45 numerous parcels of land,” says Cowan-Dewar. What key attributes are required for a Cabot site? “Revelstoke, with its snowcapped peaks, is absolutely breathtaking, and when I was in Saint Lucia watching Bill and Ben work, it was just surreal to see nine greens being built next to the ocean,” says Cowan-Dewar. “They’re both shockingly spectacular and when I am visiting and selecting sites, that is what I’m looking for. “Sand is also obviously an important medium to help achieve the playing conditions we look for. And then you get down to just the commercial realities of the site. Old Petty at Cabot Highlands is five minutes from Inverness Airport, which is easily accessible from London and Amsterdam among other cities. If we are to build something truly spectacular, we have to consider how easy it is for people to get to. There are some sites that are just so hard to reach, that even if it was spectacular and was built on sand, it would be hard to overcome the commercial hurdle. However, I try not to let that cloud the vision too much upfront.” Cowan-Dewar recalls some advice from Crenshaw: every great golf course starts with a great site, followed by a great architect and then a great owner. “For me, the site always comes first, and everything else follows,” says Cabot’s CEO. “When I saw Cape Breton, I knew we could build something special. The same was true for Saint Lucia – I had looked at dozens of sites across the Caribbean before finding the perfect one. The moment I stood on that site, I immediately called Bill.” In addition to Coore-Crenshaw and Whitman, Cabot has courses designed by Tom Doak (Old Petty), Kyle Franz (Karoo and Roost at Cabot Citrus Farms) and Mike Nuzzo (Roost, Squeeze and Wedge at Cabot Citrus Farms). For the most part, architect selection has been based on welldeveloped relationships. Cowan-Dewar recalls: “I got to know Rod through Bill, who said, ‘if you’re doing a course in Canada, you’ve got to use Rod.’ I was 21 or 22 at the time and asked Bill, ‘if I succeed with the first course, would you do the second one?’ Bill replied, ‘if you use Rod for the first, I’ll do the second.’ For the Links course I never thought of anyone else. And then Bill came with Mike Keiser and I on a visit to the Cliffs site, and so Bill’s selection was a foregone conclusion. “At Revelstoke, I loved the idea of Rod getting the chance to put his best up against Stanley Thompson, who has long been his idol. Rod’s love of Banff Springs and Jasper Park matched my own. When I got on site at Revelstoke, I called Rod and asked how quickly he could get here. For Citrus Farms, we shifted gears and went with younger BEN COWAN-DEWAR The Cabot journey began at Cabot Cape Breton, which now has the Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs (pictured) courses Photo: Jacob Sjöman
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