69 own work Coore & Crenshaw helped keep me busy,” he says. “I also took on small renovation projects when I could fit them in.” Those Coore & Crenshaw jobs included Klub Golf Rimba Irian in Indonesia, Talking Stick in Arizona, Friar’s Head on Long Island and Old Sandwich in Maryland. In 2009, Whitman was back in Canada again to collaborate with developer Richard Zokol, a former tour pro, on the Sagebrush course in British Columbia. The course was closed for several years due to the club’s financial difficulties before reopening under new management in 2021 and is rightfully receiving great acclaim. Shortly after designing Sagebrush, Whitman designed Cabot Links on a former coal mine along the coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in the small town of Inverness, Nova Scotia, for developer Ben-Cowan Dewar. “Ben had great faith in my abilities to produce something special,” says Whitman. “I also had a great team around me so that I could focus on the shaping that is integral to the course’s design.” Cabot Links is arguably Whitman’s greatest success. It is unmistakably a links layout, Canada’s first, with every hole overlooking the ocean and five running directly alongside it. Whitman shaped crumpled fairways and carved out pot bunkers, some lined with sleepers, included a double green and even the occasional blind shot. A destination resort to compete with Bandon was in the making, enough so to attract the interest and investment of Mike Keiser. “Quite simply, a lot of work was put in to make Cabot Links as successful as it has become,” says Whitman. “Ben worked tirelessly to make sure we had the resources to keep going. In his own words, it never entered his mind that it wouldn’t be successful. The continued success of Cabot is certainly in large part due to his efforts, and of course those of Mike Keiser.” “ Quite simply, a lot of work was put in to make Cabot Links as successful as it has become” Photo: Ryan Vold Photo: Evan Schiller Cabot Links, laid out by Whitman on the site of a former coal mine, on the coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
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