Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida celebrates official grand opening
Cabot Citrus Farms in Brooksville, Florida, is officially fully open with two full-size 18-hole courses, two short courses, real estate, nightly accommodations and a slew of amenities. Every inch of the former World Woods Golf Club, about an hour’s drive north of Tampa, has been reimagined since Cabot purchased the property in 2022.
The new resort community has opened in stages, with preview play beginning on the 18-hole Karoo course and the short courses more than a year ago. The newer Roost course began hosting limited play near the end of 2024. The official grand opening is Tuesday.
“The former World Woods Golf Club always stood out to me for its enchanting setting and dramatic elevation changes unlike anything I’d ever seen across the state of Florida,” Ben Cowan-Dewar, CEO and co-founder of the Canadian-based Cabot, said in a media release announcing the resort’s grand opening. “It has been an honor to reimagine this iconic site alongside our amazing team. We drew inspiration from the property’s rich history and natural beauty to create a destination that will bring people together through incredible golf experiences, outdoor adventures and a strong sense of community.”
Cabot has expanded rapidly in recent years. Since having started in 2012 in Nova Scotia at the property known as Cabot Cape Breton that is home to two world-class courses, the company has acquired, has built or is building courses at Cabot Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, Cabot Highlands in Scotland, Cabot Bordeaux in France and the in-development Cabot Revelstoke in western Canada. The company recently announced its investment in Lofoten Links in Norway, and it also launched a management arm that will oversee courses such as Cascata and Rio Secca in Nevada, Grand Bear in Mississippi and Chariot Run in Indiana.
Cabot Citrus Farms’ Karoo is an 18-hole layout designed by Kyle Franz, sitting on the former site of World Woods’ Pine Barrens layout. Much of the general routing remained, but the landscape was totally reimagined. Trees were removed and more sand was exposed, and the course plays as an entirely new layout. It debuted at No. 42 on Golfweek’s Best recent ranking of the top 200 resort courses in the U.S.
The recently introduced Roost 18-hole course was designed by Mike Nuzzo and Franz, with Ran Morrissett serving as advisor and architect Rod Whitman having shaped the greens. It sits on the land formerly occupied by World Woods’ Rolling Oaks layout. The new course plays through rolling and sandy scrubland with 50 feet of elevation changes, and there’s a 40-foot-deep sinkhole in play.
Citrus Farms is also home to a nine-hole layout named The Squeeze, which offers a non-traditional mix of par 3s, 4s and 5s. Also popular is The Wedge, an 11-hole par-3 course that features speakers and low-profile lighting adjacent to the property’s high-tech driving range.
Cabot also is offering a mix of homes on the property, with prices starting at $1.8 million for cottages and $3.7 million for fairway homes. Accommodations for resort guests in rental cottages are available with prices starting at $1,250 a night through June 2025.
The property’s comfort stations, pro shop, sporting club, relaxation spot named The Porch and the Grange Hall dining and gathering area are all fully open, and more amenities such as tennis, pickleball, padel and pools are planned to open later this year.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida celebrates official grand opening
