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From 'World Woods' to 'Cabot Citrus Farms'
One of the courses that made the Tampa Bay area a golf destination is about to reopen. The hope is that the brand new courses will change Florida golf again.
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. - One of the courses that made Tampa Bay a golf destination is about to re-open with the goal of transforming Florida golf once again.
World Woods opened to great fanfare in 1994, but over several decades the new designers say it lost its luster. It will reopen as Cabot Citrus Farms in 2024.
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"All this beautiful sandy terrain is what every architect dreams of," said course architect Kyle Franz.
Franz and his partner Mike Nuzzo have been working on Citrus Cabot Farms for over a year.
"The truly best writing in the world, there's not a single phrase or word or anything in the writing that happened by accident," said Franz. "All of it has a specific purpose in a meeting or symbolism behind it. The same is true of golf course architecture."
As a kid, he played golf 478 days in a row. And he remembers every shot.
"I would think about, wouldn't that hole be better if there was a bunker there or maybe that bunker was removed, and we added a bunker over there?"
He says Citrus Cabot Farms in Brooksville is akin to 500 acres of opportunity. The courses once went by ‘World Woods,’ which opened in 1994 and became known as both affordable and beautiful.
But time took its toll, and the Cabot Company bought World Woods in early 2022. The new courses - and accompanying cottages - are almost ready to take a second swing.
"It does take a long time, and we can develop it over time like an artist would work on a painting," said Nuzzo. "You keep painting until it's finished."
"Since the pandemic, golf has changed. People not only want to do more things outside, they want it to look a certain way while they’re doing it. Social media has become a powerful tool for golf course designers."
Derek Duncan has reported on the World Woods property for decades, most recently for Golf Digest.
"We're so programmed to be visually stimulated on Instagram, whether it's by food or a sunset or whatever else is on your feed," said Derek Duncan, who has covered golf architecture for decades. "There's a huge demographic of golfers who are programmed to have this Pavlovian response to great golf course photography."
Duncan says Florida, even with its plethora of courses, is among the fastest-growing regions in the nation, with eight different courses being built right now.
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Private clubs are stocked with members, so most new courses, like Cabot, will be public.
"People who used to come from the northeast and winter there are relocating to Florida on a permanent basis," said Duncan. "So what that has done with golf is just create an incredible demand for new courses and new clubs."
Duncan expects that Cabot Citrus Farms, with its two full-sized and two shorter courses, will attract golfers from Tampa Bay, from around Florida, and even from around North America.
"We look for really interesting features," said Franz. "And interesting features could be just a beautiful live oak that has cool moss hanging down, or it could be a hill."
Franz and Nuzzo are convinced that their intricate but welcoming designs will appeal to golfers of all skill levels.
"We just really we need to move enough dirt to make it look like we didn't move any at all," said Franz. "So it looks completely natural, and it fits into the surroundings."
After spending countless hours sketching them on paper, the courses are almost ready for their debut.
"For me, it's a dream come true. It really is what I've always wanted to do," said Franz. "There was never, never any question as to what business that I was going into."
The courses will be available for preview play in January. They will be fully open in October.