Bell Bay Golf Club

Few courses in Atlantic Canada carry the reputation Bell Bay does. Designed by Thomas McBroom and opened in 1997, it has earned consistent recognition as one of the best public golf experiences in Canada — a course that rewards the drive from anywhere in Nova Scotia simply on the strength of its setting and design quality. McBroom shaped the layout across rolling highland terrain above the Bras d'Or Lakes, a vast inland sea that defines Cape Breton Island's geography, and the views from several elevated tees and greens are genuinely spectacular, the kind that stop mid-round conversations cold.

The course plays through mature hardwood forest with natural elevation change that creates dramatic sightlines and demands real shot-making. McBroom was careful to let the land lead, so fairways bend and fall in ways that feel discovered rather than constructed. Strategic bunkering and firm, fast greens give it teeth beyond its scenery.

Baddeck itself is a small lakeside town long associated with Alexander Graham Bell, who considered this corner of Cape Breton the finest place on earth. Playing Bell Bay, it is easy to understand why he stayed.