Rod Whitman has spent more than four decades building great golf courses and almost no time building the Rod Whitman brand.
At 72, the Canadian-born course designer has quietly assembled one of the game’s most respected résumés. After apprenticing under Pete Dye and shaping for Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, Whitman struck out on his own in 1984, going on to solo-design Cabot Links and shape acclaimed courses like Friars Head and Old Sandwich. His work has drawn a spotlight that Whitman hasn’t clamored for himself. He doesn’t have a computer or a publicist. He isn’t on social media.
“I feel like the past 40 years, I’ve mostly just been working,” he says on a recent morning from the tee of a short, downhill par 3.
It was just past dawn, the sun peaking over the mountains of British Columbia, and Whitman was busy with his latest job, putting the finishing touches on Cabot Revelstoke, his own design and the centerpiece of Cabot’s plans for a new alpine destination.
“Mountain golf” is a freighted term, conjuring images of billy goat slopes and goofy shifts in elevation. Cabot Revelstoke dispels those connotations. On its path through the shadow of Mount Mackenzie — named not for Alister, the Golden Age architect, but for Alexander, the second prime minister of Canada — Whitman’s routing hardly lacks movement, but its backbone is a bench of land with contours suited to the game. Its inclines don’t call for crampons and its descents aren’t black-diamond runs. The towering peaks that established Revelstoke as a renowned ski town define the views without dictating the style of play.
“It’s gotta be golfable, or what’s the point,” Whitman says.
The par-4 16th at Cabot Revelstoke, carved through a sea of cedars and firs.
Jacob Sjöman
Width is where it’s at in golf design these days, and Cabot Revelstoke has plenty of it. That doesn’t mean you can hit it anywhere. Creeks, ravines and rock outcrops come into play, while Whitman traffics in visual deceptions that make some of the tighter shots look snugger than they are. The opening hole is a gentle par 4, downhill and drivable for bombers, with the Columbia River lazing in the backdrop. The 2nd ratchets up the test, playing through an intimidating saddle to a landing area whose generosity you can’t see from the tee.
Variety is a constant. Most greens are open-fronted, inviting run-ups; others reward high-flying heroics. On the par-3 8th, a bailout is available left, but taking on the green from the tips demands a 240-yard carry over a gorge. Though Whitman is allergic to hyperbole, even he concedes that the challenge carries echoes of the famous 16th at 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, cofounder and CEO of Cabot, says Whitman’s background and artful 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 lead 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 railroad town, a crucial link in the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. It has long since morphed 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 resort’s blueprint includes a 155-room lodge, real estate and a short course called the Rail Yard, amenities that make for a seamless transition from winter to summer, with fresh powder giving way to pure greens in the same mountain setting.
