plays along the Moray Firth. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

A similar recipe already has proved successful at Cabot Highlands, which was known as Castle Stuart until 2022 when Cabot purchased it. The original course on the property – which is still called Castle Stuart Golf Links – was designed on similarly farmed land, and that cliffside layout by Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen that opened in 2009 has climbed to No. 4 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of modern courses in Great Britain and Ireland. It’s a layout that’s never feels overdone, with manmade features that appear natural in their jaw-dropping setting.

Doak’s course is intended to complement that original layout and secure for the resort a spot on even more must-play lists.

The routing map shows seven par 4s on the front with an 18-hole par of 72, the layout sweeping from a high point across land formerly occupied by the driving range, down past the castle then around and over the estuary. It extends to a point that, from the clubhouse, appears to be miles away across a small bay. It’s an out-and-back routing that doesn’t return to the clubhouse until No. 18, the line of play for which crisscrosses that of No. 1 in one huge and shared fairway. For much of the journey, Moray Firth and the surrounding mountains will provide plenty of eye candy.

And Cabot isn’t stopping with the new course. The company is pumping in capital to make the entire property even more appealing, with an expansion of the clubhouse underway and new real estate opportunities.

It’s all part of a rapid expansion for Cabot, which took off with two incredible courses in Nova Scotia and now has ongoing projects with a new cliffside thriller in Saint Lucia, a major renovation in Florida and a fresh mountain layout in western Canada. Cabot Highlands was the company’s first acquisition in Scotland, and the second 18 there is the first course Doak has built for the company.

“In the historic home of golf, we looked to Tom to create something special, and perhaps unconventional by modern standards,” Ben Cowan-Dewar, CEO and co-founder of Cabot, said in the media release announcing the routing. “His vision of resurrecting an old true-links style course will serve as a great complement to the beloved (and original) Castle Stuart Golf Links. We hope to create an awe-inspiring destination anchored by incredible golf that will stand the test of time for generations to come.”

See it to believe it: Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw reach deep into their bag of design tricks to make Cabot Saint Lucia play as well as it looks

Best golf views in the world? Cabot Saint Lucia enters that conversation. But how will it play?

Bill Coore doesn’t want to talk about “signature holes.” 

That leftover cliché of 1980s course development and marketing has fallen out of favor among many fans of great golf architecture, for good reason. In trying to design one hole that is especially photogenic or memorable, the other 17 might be best left on the cutting room floor. 

“We’ve failed, to be quite candid, if we have a signature hole,” said Coore, partner of Ben Crenshaw in designing several of the best modern courses in the world. “To me, that basically is saying that you spent all your efforts on that one hole. You grounded the entire golf course around one hole.”

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Coore admits with a chuckle that he has resorted to subterfuge when presented the question of what is the signature hole at several courses he has routed around the world.

“We’ve actually gone to the reverse sometimes when somebody will ask what’s your signature hole – at least I have, I don’t know that Ben has – but a couple times I have literally picked the most bland hole on the entire course, and I’m talking about photogenically and visually speaking, and said that’s our signature hole right there,” the native of North Carolina said with a laugh. 

Instead, Coore wants to lay out courses that flow from hole to hole, never lacking in interest while taking advantage of all the ground has to offer. He’s more concerned about the shots to be played on any given hole, less so with photo ops.

Cabot Saint Lucia
Even on the inland holes atop a ridge, as seen from behind the third green, Point Hardy Golf Club at Cabot Saint Lucia offers stunning views of the ocean and volcanic island. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

“We think of golf as being a collection of holes that go together and fit together,” he said. “Maybe one or two or three or four are more dramatic than the others, but we don’t think of them as signature holes.”

So what to do with a site such as Cabot Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, home to Coore and Crenshaw’s still-in-development Point Hardy Golf Club? The whole place screams, “Take a picture!” Cliffs rise straight from the Atlantic Ocean with new golf holes perched atop them, waves crashing into white foam below. This is one of Earth’s great meetings of land and sea.

Imagine any of the most scenic seaside golf courses in the world. Cypress Point or Pebble Beach in California, any of the layouts at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, Royal Dornoch and a handful of other Scottish or Irish heavyweights, a slew of Mexican and Caribbean beauties. Point Hardy Golf Club is a match for any of them, as far as visuals and proximity to salt water. 

Given such a beautiful tropical site that really has all the makings of a photo shoot, with a mile and a half of see-it-to-believe-it scenery, on what do Coore and Crenshaw narrow their focus to build a golf course bestowed with so much drama? 

“Playability, playability, playability,” Coore said. 

Really, Bill? Not the point of cliffs jutting into the ocean on this end of the property, or the promontory at the other end? Even Coore smiles as he describes the wow factor of Cabot Saint Lucia, one of several new Cabot Collection properties that will expand the Canadian company’s reach over the next several years from Nova Scotia to the tropics, Scotland, Florida and western Canada.

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“The site is so visually spectacular,” said Coore, whose design credits include such highly ranked layouts as the Sheep Ranch and Bandon Trails at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, Sand Hills in Nebraska and Cabot Cliffs in Nova Scotia. “Most people will come here and ooh and ah, particularly as you look down the hill or look along the cliff at the shoreline and the ocean. It’s almost beyond description, dramatic. Ben and I are both pretty conservative when it comes to our assessments and descriptions, but you’ll see, it’s just, well …”

His voice trails off as he imagines the cliffs and all the opportunities for superlative golf holes upon them. Then he gets back to the matter at hand and what he considers the primary job of a golf architect, especially at an extreme site such as Point Hardy featuring volcanic hills and rocky ground. Coore has said before that it’s easy to build a hard golf course, and the trick is in designing a fun layout that golfers want to tackle again and again.

“Playability, playability, playability,” he repeats as his mantra. “And trying to create a golf course that doesn’t end up being one that people might come and take photographs of every hole and just a photogenic course, and then they go, ‘Eh, it really wasn’t that much fun; I didn’t enjoy it,’ kind of thing. It would be too extreme, or something. That’s what we’re hoping not to happen. We want to try to create something that they’re going to want to come back and play.”

Photos: Point Hardy Golf Club at Cabot Saint Lucia nears completion, and you need to see it to believe it

See the photos of some of the most visually dramatic oceanside golf holes ever built.

What do you get when you hire the famed design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to build a course on one of the most dramatic meetings of land and sea imaginable? Ben Cowan-Dewar, co-founder and CEO of the Canadian-based Cabot Collection, has his answer in the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia.

Scheduled to open in December, Point Hardy Golf Club at Cabot Saint Lucia is perched above the Atlantic Ocean on cliffs that offer a simply ridiculous set of visuals on more than half the club’s 18 holes. Picture any of the most scenic holes anywhere – Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, Pebble Beach Golf Links or Cypress Point in California, even the original Cabot courses in Nova Scotia as famous examples – and Point Hardy matches them all for you-gotta-be-joking views, proximity to the ocean and pulse-raising golf shots over cauldrons of salt spray.

All the holes at Point Hardy, including the inland holes atop a ridge or playing through a valley, are within sight of the ocean, and eight of them offer a chance to rinse a golf ball in salt water. On a day when the trade winds kick it up a notch, golfers will feel ocean spray at several points along the routing.

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The hard part wasn’t building a dramatic course on the steep ground at the northern tip of the volcanic island. On a recent walk around the course as construction of Point Hardy nears completion, Coore said the toughest part was building golf holes on which the fun factor at least approaches the level of the visuals.

“Playability, playability, playability,” said Coore, who has routed some of the best courses to be constructed in the world over the past 30 years. “It would have been very easy to build a course where the views are incredible but that just wasn’t any fun to play, because the terrain is so steep. The challenge was to make it fun, to make people want to play it again.”

Did the team succeed on that front? Time will tell, and Golfweek will have plenty more on Cabot Saint Lucia in the coming months. In the meantime, just take in the incredible photos below of the two strings of golf holes closest to the ocean at Point Hardy.

Keep in mind with the following photos that the course is still in grow-in and that several holes haven’t been grassed yet, so brown areas on greens and fairways seen in these photos are completely expected as the grass takes root. The bunkers have not yet been filled with sand and appear as natural scrapes in the photos. This is still very much a work in progress.

And to answer a few questions we know are coming:

  • Point Hardy will allow some versions of public-access play early on as its membership role is filled, with details still being determined. Eventually the course will be at least mostly private.
  • Yes, it will be expensive compared to most U.S. daily-fee prices. Green fees and stay-and-play options have yet to be set, but don’t expect it to be cheap on a site like this. A vehicular analogy: This course is a Lamborghini full of bravado and pulse-racing moments, not a four-cylinder Kia that simply gets the job done, and the pricing will be along those lines.
  • Will it be among the best courses in the world? There’s no way to know where it will sit on Golfweek’s Best rankings of top courses in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and the Atlantic Islands until our raters visit and offer their scores. But don’t be surprised to see Point Hardy very near the top of that list.
  • Cabot Saint Lucia includes a housing development, ranging from fairway villas all the way up to mansions priced at millions of dollars. Besides the golf, there will be a beach club in a gorgeous bay and a full slate of luxury amenities. There are no plans for a traditional hotel. Accommodations will be available as rental luxury residences and villas.
  • Point Hardy Golf Club will play to 6,616 yards with a par of 71.

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Cabot buys Castle Stuart Golf Links in Scotland with plans for a new name and a new course by Tom Doak

Canadian-based developer Cabot plans to expand Castle Stuart with a new Tom Doak-designed layout.

Cabot, the developer that leaped into the world of golf with Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia and has expanded beyond the Canadian border with projects in Florida and St. Lucia, has added to its portfolio, this time in the Scottish Highlands.

Cabot will announce this week that it has acquired Castle Stuart Golf Links and its accompanying resort amenities near Inverness, Scotland. The property will be rebranded Cabot Highlands.

Opened in 2009 with a design by Gil Hanse and the late Mark Parsinen, with holes that feature Moray Firth on one side of several fairways and bluffs to the other side, Castle Stuart Golf Links ranks No. 4 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern courses in Great Britain and Ireland.

In 2024 that course will be joined by a second 18, Cabot said, this one to be built by Tom Doak. The property also is home to a new short course that is open now for preview play and officially will open in 2023.

Castle Stuart Cabot Highlands
Castle Stuart Golf Links in Scotland will be renamed Cabot Highlands. (Courtesy of Cabot)

“Castle Stuart has been considered a benchmark of exceptional Scottish golf since it first opened thirteen years ago,” Ben Cowan-Dewar, CEO and co-founder of Cabot, said in a media release set for Tuesday that will announce the acquisition.  “We are honored to be a steward of the land and carry the original vision for the property forward. Our goal is to create unforgettable memories in magical places, and there are few places in the world more awe-inspiring than the Scottish Highlands.”

The property will feature boutique accommodations, and Cabot said real estate will be a major part of the expansion with sales expected to begin in 2023. The property will feature upscale cabins that homeowners can rent to resort guests when the owners are not in residence. Featured activities for guests and property owners will include hiking, cycling, fishing, falconry, horseback riding and more. The property’s features include views of Kessock Bridge and Chanonry Lighthouse

“I couldn’t think of a better partner than Cabot to lead our next chapter,” said Stuart McColm, general manager of Castle Stuart and the forthcoming Cabot Highlands. “The work that’s been done at Cabot Cape Breton on the courses and within the community speaks for itself, and I know our beloved founder, Mark Parsinen, would be proud of the plans ahead to fulfill his original vision for the destination. Not only is this significant golf news, it is also a major boost for the regional economy of the Highlands.”

Cabot has been busy announcing expansions in the past couple years. The company took off in 2012 in Nova Scotia with Cabot Links, a Rod Whitman design that ranks No. 2 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern Canadian courses. That course was joined in 2015 by Cabot Cliffs, a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design that ranks No. 1 on that modern Canadian list.

In the Caribbean, the Coore and Crenshaw design at Cabot St. Lucia is slated to open in early 2023. In Canada, the company announced last year the development of Cabot Revelstoke in British Columbia, which will feature a course designed by Whitman that is scheduled to open in 2024. And in Florida, Cabot has purchased the former World Woods, rebranded it Citrus Farms and is having its two courses renovated by Kyle Franz and the team of Keith Rhebb and Riley Johns with a planned reopening in 2023.

Castle Stuart Cabot Highlands
The namesake castle at Castle Stuart, around which Tom Doak will build a new course slated to open in 2024 as past of the property’s rebranding as Cabot Highlands (Courtesy of Cabot)

The new layout at Cabot Highlands will be the first by Doak for the company. That course will play around the property’s namesake 400-year-old castle and across expansive land with several holes along the water, Cabot said. Doak plans to start construction in 2023.

“I’m thrilled to partner with Ben Cowan-Dewar and the Cabot team,” said Doak, who has built courses around the world, including The Renaissance Club in Scotland. “We have been searching for the perfect destination for years. Our goal is to create a distinctly Scottish golf experience that appeals to players at all levels with an authentic links-style course that puts the golf holes front and center.”

Cabot selects course designers to renovate the former World Woods in Florida

Younger designers have chance to shine on their own at Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida.

Cabot, the developer and operator of several golf resorts around the world, has selected the golf architects who will tackle the Canadian company’s latest venture in Florida – and several younger designers have a chance to shine.

Kyle Franz and the team of Keith Rhebb and Riley Johns will renovate the two 18-hole courses at Cabot Citrus Farms, the former World Woods, an hour’s drive north of Tampa. Cabot also tagged Mike Nuzzo to build a short course, a new nine-hole course and the practice facilities.

There had been much speculation among golf architecture fans of who might land the jobs to redesign the two 18-hole layouts originally built by Tom Fazio nearly 30 years ago. Cabot announced in January that it had purchased the 1,200-acre property with plans to reimagine the entire experience. Those initiatives include real estate development, retail operations, restaurants, fitness and spa amenities, communal gathering points and a farmer’s market.

World Woods Cabot Citrus Farms
Pine Barrens at World Woods in Florida, which will be turned into Cabot Citrus Farms (Courtesy of Cabot/Evan Schiller)

Cabot, co-founded by Ben Cowan-Dewar and Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser, also owns Cabot Cape Breton, site of Cabot Cliffs and Cabot Links, the two highest-ranked courses on Golfweek’s Best Modern Canadian Courses list. The company plans to open Cabot St. Lucia, with 18 holes designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, this year in the Caribbean. The company also is building Cabot Revelstoke, an 18-hole layout by Rod Whitman scheduled to open in 2024, in the Monashee and Selkirk mountain ranges near the city of Revelstoke in British Columbia in western Canada.

Franz will tackle the renovation of the Pine Barrens 18 at the former World Woods, which at one point was ranked by Golfweek’s Best among the top 50 modern courses in the U.S. but by 2021 had fallen to No. 172 on that list and No. 5 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts.

“Cabot Citrus Farms is going to be an extraordinary destination, and we are thrilled to be a part of this effort,” Franz said in a statement announcing the news. “Our goal for Pine Barrens is to take its dramatic, sandy land and maximize it into one of the most spectacular golf courses in the region and country.

“In our view, the perfect formula for Pine Barrens combines rugged sandscapes and vegetation that meld with the natural topography, classical contouring and creative short-grass recovery shots around the greens, wider corridors of play and multiple strategic routes to the pin, fascinating grassing patterns and varied tee box placements so that players get a fresh look at the different options every time they tee it up.”

Franz worked for years for famous designers such as Tom Doak, Gil Hanse and the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. His solo efforts in recent years include such highly acclaimed courses as Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Southern Pines – all near Pinehurst, North Carolina ­– and the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis.

World Woods Cabot Citrus Farms
Rolling Oaks at World Woods in Florida, which will be turned into Cabot Citrus Farms (Courtesy of Cabot/Evan Schiller)

Rhebb and Johns will renovate the Rolling Oaks 18, which ranked No. 22 among Florida’s public-access layouts in 2021. The pair has worked for years on projects with Coore and Crenshaw, and their independent efforts include the much-heralded Winter Park Country Club near Orlando, Point Grey Golf and Country Club in Vancouver and the new Bootlegger par-3 course at Forest Dunes in Michigan. Rhebb, in particular, has spent much of the past two years working for Coore and Crenshaw at the new Cabot Saint Lucia.

Nuzzo’s largest success has been Wolf Point Ranch, which Golfweek’s Best ranks as No. 7 among private courses in Texas. As with all the architects selected to rework the former World Woods, he expressed his excitement to work in such a sandy site that allows for extreme creativity.

“Both the site and the client are essential to creating a special golf course,” he said in the media release announcing the designers. “With Cabot Citrus Farms, we have the best of both worlds, a natural sandy site and an innovative, forward-thinking client. Having fewer traditional golf constraints for our portion of the project presents an extra layer of opportunity for creativity. We’re looking forward to seeing the whole project come together!”

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