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Fortress at Louis... Other News
Nick Faldo designed Louisbourg course to be named "The Fortress"
Oct 17, 2007 02:24:02
The Cape Breton Post
By Wes Stewart
Cape Breton Post
LOUISBOURG – Nick Faldo jokingly offered cannonballs and cannons as markers for the fairways on The Fortress, his 18-hole signature championship golf course, one of two courses now being built at the Louisbourg Resort and Golf Spa.
Faldo, a six-time major golf champion and captain of the 2008 European Ryder Cup team, said the Cape Breton courses will be the second and third courses he has designed in Canada. The first is The Rock, located north of Toronto.
The Louisbourg Playhouse was literally packed to the rafters Tuesday, many of the locals there for the chance to get an autograph or their picture taken with Faldo, who said he was disappointed he missed an opportunity to test his fly-fishing talents on the world famous Margaree River.
Bright sun was the order of the day Monday as Faldo hiked the newly cut fairways to get his first look at the landscape for his 36-hole golf course complex creation due to open in the summer 2010.
“This is a very exciting project for us, it is a completely different area, different environment,” one that will have a significant impact on the community, he said.
Faldo views the site as a challenge.
“Obviously we still have the standard, this will be played by every level of golfer and that is taken very much in consideration in the design work so that it is playable for everyone.”
All the centre lines have been created and his visit gave him the opportunity to look for the natural rolls and undulations in the landscape, tree line and other aspects he will use to create a world-class course.
“We will do our best to really enhance that piece of land and make it something very special to play.”
The Fortress and a par-three course are being built alongside Round Lake in what Faldo described as absolutely dense forest and as they cut the fairways they are finding special areas to locate the holes.
“I want the concession to take the balls out of the lake,” he quipped.
There are at least five different tees that will add 100 to 150 yards.
“The whole purpose of this visit at this time is to be inspired by something out there, the design and the whole ambiance of the project.”
The course opening in three years will depend on the kind of summer experienced in 2008, “in an area like this we are in the control of nature.”
Faldo takes a hands on approach to the design of his courses, walking the course at all stages of the development.
Parks Canada historian Ken Donovan, an avid golfer, is writing a history of golf in Canada and Cape Breton.
“This is a preeminent occasion for Cape Breton because there was a famous golf course designer here in 1938-39 Stanley Thompson, who designed Highland Links and today we have Nick Faldo, a linking of tradition.”
The internationally recognized Highland Links has had a significant impact on the local economy, he pointed out.
“The hope is Nick Faldo’s design will follow in that tradition,” Donovan said.
“A real smart designer tries to use as much natural topography as possible, avoid bulldozers and incorporate local features. We will just have to see what he comes up with,” Donovan added.
The world-class golfer said he has been generally interested in design all his life and welcomes the opportunity to turn it into a business.
“I remember we had a go at designing my home course when I was 18 on a piece of paper.”
Faldo, who plays the British Open in a couple of weeks, has about 20 courses under his name now being built or in the design stage.
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