Photos: Cabot buys World Woods in Florida as latest addition to a growing list of properties

World Woods Golf Club in Florida, designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 1993, has been acquired by Cabot, the owner and developer of two highly acclaimed courses in Nova Scotia and two new courses scheduled to open elsewhere in the next few years.

World Woods in Brooksville will continue to operate under that title this winter, then will be rebranded Cabot Citrus Farms. Renovations are planned to begin in spring of this year. Cabot has not announced which course designer or designers might be involved in turning the property into Cabot Citrus Farms for a 2023 reopening as the company’s first property in the United States.

World Woods is home to two 18-hole courses, Pine Barrens and Rolling Oaks, both of which have been ranked on Golfweek’s Best Top 200 Modern Courses list at various times since their opening almost 30 years ago. Pine Barrens at one point ranked in the top 50 modern courses in the U.S., but by 2021 it had fallen to No. 172 on that list and No. 5 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts. Rolling Oaks was No. 22 among public-access courses in Florida in 2021.

Pine Barrens at World Woods in Florida, which will be turned into Cabot Citrus Farms (Courtesy of Cabot/Evan Schiller)

The current rankings reflect the various states of conditioning and repair – sometimes disrepair – for the courses and facilities in recent decades.

But the bones and settings of the rolling, sandy layouts constructed by Fazio – with Pine Barrens at times described as inspired by Pine Valley, the No. 1 course on Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses in the U.S. – were never in doubt. Cabot plans to reimagine the entire 1,200-acre property about an hour’s drive north of Tampa and 90 minutes west of Orlando.

“I couldn’t wish for a better location for our first U.S. development,” Ben Cowan-Dewar, CEO of Cabot, said in a media release announcing the purchase. “The property is a nature lover’s paradise that rivals the most spectacular sites I’ve seen across the world. We are excited to build upon the amazing legacy established at World Woods and forge a new path for Cabot Citrus Farms as a vibrant golf and residential community that showcases the Sunshine State’s abundant natural offerings.”

The official announcement ended weeks of online chatter and excitement about the possibility of the acquisition. Well-traveled golfers and course-architecture fans have for years imagined the possibilities at World Woods, if only the right person or group were to invest. Cabot’s track record should have such players smiling.

Plans for Cabot Citrus Farms include the two 18-hole courses, a par-3 course and a putting course, plus a new clubhouse and practice facilities. As with all Cabot properties, real estate development is part of the plan. Cabot said in the media announcement that it also plans retail operations, restaurants, fitness and spa amenities, communal gathering points and a farmer’s market for Cabot Citrus Farms.

Cabot, co-founded by Cowan-Dewar and Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser, suddenly has a lot on its plate. The company owns Cabot Cape Breton, site of Cabot Cliffs and Cabot Links, the two highest-ranked courses on Golfweek’s Best Modern Canadian Courses list. The company plans to open Cabot St. Lucia, with 18 holes designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, this year in the Caribbean. The company also is building Cabot Revelstoke, an 18-hole layout by Rod Whitman scheduled to open in 2024, in the Monashee and Selkirk mountain ranges near the city of Revelstoke in British Columbia in western Canada.

Check out more photos of World Woods, before the acquisition, below.