Cabot Cape Breton

I needed to write this immediately, before the high wears off. I’m on the plane home and all I can really say is this trip was unbelievable in so many ways that probably can’t be described, but I’ll try my best.

First of all, this was advertised as a VIP Trip, so expectations were quite high (as was the price). Like most, I calculated what it would cost to do this trip on my own. It was less, but not enough of a difference when you threw in the chartered flight (read: no cancellations or lost bags stress), free food and drinks, dinners and receptions, transportation, and just literally having all the details taken care of for you. The value was 100% there, no question.

Sat Economy+, but treated like First Class!

I’ll start with the transportation parts of the trip. If you’ve never flown charter or private… the stress of airport unknowns is eliminated. To not have to go into the main terminal and check-in, and not worry if your golf bag is making it, is worth everything right then and there. They had Starbucks coffee and snacks waiting for us as we waited around for people to get checked in and to board. Charter buses were waiting on the tarmac to take us to our destination, and dropped us off there as well!

Our charter plane waiting on the tarmac in Sydney

We arrived at Cabot just after the sun went down. Everyone was a little grumpy as we were told the drive was an hour fifteen, but it was two and a half. The vibe definitely died down, but we quickly turned those frowns upside down the second we set foot on the resort. Two bus loads were met with pre-labeled keys and we grabbed our bags and went directly to our ocean/golf view rooms.

The view from our room (you can see the reflection of clubs in the window)

Can we touch on the rooms for a second? Floor-to-ceiling windows with the most magical views, but perhaps my favourite part was the bathroom with a large, deep soaking tub, double vanity, separate shower and separate water closet. Can’t get a much more perfect setup than that!

The resort offers a few different options for dining: the Cabot Bar, Panorama Dining Room, and Whit’s Pub. We started our first night at the Cabot Bar which has bulletproof (read: golf ball proof) windows overlooking the 18th green of the Links course.

I had no idea it was an actual hole until the next day! It’s wild. The green literally goes right up to the glass. Apparently, people will sit there and bet on people finishing their rounds for hours. Panorama requires reservations in the evenings and is a bit more formal fare. Food was absolutely amazing once again. And Whit’s. Oh, Whit’s. We shut it down every night (it was only 12:30am, 9:30pm Alberta time, so not nearly as ridiculous as it sounds). My wine was almost half the price there. Great vibe, great staff, great food. A block down the road is the Route 19 Brewery where we also had a Welcome Reception and their food and beverages were unreal as well. All in all, very impressive.

Welcome Reception at Route 19

And now, the real magic. I honestly don’t even know where to begin. One of the most important pieces to the week had to be caddy selection. A friend of mine told me her nephew caddies there, so I requested him and his roommate. I can’t stress enough: the week would not have been as enjoyable without these boys. Kyle and Freddy, it can not be overstated how wicked it was having you guys with us every day! They carried two bags each (they prefer double bagging whenever possible - we felt bad booking double baggers but turns out the ones who offer it, prefer it).

I now truly understand the saying, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” There’s something about not having to worry about your bag or clubs, just walking the amazing course, having someone talk your shots out with you (or in my case, stop me from taking myself out of shots), and just giving you that confidence in your shots and lines. I told Kyle if I could afford it, I would have him come caddy every round I played, all the time. We developed so much trust and camaraderie, he actually went and stood at the top of hills on blind shots and told me to hit over his head (I was playing very well this week, thanks in large part to him pumping my tires - who knew if you just committed to shots, you can usually hit them). Cody finds he’s more into the round if he can think his own way around the course himself, so I basically got our caddy to myself and our banter was highly enjoyable.

I must digress for one second, to tell you a caddy story. So, I have this 2-piece husky headcover combo, but the puppy head is somewhere on CJ’s clubs, and the back end is on my 3 wood, which became known as “dog ass” throughout the week.

The moment I officially let Kyle become the boss of the week for me was on Cliffs 18, final hole of the first day. I’ve never made so many pars in one round in my life, even after his bad read on 5 green that made him work hard to earn my trust back the rest of the round. I crushed my drive on 18 with a lovely tailwind. I can get there in 2 no problem - the problem is the big gorge I have to carry to do that. I typically hit more of a stinger-type shot with my 3 wood; it doesn’t get much air. I am not comfortable having to carry “120 yards” in the air (I’m fairly certain he lied to me about that yardage to make it seem more doable, but he didn’t lie enough). We argue for a few minutes, and finally I held my ground on NOT hitting dog ass. I am comfortable getting my 7 wood up high enough and far enough (this is how I know he lied to me, he hesitated on my 7 wood carry distance which would have been about 160). He reluctantly hands me the 7 wood. I hit it well and BARELY clear the gorge (liar). As I turn back to him to hand him the 7 wood and say told you so, there is a ball on the ground and a 3 wood in my face. “Now hit the shot I told you to hit.” That was it. That was the moment. He put me in my place with an amount of belief in my game that I would never have. And the f*cker was right. I made the shot. He officially owned my game for the next 3 rounds.

Back to the courses now. Obviously, the courses are magical. Heaven on earth. There’s always something about being right along the ocean that makes things more special, but it’s also the vibe of the properties. The only other time I’ve said that was when we played Sagebrush, so I guess you could say Rod Whitman has a way of creating a vibe through his designs.

The Links course, designed by Rod Whitman and located right at the resort, I personally found a bit more challenging. There is less room to miss and thicker brush if you do get in trouble. There are more blind shots, so you really need to know what your plan is (these are shots the caddies helped tremendously on). Greens are more undulating and have lots of false edges where your ball can really get away from you if you don’t control it. 3 shot par 5’s, reachable and stretched par 4’s, long and short/elevated par 3’s, it really has it all and forces you to hit every club in your bag. 5 par 3’s, 3 par 5’s, and 10 par 4’s for a par 70 layout. I personally hate par 4’s, and these par 3’s were not easy, so this course definitely played tougher for me.

The Cliffs, which was designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw is down the road about 5 mins from the rest of the resort. I found it to be more of a resort course - wider, room to miss, and signature holes that are maybe a bit gimmicky but also fun. Once you know where to hit and how to play holes, which way things bounce, it was a very friendly design. Several blind greens, which would have been more frustrating without a caddy. One of the things I love the most about his layout is it has 6 of each par 3’s, par 4’s, and par 5’s - in my opinion leaving ample room to score well. With how player-friendly it is, you’ll almost always feel pretty good coming off your round here, which I’m sure adds to that Cabot “high” feeling.

Tip: if you’re going to go all the way there just get a caddy, they’re worth it! Depending on what you want, the younger guys with loads of personality enjoy double bagging, so request a double if you want banter. The ladies and older gents will single bag but probably won’t do as much of the banter part, might not even really help with lines or reads all that much - just carry your bag. I loved the Class A Caddy experience myself.

We also got to play the Nest, the 10-hole par 3 course overlooking the Cliffs course, which also offers night golf! We unfortunately didn’t get to play at night, but the course itself is so much fun! Very laidback up there and ridiculous views again.

All in all, I have to say, this was the best trip of my life. I was a little nervous about booking a golf trip on the east coast over a tropical vacation to commemorate our 5th anniversary, but this trip nailed it. It’s going to be a tough one to beat. I am going to ride this high I’m on for quite some time.

Cabot. Just do yourself a favour and go. Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible (the crew at Newwest Travel and our sponsors Volvo Edmonton and Glenmore Audi for the first class plane treatment). Thank you to everyone who booked through me (yes, I am an Independent Agent of Newwest Travel), and I can not wait to see you on the next one!!