Rod Whitman spent more than four decades building great golf courses and almost no time building the Rod Whitman brand.
At age 72, the Canadian course designer has quietly assembled one of the game’s most respected resumes. After apprenticing under Pete Dye and training for Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, Whitman struck out on his own in 1984, going on to design Cabot Links on his own and shape acclaimed courses such as Friars Head and Old Sandwich. His work attracted a spotlight that Whitman did not cry for himself. He doesn’t have a computer or an advertiser. It’s not on social media.
“I feel like the last 40 years, I’ve mostly just been working,” he says on a recent morning off the tee of a short, downhill par 3.
It was just after dawn, the sun beat down on the mountains of British Columbia, and Whitman was busy with his last work, putting the finishing touches. Cabot Revelstokehis own design and the centerpiece of Cabot’s plans for a new alpine destination.
“Mountain golf” is a freighted term, conjuring up images of steep slopes and awkward changes in elevation. Cabot Revelstoke dispels these connotations. On its way through the shadow of Mount Mackenzie – named not for Alister, the architect of the Golden Age, but for Alexander, the second prime minister of Canada – Whitman’s route lacks little movement, but its backbone is a bank of land with contours adapted to the game. His inclinations do not call for crampons and his descents are not black diamond tracks. The towering peaks that establish Revelstoke as a renowned ski town define the views without dictating the style of play.
“It has to be golfable, or what’s the point,” says Whitman.
Jacob Seaman
Width is where it’s at in golf design these days, and Cabot Revelstoke has plenty of it. This does not mean that you can hit anywhere. Gullies, ravines and rock cliffs come into play, while Whitman traffics in visual tricks that make some of the tightest shots seem tighter than they are. The opening hole is a gentle, downhill, drivable par 4 with the Columbia River lazing in the background. The 2nd racquet test, played through an intimidating saddle to a landing area whose generosity you can not see from the tee.
Variety is a constant. Most greens are open, inviting run-ups; others reward high-flying heroes. On the par-3 8th, a bailout is available to the left, but taking the green off the tee requires a 240-yard drive onto a fairway. Although Whitman is allergic to hyperbole, even he concedes that the challenge carries the echo of the famous 16 in Cypress Point, minus the ocean.
Given Whitman’s roots, a natural comparison is to Stanley Thompson, whose Banff Springs and Jasper Park Lodge are widely regarded as two of the finest mountain courses ever built. The connection is more than geographic. Ben Cowan-Dewar, co-founder and CEO of Cabot, says Whitman’s background and artistic touch made him an easy choice for Revelstoke, which he sees as another chapter in Canada’s mountain golf tradition.
“He understands how to let the landscape drive the design, and that’s a big part of what makes this course so special,” says Cowan-Dewar.
Revelstoke was born in the 1800s as a railway town, a crucial link in the end of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It has since long been transformed into a year-round destination, with diversions ranging from heli-skiing to fly-fishing depending on the season. Cabot Revelstoke aims to complement that with world-class golf. The plan of the resort includes a lodge of 155 rooms, real estate and a short course called Rail Yard, amenities that make for a perfect transition from winter to summer, with fresh powder giving place to pure greens in the same mountain environment.
Cabot Revelstoke will welcome you Limited preview plays this fall before its planned opening in 2027.
“I think it’s pretty good,” says Whitman, with trademark sobriety.
He will let the course do the talking.