Golf Resort in Inverness, Nova Scotia Laurence Lambrecht _ Cabot Cliffs Hole 11 _ Cabot Cape BretonLaurence Lambrecht/Supplied
Jeff Mingay – one of Canada’s leading golf course architects – is working on his first solo, original golf course design, a forthcoming Nova Scotia course that is part of a new wave of golf development across the country.
“For the first time in 25 years people are seeing golf as a profitable investment, which is astonishing to me. We can build courses or we can renovate courses,” Mingay says. “It was always a risk, but more people seem to be taking the risk – which is great.”
Mingay’s new and as-yet-unnamed course will be built on an old gravel mine halfway between Halifax and Moncton, and 30 minutes to the Bay of Fundy. The property is surrounded by forested hills and blueberry fields; River Philip runs through it. Construction on the public course is under way with a big financial investment from Nova Scotian blueberry billionaire John Bragg, the founder of Oxford Frozen Foods, and is likely to open in 2027.
Playing the world’s northernmost golf course is unlike anything I’ve done before
Mingay, who is based in Toronto, says in the quarter-century he’s been in business there have been three cycles to new golf course builds in Canada. The first coincided with buzz around Tiger Woods at the peak of his powers in the late 1990s. While that building boom shut down quickly post-9/11, it picked right back up as Woods sustained his greatness for another decade. In 2008, there was the financial crash, and everything stopped again. And then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when golf was a safe outdoor option for groups, participation in the sport once again boomed.
And it hasn’t dropped since. Golf Canada reported earlier this year 8.5-million people participated in a “golf activity” in 2025. The country is home to 2,100 courses and 90 per cent are open to the public. More Canadians are playing more golf than ever before.
On a parallel path to the growth in participation numbers is plenty of excitement around new courses, renovations to existing layouts and expansions of well-known properties.
Cabot Revelstoke is planning for a grand opening in 2027.Cabot Revelstoke/Supplied
“We have so many different types of environments for golf – from Cabot to Banff to Jasper to Mont Tremblant. There are so many options,” Mingay says. “It’s one of the most diverse places to play golf on Earth, I’d say.”
One of the most anticipated courses is Cabot Revelstoke, which is planning for a grand opening in 2027, likely next Canada Day. The B.C. course will be the second Cabot property in Canada.
The global Cabot empire, which includes golf courses in Saint Lucia, Scotland, France and Florida, all started in the tiny Cape Breton mining town of Inverness, N.S., where Cabot Links first came to worldwide acclaim.
It was soon outdone by its neighbouring course Cabot Cliffs, part of the same resort. When Cabot Cliffs opened a decade ago it was the first – and only – course to make its debut on SCOREGolf Magazine’s top 100 golf courses in Canada list at No. 1. The 2026 ranking was published in late July, with Cabot Cliffs remaining in the top spot, while Cabot Links is ranked number two.
Revelstoke is now “ramping up,” according to Cabot co-founder Ben Cowan-Dewar. Designed by Rod Whitman, who also designed Cabot Links in Cape Breton (with Mingay alongside), the B.C. course is set above the Columbia River valley.
The Revelstoke course was always going to be a challenge, Cowan-Dewar noted. “I called Rod from the site thinking mostly mountain golf had not been great. It was too severe. The land was on the side of a cliff. It was tough to make it walkable. Tough to make it great,” he said.
“I’ve given him an opportunity to do something in the mountains up against Banff and Jasper [golf courses], and I couldn’t be more proud of what he’s created.”
When Cabot Cliffs opened a decade ago it was the first – and only – course to make its debut on SCOREGolf Magazine’s top 100 golf courses in Canada list at No. 1.Cabot Cliffs/Supplied
Cabot Revelstoke is an 18-hole championship course built alongside a par-3 short course called the Railyard. Andrew Harvie, who runs Golf Club Atlas, a respected website on golf course architecture, describes the property as Instagram worthy, especially the downhill holes. The 17th, for example, appears to be a short masterpiece that will overlook the valley from the tee.
And yet Cabot Revelstoke and Mingay’s new course in Nova Scotia barely scratch the surface of what’s to come in Canada over the next few years.
“There’s opportunity out there, and there’s a rising golf architecture IQ in this country at both the club and developer level,” says Harvie. “It feels like there’s excitement for the industry for the first time in awhile.”
A sampling of what’s to come in Canada
In Ontario, the Taboo Resort in Muskoka is getting a total overhaul with new golf offerings from the Australia-based firm OCM, led by golf major champion Geoff Ogilvy. Bay of Quinte Golf and Country Club, just outside Prince Edward County, opened another 18 holes this year and is now a 36-hole facility. TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley overhauled its facility as it prepared for the arrival of the RBC Canadian Open in June.
I played the Canadian Open’s golf course to see what separates the pros from the joes
In Quebec, barely 30 minutes from downtown Quebec City, is La Tempête Golf Club, which also just added another brand new 18-hole layout.
TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley overhauled its facility as it prepared for the arrival of the RBC Canadian Open in June.Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
In Nova Scotia, the spectacular Fox Harb’r Resort is reworking its golf offering to have 18 holes along the ocean and 18 holes meandering through its vineyard. This year, nine holes from each course are open to play. It’s some of the most delightful oceanside land for golf in Canada.
On Prince Edward Island, a new 12-hole layout is in the works. Kris Taylor, the landowner, is set to design the course himself on a cliff near Monticello on the northern shore – just 25 minutes from the island’s top-ranked course, The Links at Crowbush Cove. Meanwhile, PEI businessman Don McDougall, the owner of Mill River Resort, put a proposal for a new 18-hole course, designed by Doug Carrick, in front of Summerside City Council, with hopes of building along Malpeque Bay and opening in 2028.
Harvie notes Canada cannot support the “megalopolis-style resorts” found in the United States. Luckily, plenty of the country’s top clubs are within shouting distance of major cities or even in national parks, such as Highlands Links in Nova Scotia; Waskesiu in Prince Albert National Park, Sask.; Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park, Man.; and Waterton Lakes Golf Course in Alberta.
No matter if you’re visiting a course for the first time or returning to an old faithful, adventurous golfers will find that the landscapes Canadian golf courses are laid across are what make them special.
“It’s just such an amazing country with such amazing physical geography. That diversity gives way to so many opportunities,” Cowan-Dewar says.