The Lakes Awe-Inspiring

What a start to my Cape Breton Golf Adventure. We arrived late into the Sydney airport and drove to the beautiful Birches At Ben Eoin Country Inn where my wife and I were greated by the lovely owners Larry and Barb Macherson. After a great night of rest after a long day of travel we had a lovely breakfast at the Birches Country Inn. The vegetable quiche was a tasty treat.

When I went down to the car to get my clubs a golf cart was waiting for me fully stocked with tees/balls/divot tools/towel, a really nice touch. The Birches has a great relationship with The Lakes Golf Course and being a stones throw away from the course is ideal for people visiting the area. Highly recommend staying at The Birches Larry and Barb are great people and they went out of their way to accommodate our needs.

My tee time was at 1030am and I arrived early to chat with Eric one of the Managers of the course and get a small bucket to loosen up before my round. The Lakes Golf Course is built on a beautiful piece of land overlooking the Bras d'Or Lakes and Graham Cooke definitely knew what he was doing when he designed this gem. Highlights for me were the diversity of holes and way the various rock outcrops and streams were used to enhance each hole. My favorite holes had to be the challenging 5th hole a beautifully sloped par 4 with a babbling brook near the green to test your 2nd shot. As well as the following hole the picturesque par 4 6th. I managed a par a there with a pretty good 100 yd bunker shot. I will do a more extensive review soon as I only brushed the surface of this Cape Breton gem. I'm writing this at the Keltic Lodge at Ingonish where we've travelled to next, stay tuned for a round at Highland Links.