Top 4 Nostalgic Maritime Golf Courses Designed by Stanley Thompson

Nostalgia is one of those funny things. I often hear people say they long for a simpler time, free of the technology that has inundated our lives, and see them the next day bragging up their newest, gadget, doohickey or thingamajig. The constant search for the newest and best has driven society to achieve some wonderous things, but there is something to be said for the simple joys. Take an e-reader for example. You can’t beat the convenience of thousands of titles in a sleek sexy piece of technology, but then there’s reading a real book. The smell of the paper and ink, the sensation of the paper in your hands, and the nostalgia of being taken back to the days when you finished your first real book.

The same can be said for golf in the Maritime Provinces. We have some wonderful shiny and new courses, and more arriving each year as golf continues to grow in popularity. But there are also some wonderful nostalgic courses dotting our landscape. I’d like to highlight a few by world renowned architect Stanley Thompson.

Thompson had many beliefs he incorporated into his designs. Two that resonate with me as a weekend “duffer” are that the land should dictate the layout of the course and golf courses should be challenging without being discouraging. Afterall, isn’t the real purpose of golf enjoyment? With this in mind, here are four Maritime gems of Thompson’s designs.

This is where golf started for me. As a group of families, we used to spend a week every August camping in the National Park. Every morning my father and the other Dads would try to get the first tee time and sneak in a round before those back at the campsites roused for the day. I’d often try to get out with them just for the walk, and if I missed the first nine, I’d ride my bike over and catch them for their second lap. My father swung left, but there was always a shortened right handed and 7 iron in his bag for me. It was years before I could hit from the first tee, but once out of sight of the Pro-shop and with the course Marshall’s cart out of ear shot a ball would appear for me to thrash at. Five or six “strokes” later I’d be told to pick it up and it was off to the next hole.

Memories aside, this course is fun to play. Nestled into a river valley in the Chignecto Highlands, the course boasts six elevated tee blocks and by elevated we’re talking sixty feet from the tee down to Dickson Brook. The meandering creeks also come into play on seven of the nine holes adding a need for some finesse on this hidden gem.

When I think of this course I think of opulence and whimsy. Golf is just half of the experience at the Digby Pines Golf Resort and Spa. The course, opened in 1931, was developed as part of the Canadian Pacific Railroad Resort. Thompson sculpted this course out of a 250-acre parcel of mixed Acadian and mature pine forest which comes into play on many holes. The par 3 second hole has a tricky sloping green with a beautifully framed pond to tempt your ball. In Thompson’s original design the third hole featured a question mark shaped fairway bunker which often left me wondering “Why am I in here again?”

After your round the dining experience back at the Resort and Spa should not be missed. With great food and beautiful views over the Annapolis Basin it takes you back to a simpler time. It features wonderful fine dining with one of the most decadent dessert menus I’ve ever experienced.

I suspect Stanley Thompson’s team must have thought they were playing in a sandbox when building this course in the 1930’s. The original design featured an 11th green that brought you right to the front door of the house that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery’s literary classic. The design has been altered over the years, most recently in 2008 by Thomas McBroom, to protect the iconic house as well as the nearby environmentally sensitive sand dunes. Part of the magic in this course is how so many features from the Anne Of Green Gables books feature in the layout. As a matter of fact, in Thompson linked each hole the to the story with Lover’s Lane, The Haunted Wood, and The Lake of Shining Waters to name a few.

With some of the best beaches of Prince Edward Island’s north shore nearby, enjoying the temperate waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence may be a great way to unwind after a round. Assuming, of course, you didn’t get you fill of sand on the course.

“Golf is a good walk spoiled” may have been uttered with this course in mind. The walk, should you choose to walk, is about 13 km from first tee to the 19th hole and features a true out and in course design. The front nine starts with some ocean views before taking you deep into the Cape Breton Highlands along the Clyburn River before returning to the Atlantic on the back. My score on my first round here was one for the record books… Probably one of my worst scores ever but still one of my most enjoyable rounds. I’d never played a true links style course and the uphill, downhill, ball above and ball below feet lies were giving me fits. Some years later, I spent a summer working in an hour away so I would often sneak in a twilight round after work and I got much better with the course. One of the best memories was waiting for a cow moose and her calf to cross the green on the par 3 seventeenth hole as darkness was setting in.

The Keltic Lodge once formed a triad of properties own by the Province of Nova Scotia along with the previously mentioned Digby Pines and golfless Liscomb Lodge. The experience in the main dining room rivals that mentioned for the Digby Pines, and for a lower cost fare the Atlantic Restaurant is also on property.

So, there they are, four of the many classic Stanley Thompson designs located in the Maritime Provinces. For simple enjoyment of the game, you can’t miss these courses… Just as Stanley intended.