I wrote the cover story of T&L Golf’s magazine this month with a piece on Atlantic Canada. Hopefully that will mean I can visit Highlands Links next month without any of the unionized employees noticing…. or maybe they’ll have forgiven me for the columns and features I wrote on the course last year.
In anycase, if you want my take on Highlands, Fox Harb’r and others, the piece can be found here.
Here’s a taste:
Atlantic Canada is where the Old World meets the New, where travelers can enjoy the lilting accents and rhythms of traditional Gaelic festivals without leaving North America. Among the first European outposts on the continent, dating back more than five hundred years, this rugged region consists of the aptly named Maritime Provinces: Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia (Latin for “New Scotland”) and little sibling Prince Edward Island (PEI is famous for its succulent mussels and oysters). It’s a place where the best of urban life can be celebrated in the vibrant port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, with its upscale hotels, friendly pubs and thriving music scene. And for rustic charm, there’s Cape Breton Island, where in 1497 the explorer John Cabot unfurled the British royal standard. Today the Cabot Trail, a ribbon of highway strung along cliffs high above the ocean, is a can’t-miss scenic drive— especially since the journey’s reward is one of the truly great golf courses of the world. Stanley Thompson’s Highlands Links is a heroic and utterly unique seaside and forest masterpiece. The course has been the area’s biggest draw for golfers for decades, but the emergence of newer layouts such as Bell Bay and Glen Arbour have helped create as engaging and varied of a golf experience as you’re likely to find on this side of the pond. Best of all, the favorable exchange rate—all prices below are U.S.—only makes Atlantic Canada’s world-class courses even more alluring.
Anyone been out to Highland Links lately. What’s the conditioning like this year?