Cabot Announces a New Golf Course Named After a 200-Year-Old Church
Old Petty is a nod to the history of the land and the course.
Cabot, the Toronto-based golf destination firm with courses in Nova Scotia, Florida, and Saint Lucia, has announced the newest course at Cabot Highlands (formerly Castle Stuart). The site near Inverness, Scotland, will be home to a new 18-hole layout designed by Tom Doak and called Old Petty to go along with the original Gil Hanse course built in 2009. Old Petty marks Doak’s second foray into Scotland, following The Renaissance Club in East Lothian that currently hosts the PGA and DP World Tour’s Scottish Open.
Just as the original course took its name from the castle built there by the Stuart family, the new course’s name is a nod to Old Petty Church, which is also on the property. Also unveiled was the logo of the new course. Anyone familiar with Cabot’s other properties knows its touch for an eye-catching logo, with Cabot Cliffs’ blue lobster and the tropical green turtle of Cabot Saint Lucia. For Old Petty, the chosen icon is one of Scotland’s most famous residents: the Highland cow.
The move by Cabot to buy and rebrand the existing Castle Stuart setup was unusual for the brand. Successful openings at Cabot Cape Breton and Saint Lucia were planned and executed by the company from the ground up. While Cabot Highlands is not as far from a major city as Cape Breton Island or the company’s other upcoming development in Revelstoke, B.C., it does suffer from its isolation in relation to St Andrews, the blinding light of golf tourism in Scotland. With the addition of the new course, Cabot is hoping to attract some of the tens of thousands of visitors who head to East Neuk of Fife every year.
With a slated opening date in 2025, Old Petty will join illustrious company in the north of Scotland alongside storied names like Royal Dornoch and much loved, lesser-known gems such as Brora and Golspie.