I was always a fan of the Tom Fazio-designed courses at World Woods, the original 1990’s multi-course property that made me feel like not all golf in Florida is the same.

World Woods was very good, but Cabot Citrus Farms, and in particular the Karoo course (The Roost is still being developed), is spectacular, and it’s been under the tutelage of the young, up-and-coming visionary golf course architect Kyle Franz.

Franz, based out of Pinehurst, North Carolina, has become a massive up-and-comer in the golf course architecture industry, and The Karoo course at Cabot’s new Florida property proves why he was the perfect choice to design this project.

I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Kyle about the Karoo design, and about his architectural influences and career trajectory to this point. Please check that out on YouTube, linked below:

While golf enthusiasts pine over playing in Florida, the state’s public courses leave a lot to be desired.

There’s a stigma with Florida golf that’s in many ways well-deserved, and so for Cabot and Dream Golf to be taking on this project they needed to know what they were getting into.

Outside of Streamsong Resort, golf course architecture in the Sunshine State is relatively flat, even boring in many peoples’ minds.

One thing Cabot and Dream Golf will never be is boring. And it will never be “typical Florida golf.”

Typical Florida Golf

I remember reading an old blog shortly after I started WiscoGolfAddict about 13 years ago. It was called “Florida Golf Blog” or something similar, and the writer had recently moved to Florida and was planning on writing about and reviewing courses in his new state. He wrote a couple pieces followed by a final one stating, “I’ve come to the conclusion that all golf courses in Florida are the same, and there are four total holes:

1. Water left, houses right
2. Houses left, houses right
3. Houses left, water right
4. Water left, water right

That’s it.”

He never posted again, and unfortunately the site no longer exists on the interwebs. It was hilarious to me, though, and I wish I could find his old drawing. Here’s my best, rudimentary attempt:

Atypical Florida Golf

World Woods, and now Cabot Citrus Farms, was anything but water left, water right, or houses left, water right. The property has no houses at all, in fact (though lodging is being developed near the clubhouse), and very little water – especially on the Pine Barrens course (now Karoo), which has just one small pond on the now par three third.

World Woods had some architectural interest, using the natural sand to let holes pop and present extra challenge (though, as their former Director of Golf told me, the slope stayed low, around 130 from the tips (at around 7,200 yards) because sand is only considered half as difficult as water).

Pine Barrens (link to 2013 course review where you can see the dramatic changes made) was even regularly named to many publications’ top 100 public courses lists.

My point: Franz’s job was not taking a bad golf course and making it good. It was taking a very good golf course (albeit behind on maintenance) and making it bucket list-worthy.

And who better to do that than Franz? Originally working with Coore/Crenshaw before going out on his own, Franz had performed these types of miracles at a number of high-end tracks including Mid Pines, Pine Needles, The Country Club of Charleston, Minikahda and Pinehurst #2 (with Coore/Crenshaw).

Having only played Mid Pines from that group, I can’t speak to the others but will say what he did at Mid Pines is incredible. Following a WiscoGolfAddict team visit this past spring I could not have been more impressed. Mid Pines is one of the best golf courses I’ve ever played.

Unlike Mid Pines (which was more of a “restovation”), Karoo did not stay parkland in style. Thousands of trees were removed from the Cabot Citrus Farms property, and acres more of that scintillating Florida sand have been excavated to create strategically placed blowouts and waste areas that dictate play.

Where Franz’s style shines for me most is on the greens complexes. The putting surfaces on Karoo are bold, imaginative and maybe even a little wacky. I have friends who would say “Where’s the clown’s mouth?” Not me, I love that. Interest in greens is a lot of what makes a great golf course, in my opinion, and the putting surfaces at Karoo are wild.

Maybe the wildest of the bunch is on the par three 16th. Significantly altered from its previous hole layout, the green now has a massive thumbprint in the front-middle.

If the pin’s in the bowl like it was during our round and you hit another section of the putting surface then good luck at getting the ball to stop within 20 feet!

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The course

Hole 1: Par 4 (475/439/399)

Karoo begins with a fun, downhill par four played to a wide fairway and massive double-green shared with the sixth. Brimming with humps and bumps and primarily canted from back to front, this is a monstrous putting surface sure to present lengthy, circuitous putts.

I hit a beautiful 6-iron into this first green, thinking I was tight to the hole. I turned out to be a good 40 feet short of the pin, though, staring at my first three-putt of the day.

Hole 2: Par 4 (522/497/421)

A long, demanding par four, the second plays to a narrow fairway that runs slightly left-to-right off the tee. This is one of the most demanding tee shots on the course, and leads to a large, squarish green that juts out in the bottom-left.

A great pin for our round, this hole location required a testy iron or wedge shot over a group of small blowouts in the approach area.

Hole 3: Par 3 (292/247/224)

Probably the most talked about hole on the Cabot Citrus Farms property is the par three third. A tremendously challenging tee shot that stretches to almost 300 yards from the tips, it plays over the course’s only water hazard to one of its most extreme greens (Kyle mentioned it in our interview as his favorite new green design).

Pinned middle-right for our round, the bowl-like right side could be used to run shots on but also repelled them down the front. My tee shot, in fact, was nearly pin-high when it hit the slope before running left and down off the front of the putting surface.

That was just the start of my adventure, then leading straight uphill and to a hole location requiring me to avoid the plateau just left of it. I didn’t avoid it, and my first putt rolled out another 25 feet away in that direction resulting in another long uphill attempt.

Stunningly beautiful, the third is one of the most challenging par threes I’ve ever played.

Hole 4: Par 5 (511/483/452)

On the fourth is where memories of the Pine Barrens course at World Woods finally started coming back to me. I remember this hole well – a long par five that plays to a split-fairway bisected by long, treacherous waste areas.

I always loved this hole, and I couldn’t have been happier to see that it’s more or less stayed in tact. Rather than redesigning what was already incredible – similarly executed on the 12th, 14th and 16th – Franz elected to massage them. He improved these existing layouts by enhancing their greens complexes and working in additional strategic elements.

On four, that involved bringing in the fairway toward the tree line and significantly expanding the putting surface. Under 500 yards from most tees, this is a wonderful par five.

Hole 5: Par 4 (382/363/336)

One of the shortest par fours on the course, five is sure to make players think. While a long, challenging series of bunkers cuts vertically through the fairway, there’s a ton of room to miss left or right to set up a short approach.

I cranked one of my best drives of the day on this hole… Unfortunately, as it rolled out into the traps less than 100 yards from the green (it was really impressive how fast the fairways and greens played, by the way, for such a newly seeded course!).

The green on five is highly elevated, including a substantial false front that drops off just past the bunker complex.

Hole 6: Par 5 (563/524/484)

A long par five, the sixth plays to another split-fairway.

I am a big-time fan of split-fairways, by the way, which allow for options and strategic play – and oftentimes a wider margin for error, which my driving game appreciates. Hitting the raised left side of the fairway will allow tee shots to run out more, but playing to the right is safer and should avoid the cross-bunkers.

I blocked my tee shot well right, into a gnarly sand and waste area with trees between the green and my ball. As I tend to say, “I didn’t come all the way to [Cabot Citrus Farms, in this case] to lay up!” After putting a good swing on a 247-yard five-wood I somehow caught the left side of the green under regulation. I’d three-putt from there, of course.

Hole 7: Par 3 (199/184/167)

Probably my favorite par three on the course, the seventh is a mid-range one-shot hole that plays to a horizontally-aligned biarritz-like putting surface.

With sand short and beyond the narrow (from front to back – it’s ridiculously wide left-to-right) green, the hole was pinned at the bottom of the central swale and made for some incredibly inventive putting.

Coming up just short of the putting surface off the tee, I basically putted straight left across the fringe in hopes of catching the left-side kicker and then rolling down it to the right. I missed my mark by several feet, though, and watched in horror (okay, it was pretty funny) as the ball sailed through the slope, past the hole and off the back of the putting surface into sand.

Hole 8: Par 4 (426/393/352)

A thrill ride of a par four, the eighth is manageable distance-wise but has one of the property’s most challenging approach areas.

Tee shots need to aim down the left side of the fairway as anything right is likely to find the deep waste area to that side. The green is peninsular in shape with bunkers jutting in from the front-right, beyond and to the entire right side.

This is a beautifully designed golf hole.

Hole 9: Par 4 (421/395/380)

Nine was a little confusing to me. Our caddie, Dan (who was absolutely phenomenal, by the way!), let us know before heading down the fairway that it’s a drawer’s paradise. We couldn’t see it from the tee, though, as the green was well off in the distance and placed slightly to the right.

It was one of those situations where I just couldn’t commit to a certain shot and so instead hit a huge ballooned slice to the right of right.

Another highly elevated green, the ninth has a tough, heavily contoured putting surface.

Hole 10: Par 3 (242/198/180)

A long par three, Cabot was running a closest-to-the-pin contest on ten. With waste area everywhere, the hole was pinned front-left and none of us got close.

It was such an intimidating hole location, in fact, that we all hit well right of the hole to the middle of the green in hopes of it running hard right-to-left. I believe we all parred this hole.

Hole 11: Par 4 (427/379/346)

After grabbing a sour beer (I love sours, and they had a really nice one at the centrally located hospitality station) and walking to the tee, I remembered the 11th from World Woods immediately.

They used to mow a diamond pattern into this fairway, and I remember playing a 2013 round with my friend, Dan, and a gentleman named Will Robbins who was in Florida at the time chasing his dream of making the PGA Tour. I’ll never forget his drive on this hole – a towering draw that landed at the top of the diamond (carried well over 300 yards).

The diamond pattern is no longer cut into the 11th fairway (probably a good decision on the part of Director of Agronomy Steve Blake, whose previous roles were at Lake Arrowhead, Ridgeway, Milwaukee and North Shore prior to leaving Wisconsin for this opportunity – check him out on Instagram as @blakeshow1776), and the hole’s layout has been enhanced with a landscape of exposed sand and centerline traps.

Hole 12: Par 4 (496/472/404)

Like on the fourth, much of the 12th on Karoo aligns with the former World Woods layout that preceded it. The green is so much better, though, nudged out and expanded with a shelf that separates the front and back sections.

The defining characteristic on 12 is the huge sand complex short of the green. It’s intimidating, to say the least, and needs to be carried on the approach.

Hole 13: Par 4 (447/411/368)

Maybe the most interesting hole on the entire course to me is the par four 13th. While wasteland envelops the playing corridor on both sides, there is just a single pot bunker in the middle of the fairway.

Rather than designing in bunkers all over, Franz installed Langford/Moreau-like mounding across the entire approach area, and one of the wildest greens I’d ever seen (until we got to 16). I realized quickly how imprudent driving the cart toward the green was – these mounds are enormous with steep faces that brought back memories of driving backwards down the fairways of the Links course at Lawsonia (not recommended!).

Bowl-like in shape, the putting surface on 13 is intensely contoured internally from high sides while dropping dramatically in all directions from the green’s outskirts.

What a design!

Hole 14: Par 5 (581/545/511)

The longest hole on Karoo, 14 is a beautiful par five that plays to different levels of elevation on each successive shot. The second and third shots will involve skirting bunkers uphill to the next sections of fairway, overall heading right-to-left onward towards the green.

The back nine of Karoo is one of the best stretches you’ll find anywhere, and the 14th is one of its many highlights.

Hole 15: Par 4 (388/326/282)

14’s great, but 15 at Karoo is amazing. This is the hole I remembered more than any other from World Woods, and it’s now as good or better than I recalled.

From the tangerine tees we played (6,295 yards with a slope/rating of 128/70.1 – the course plays much longer), it was only ~ 220 to the pin but would have to fly about 200 yards of wasteland. Players can otherwise opt for hitting any iron to the left-side fairway to set up a short wedge in to a putting surface that runs away.

I hit my worst shot of the day here, fat and into the sand, which was really unfortunate considering how excited I was to get back to this golf hole.

Hole 16: Par 3 (201/186/154)

This might be the wildest green I’ve ever seen. Wide left to right, the green complex has a massive pommel-like bowl designed into the front-middle. Hit your tee shot there and you’re gravy, but miss it and good luck at having a par putt inside 20 feet!

Brian’s tee shot from 170 came in right at the pin, hit and somehow rolled up and out of the bowl to about 25 feet above it. To call his putting route circuitous would be an understatement, but I’d say he did as well as possible.

Hole 17: Par 5 (500/460/432)

A short par five, the 17th is well under 500 yards from the silver and tangerine tees (500 from the tips) with a wide, inviting fairway. A series of bunkers cuts into the playing surface about 100 yards from the green, forcing golfers to choose playing to the left or right of them.

If playing to the left, the approach shot will be to a green that runs hard away and down the right side, while playing to the right will allow a shot uphill that’s more prone to stick.

The putting surface on 17 is terraced in thirds, dropping from a high point on the left, and is another beautifully thought out design.

Hole 18: Par 4 (489/450/403)

Eighteen on Karoo is a thing of beauty. Exposed sand is everywhere with pockets of fairway popping up down the middle and right sides.

A long par four, this is a fitting finish to a fun and challenging round of golf at Cabot Citrus Farms.

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I can’t say enough great things about the golf experience at Cabot Citrus Farms, and I love that Cabot went with [somewhat] fresh faces for these projects.

While Franz and Mike Nuzzo are not new to the industry, they have typically worked with restraints: Bettering already great courses while restoring their heritage (like at Mid Pines), for example, or working under other world-renowned architects.

Cabot Citrus Farms allowed them both to unleash their creativity, think differently and develop unique, innovative experiences. That’s how I think golf enthusiasts from around the world will view Karoo and the other tracks at this Florida property. They are a lot of fun.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to predict that Karoo will debut in major publications’ top 25 public courses in the country. It’s every bit as exciting as any of the layouts at highly-ranked resorts like Sand Valley and Streamsong (two of my favorite places in the world), it’s eye-poppingly beautiful and uniquely designed with, as Brian wrote about in his Cabot Citrus Farms destination overview, a keen sense of place.

With so much choose-your-own-adventure strategy and timeless design built into every hole, Franz knocked the Karoo project out of the park.

Now I can’t wait to see how they back it up on The Roost!

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