Chocolate Drops: Cabot Citrus Farms Opens

The latest from the world of golf architecture:

→ Cabot Citrus Farms, a reimagining of World Woods Golf Club in Brooksville, Florida, opens today after nearly a year’s worth of preview play, influencer visits, and premature online discussion. The complex now includes four different golf courses: 18-hole Karoo (designed by Kyle Franz), 18-hole Roost (designed by Franz and Mike Nuzzo, with help from Rod Whitman and Golf Club Atlas’s Ran Morrissett), and two short courses, the Squeeze and the Wedge (both designed by Mike Nuzzo). Most early reviews have been positive, though Franz’s design at Karoo, with its dauntingly intricate bunkering and contouring, has raised some eyebrows. I’m looking forward to seeing the courses myself—sometime this year, I hope.

→ Speaking of potentially overcooked modern golf architecture, I recommend this feature by Adam Lawrence from the latest issue of Golf Course Architecture, which asks, “Is the beauty of bunkering being over-emphasized at the expense of its function?” Lawrence gets quotes from Bill Coore, Ron Forse, Robin Hiseman, Jeff Mingay, Jay Blasi, Mike Cocking, and—in a breakout section that addresses the chatter generated by Karoo at Cabot Citrus Farms—Kyle Franz. Forse is especially critical of current trends, saying, “Like green speeds, people are doing things because they can. Everyone’s trying to outdo each other. And some of the elegant simplicity of architects like Colt and Flynn is getting lost in all the cacophony.” I agree with this, but only to an extent. While I tend to prefer low-profile, minimalist golf architecture, and while I’ve found certain recent “restorations” to be notably lacking in restraint, it’s important for today’s architects to try new things with their original designs, to be bold, and to break with tradition where they see fit.

→ Andrew Green has finished a second major project at Inverness Club, seven years after completing his initial, widely acclaimed renovation of the Donald Ross design in Toledo, Ohio. This excellent piece in the Toledo Blade (support local journalism!) details the work. Some highlights: the 13th green was moved back 28 yards, extending the par 5 to 581 yards; church-pew mounding was added along the right side of the second hole; a new tee box was built on No. 18, allowing the par 4 to be extended by 37 yards; trees were planted to the right of the first fairway to protect the driving range; and pin positions were recovered by green expansions on the seventh and 18th holes.

→ As discussed in this Club TFE blog post (and lively comments section) last week, the Pebble Beach Company announced a timeline for Hanse Golf Course Design’s redesign of the Links at Spanish Bay. The work by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner will take place between March 2026 and the spring of 2027, and the PBC hopes that the refreshed course will open in time for the 2027 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in June.

→ Golf Digest handed out its annual “Best New” awards last week, recognizing The Covey at Big Easy Ranch as the Best New Private Course, Pinehurst No. 10 as the Best New Public Course, Andrew Green’s renovation of Interlachen Country Club as the Best Renovation, OCM’s redesign of Course 3 at Medinah Country Club as the Best Transformation, and Rees Jones’s renovation of Wellman Club in the revived “Best Affordable” category. It was surprising to see The Covey at Big Easy Ranch, a Chet Williams design in southeastern Texas, beat out the better-known likes of Old Barnwell and The Tree Farm, but hey, every rating panel is entitled to its opinion.