Freshly Squeezed Florida Golf at Cabot Citrus Farms

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With a plethora of content already coming out about Cabot Citrus Farms, it’s clear that this is one of the most hyped and exciting public golf resorts in the last few years. And while so much of that is in the form of video content on both Youtube and Instagram, we at Beyond The Contour elect for written content as a medium to dive deeper. Besides, who wants to see our awful golf games on video?

Cabot’s first stateside property is filled with a great mix of golf available for a wide variety of guests, and it is all just the beginning. Without leaving the property, golfers will be able to arrive, relax, and pick and choose how much golf they want to play (and pay for) each day. 36 championship length holes, 10-hole short course, 11 hole par 3 and a Trackman range for warm up or perhaps a mid golf trip practice session to try and cure a bad game.

A few weeks removed from “The Debut”—an event hosted by Beyond The Contour at Cabot Citrus Farms—I’ve compiled some initial thoughts on the resort and all that it has to offer. While some things still need time to marinate, and I most definitely need a second play through when things mature, there is a lot to like about the resort’s golf offering.

Wedge

Designed by Mike Nuzzo, The Wedge is a 1000-yard, 11-hole, par 3 course taking many of the notable features of the Karoo and The Squeeze and incorporating them into the smaller footprint. You’ll only need 1 or 2 wedges, your putter and a few friends—whether they are new or old you’ll be sure to have a splendid time. A couple drinks and some wagers on the line can put a little pep into your step as you head to the first tee.

The features here are both big and small, with plenty of sandy waste areas to hit over and large greens with dramatic contours. While these holes only range from 70 to 115 yards your short game will be challenged by these elements: whether it’s long putts after just finding the green, a difficult chip shot or a Texas wedge from the short grass, or playing from one of the many sand areas.

My favourite hole was the 5th playing at a hair over 70 yards. Trying to hit a ~60% wedge shot over a vast sandy waste area to what appeared to be a small, hidden green proved to be a bit nerve wracking. This hole is proof that a clever bit of visual intimidation can really confound your senses.

The 8th hole has so many options from the tee depending on where the pin is. A front pin location introduced us to a putt off from the tee on our second playthrough, while a back pin is more obstructed with another of these signature waste areas guarding that portion of the green. I’d love to take a crack at this one again to that back pin placement.

The 11th with its punchbowl at the front of the green is always going to be fun when you get the funnel pin. It was a lively time for our grouping with numerous shots coming so close, until finally BTC’s very own JB made a hole-in-one!

The Wedge is highlighted by golf under the lights. It adds a great element to the experience at Citrus Farms by keeping the action going into the evening. I really enjoyed this aspect at Cabot Cape Breton’s The Nest when it is available, and I am glad to see that here as well. My biggest (only) gripe with the Wedge was it’s not so much “under” the lights, since they are positioned so low to the ground, meaning that the long shadows created aren’t exactly conducive to play in and around sections of the greens. Not that it’s serious golf that’s being played that late, but it felt like it impacted the experience enough for me to note it here.

Squeeze

Like Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice, short courses are becoming a must have for every golf resort in some form or fashion. Once you get a taste of it, you’ll never want to go back to concentrate or the store-bought brand, or in this case you’ll be clamouring to go to a resort with a good short course. And The Squeeze at Cabot Citrus Farms delivers an instantaneous hit.

Challenged to build as much good golf as he could within the 105 acres that par 3, short course and Trackman driving range occupies, Mike Nuzzo created some really unique golf holes for this 10 9-hole course. And with 6 short par 4’s, 3 par 3’s and a lengthy rolling par 5 there is a ton of variety out here. No two holes are alike, using clever mounding, big greens and rolling terrain as a nearly perfect backdrop for the golf.

With at least 4 of the 6 par 4’s being driveable, and the other two still considered “short” the variety of designs to maximize the challenge here had to be good. The 1st is open and very inviting, whereas the 2nd has the green perched up on a hillside – take the daring line directly to the green and run the risk of bailing out/running off left or right into the fall off areas leaving a tricky short approach shot.

And the 5th with its snaking sandy waste area cutting into the ideal approach angle to a green with a large swale cut through it like a mini Biarritz through part of the green.

At the 6th the narrow front is guarded by bunkers in the landing zones cutting off anything but the most impressive drives. And the 9th plays slightly uphill with a large fall off on the left, with big swales in the fairway on the approach and a rather small green. It’s honestly one of the more impressive uses of land for a golf course that I have seen built within the last few years.

The lone par 5 plays longer than any of the par 5’s on the Karoo from the Tangerine tees. The strongly canted fairway is riddled with a variety of gnarly mounds, and those riding better pay special attention or otherwise risk a rollover. 

Admittedly I have zero idea what’s going on with this course’s name or setup. Originally launched as The 21 (10-hole short course + 11-hole par 3), then renamed as The Ten, now The Squeeze – where the scorecard says 10 holes, but the website now references it as a 9 hole course with a hole #6 and #6a. Honestly this is shockingly bad implementation work by a brand like Cabot. The mainstream won’t care, but as a golf sicko playing it in the limelight of this resort’s beginnings it’s things like this we pick up on. In reality, I do like the current name, though, as it’s much better in this iteration, and over time no one will remember these things.

Par 3 and short courses, as complimentary additions to resorts, are certainly becoming more popular and it’s obvious why. The relaxing vibes keep the guests entertained and cash flow incoming. And while The Wedge, or The Squeeze for that matter, certainly aren’t the main attraction they are perfectly complementary additions that will help elevate Cabot Citrus Farms into one of North America’s premier golf resorts.

Karoo

Prior to this trip to Florida I had no relationship with the former World Woods golf courses that occupied this land. I certainly came in with minimal expectations about the golf course. What I did know was that I liked the Cabot brand, since its original resort offering at Cabot Cape Breton is the most impressive golf resort I have yet been to. On top of that, the Kyle Franz work I’ve seen at Southern Pines, Mid Pines and Pine Needles is pretty outstanding. I was fairly confident going in that what I would find would at least be a fun experience.

If people would only look to the cookie, all our problems would be solved.

Jerry Seinfeld

A round at The Karoo can’t be started without enjoying the delicious Cabot Cookie. And while it’s not the black and white cookie that Jerry speaks of in Seinfeld, this welcoming gesture makes the guest feel as if they were home.

There is width, and plenty of it. It seems nigh impossible to miss a fairway let alone lose a golf ball. Rest assured I managed both. At the first, the large fairway is welcoming to get your round started, it is what you might categorize as the gentle handshake opener and accompanies the Cabot Cookie nicely. At the green, the first is shared with the sixth– a notable feature.

Holes such as the 2nd and 3rd have green complexes that are both tightly guarded by hazards to their left but feature generous, sections of rumpled fairway up the right, inviting you to direct lower-running shots and use of the contours to feed balls to the right portions of the greens. These are two of my favourite holes on the course, I really appreciate when there are ground influenced aspects to a golf course.

Another set of favourites for me were the par 5 14^th and par 4 15^th – these two holes, as you start to make the turn to come home, are really the best on the golf course. And as I understand it, these are two of the most similar to the original Pine Barrens golf course. The Par 5 is rather short and is definitely gettable in two with the green set up on a ridge, falling off on the left and behind, to add in that little voice in the back of your head that might make you second guess the shots you want to hit on approach. While the par 4 16th temps the golfer to drive the green, the centreline waste area splits the fairway approach in two, making the decisions from the tee all the more challenging. Those who come up short the mounding and waste area in front of the green can be an added challenging aspect to navigate.

And I would also like to give a kudos to the lovely 18th hole. The massively wide fairway is cut into three sections with endless amounts of those sandy waste areas found everywhere. Once you get past all of that the green sits with a low area off the right side and a lion’s mouth esque bunker covering the back portion. There was ample opportunity from all over the place to run the ball onto the putting surface.

There is a lot going on out on The Karoo, sometimes it’s a little over done – standing on any one hole the endless sandy waste areas and massive greens can seem daunting. But the greens are more clever than the massive abstract designs let on. There is always one side that is amply inviting and another side on which you better not miss. At the same time, because of the severity of the contours, it often appears that good shots are penalized more than they probably should. I’d like to have seen more greens like the 2nd or 18th which allow more ground game, rather than those like the 7th or 16th with the massive swales. It’s certainly not boring or typically what one might think of with Florida golf, that’s for sure.

As I’ve considered it more in recent weeks, I understand why the Cabot opted for such wide corridors, bold shaping and big features. Competition in the resort golf space continues to expand at a seemingly incredible rate these days. You’ve got to impress the marketplace with the bold features that so many people are enjoying right now. With Karoo being the first course completed they had to nail this as one of the most fun experiences you could have on a golf trip. It’s most likely guests will only play it once or twice, so it must look good, be bold enough for social media, yet still forgiving and most importantly fun. Karoo simply delivers that experience without question. It will be interesting to see how this type of golf is viewed in a few decades.

We had a great chance to sit down and listen to Kyle speak following our round. He spoke at great lengths to answer all our questions about the development process, his inspirations for the course, the input from Cabot in all of that, and much more. It was interesting to know that he took much of the inspiration for the design from places like National Golf Links of America, Pine Valley and a handful of others. Now, I’ve never had the pleasure of playing NGLA and Pine Valley, but I find it hard to see similarities here after one play through. In fact, I drew more connections to Mike Strantz designed Tobacco Road. And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, since a lot of people really like this style of golf course design, but it’s just not my preferred cup of tea over the long haul. But it might help the reader draw a better comparison to something they might have played before.

Roost

Our group was lucky enough to get an exclusive preview of the Roost course before it is even open to preview play. This meant it was still an active construction zone, with all of the hole corridors roughed in, some holes fully growing grass, while others only shaped and some being actively worked on, and 16 greens fully shaped. An absolutely unforgettable experience.

The Roost is the design work of Kyle Franz, Mike Nuzzo, and Ran Morrissett. Canadian architect, Rod Whitman (Cabot Links, Sagebrush, and more), has also come in to assist – shaping many of the greens for the team.

A noticeable trend with a number of the greens on Roost are the wavy-ness. They move like gentle waves in the ocean flowing around the greens and off into the surrounds and tie into the bunkers exceptionally well, something that Rod Whitman does exceptionally well as a shaper. They are much more muted than the set at Karoo, but that doesn’t make them any less challenging. It just rewards excellent ball striking more often than not.

From my perspective there is a strong polarity between Roost and Karoo. Where Karoo is exceptionally wide with large contouring greens, Roost is tighter with more treed corridors, a bigger variety of green sizes, and the hazards are more black and white with bunkers, ponds, barrancas, and elevation changes to challenge every aspect of the golfer’s game. It prevails as the more strategic shot makers golf course. It all adds up to something more in line with the types of golf courses I enjoy playing on a regular basis. Potentially something that matches up well for a PGA Tour event.

A few of my favourite holes

The first hole is a visually striking hole, with the pin set off in the distance just visible over the central mound and a bunker eating in off the right hand side. Opt for the longer line down the left to play straight down the throat of the green or miss up the right side and be forced to play into the narrower width of the green.

At the time of touring the course the 3rd through 7th are unplayable and still being developed. The 3rd is a long par 5 – a snaking fairway is surrounded by sandy waste areas, and the ideal approach landing zone has a large mound that obstructs the green from view. 

The 4th, a par 4, plays back down the opposite direction – a large ridgeline separates the left fairway section from the right, while sandy waste areas litter the sections between the holes. A tighter driving hole with a visual advantage given to those who play up the left – a small undulating green sits canted away from the golfer from left to right.

The 10th is a driveable uphill par 4 – while the fairway was still being shaped the lovely green complex set off in the distance as our target. Another wavy green complex has falls offs on all sides and will prove to be a treacherous short 4 I bet.

My early favourite has to be the 11th – at 620 yards from the back this long par 5. The fairway splits in two with a high side up the left and a lower side down the right. A barranca snakes across the fairway in the layup zone. The green slopes back to front with many wonderful wavy contours and shelves.

The stunning 17th is a short Par 3 playing down the central hillside over the barranca almost like a moat surrounding the green. With views across the property this is sure to be one of the most photogenic holes at The Roost.