Great Golf this Fall in Nova Scotia

Fall is a special time for golfers in Nova Scotia. The afternoons are cool and dry, the fairways are not as busy -- and nature is putting on its own spectacular show of colour. The beauty, the scenery, the challenge of world-class courses -- it all means that even if you're having a bad day of golf, you can still have a great day on one of Nova Scotia's magnificent golf courses.

It is one of the most playable and beautiful golf courses in North America. It is also a masterpiece of golf course design and a monument to a man many consider to be Canada's greatest course architect. Highlands Links -- designed and built in the late 1930s and opened in 1941 -- is the work of pioneering Canadian golf course designer Stanley Thompson. Thompson designed some of the great classic courses in Canada, including the ones at The Pines Resort and Banff Springs, but Highlands Links remains his greatest creation. The course was named the "Best Course in Canada" and listed as number 64 in the Top 100 World Rankings by the US publication Golf Magazine. The course was recently restored by Graham Cooke, who brought it back to Thompson's original design.

Golfers come a long way to tee off at this spectacular 6,592-yard beauty, located in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. But once they get to Nova Scotia, they may have a hard time deciding where to go next. The province has dozens of excellent golf courses from which to choose. Cape Breton's "Fabulous Foursome" -- Highlands Links in Ingonish, Baddeck's Bell Bay, Le Portage in Cheticamp and Dundee Golf Club -- are good starting points.

There is also the 1920s gentility of The Pines Resort Golf Course or White Point Beach, the rugged natural beauty of Granite Springs, the pastoral charm of Chester Golf Club and the sculpted fairways of Glen Arbour Golf Course in Halifax and Northumberland Links in Pugwash. There's enough to keep a serious golfer busy for a whole season.

For further information on fall golfing, events, festivals and attractions, visit www.novascotia.com or call 1-800-565-0000.