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Here’s how Southern Hills has changed ahead of 2022 PGA Championship

Gil Hanse was tasked with a challenge of restoring an old golf course while preparing it to host future major championships.

TULSA, Okla. — Gil Hanse was tasked with a challenge.

Restoring an old golf course while preparing it to host future major championships. Southern Hills Country Club was his canvas.

The course is considered one of the best designs from Perry Maxwell, a world-renowned golf architect who also created Dornick Hills in Ardmore and Twin Hills in Oklahoma City.

Southern Hills was constructed during the Great Depression when a group of citizens in Tulsa raised $140,000 for a new country club. Local oil baron Waite Phillips donated a tract of land south of downtown.

Maxwell was known for creating golf courses as cost effective as possible, using contours of the land to shape holes and guide the property. That’s what he did with Southern Hills.

It opened in 1936 and quickly became a site for major golf tournaments. It hosted the 1946 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 1958 U.S. Junior Championship before the first men’s major, the 1958 U.S. Open, came to Tulsa.

Southern Hills PGA Championship — A flagstick at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Photo: Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

Half a century later, the 2007 PGA Championship came to town. Tiger Woods captured the 13th of his 15 major championships, and since, Southern Hills has gone through extensive changes.

Although the layout of the course is similar, Hanse’s renovation, which took 10 months and cost $11 million, changed the future of Southern Hills while bringing it back to its foundation.

The course is more prepared now for the modern era of golf to remain a viable championship host. It also more closely resembles Maxwell’s original design, from the bunkers to the greens and the hole layouts.

Come May 19-22, when the PGA Championship returns to Southern Hills for the fifth time, Hanse will find out if his work accomplished what he set out to do.

Hanse began consulting with Southern Hills in 2015. The club wanted to have its course challenge the best golfers in the world, and Hanse wanted to maintain Maxwell’s original design.

Between hosting the 2001 U.S. Open and 2007 PGA Championship, Southern Hills underwent renovations that included removing trees, expanding fairways and restoring greens.

Yet the property had waltzed far from its original intentions, which is what Hanse wanted to restore.

Work started with the greens, specifically the edges. The restoration before the 2007 PGA meant golf balls tended to funnel to the center of the greens from the edges. After Hanse’s changes, that wasn’t the case.

Hanse and his team stripped away the edges of the greens and restored edge conditions, meaning instead of a ball being funneled toward the center of the hole, a shot left on the outskirts would likely fall off.

That accomplished both of Hanse’s goals, making the greens more similar to Maxwell’s original design while strengthening the natural defense of the course. Golfers would be forced to think about numerous aspects of their approach shots, placing a premium on the angle and trajectory, among other things.

The greens also have a hydronics system underneath to help with heating and cooling.

The bunkers also changed extensively. They returned to more irregular patterns with manicured edges.

Hanse also restored creeks that originally ran across the 10th and 17th fairways, which in the 1930s remained mostly dry. Because of run-off from neighboring properties, Southern Hills receives plenty of water in its creeks in the modern day.

Some of the major hole changes are seen on the 1st and 7th.

On the first hole, bunkers were moved from the right to left side of the fairway, placing a premium on positioning off the elevated tee. With a green that slopes away from the fairway and to the left, the more left a tee shot is, the better angle for the approach shot.

This change gives players an added challenge. For the best chance at a strong approach shot, a tee shot hit closer to the left bunkers is required.

Originally, there were no fairway bunkers on the 1st, but they were added before the first U.S. Open in 1958.

The 7th has drastic changes. First, the green was moved back about 40 yards and to the right, with its right edge hugging a creek. There are also two bunkers left, placing a premium on a strong approach shot.

The lengthening of the hole also means more decisions to be made off the tee. Now at roughly 440 yards, players can no longer hit a wood or long iron off the tee and have a shot iron or wedge into the green. Any shots on the left side of the fairway will be on an uneven lie, with the ball wanting to go toward the water on approach.

Any tee shot to the right, though it will leave an easier approach shot, it could find trouble with the creek or trees.

The course will also play more than 300 yards longer than it did in 2007, coming it at nearly 7,500 yards.

The golf world got a preview of what the new Southern Hills is when it hosted the 2021 Senior PGA Championship last May. Even after a brutal two-week cold spell in February that resulted in the club having to re-turf plenty of grass because of winter kill, the tournament was a success, and the course stood out.

Yet its biggest test awaits with the return of Southern Hills eighth men’s major championship. It’s on that stage the world will see Hanse’s full renovation and restoration.

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Watch: Streamsong surprisingly different than anything else in Florida

Red, Blue or Black? When it comes to Streamsong in Florida, why choose?

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BOWLING GREEN, Fla. – What’s my favorite course at Streamsong? Red, Blue or Black?

Golfers at the popular resort, which turns 10 this year, are constantly reviewing that very question about the three courses that all rank among the top 20 resort courses in the United States. My stock answer: The next one. And I’ll defend that simplified response on the basis that I’ll gladly take a day at any of the three courses built by Gil Hanse, Tom Doak or the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.

There are noticeable differences between the layouts, but they are so tightly packed in the Golfweek’s Best rankings as to inevitably invite debate – that’s a big part of the fun. Ask me which you should play, and I’ll tell you to sample all three and get back to me.

Until you get that chance to visit the first time, or whether you’re a Streamsong veteran wanting to return, check out this video for a taste of golf that is different than anything else in the Sunshine State.

Short course is long on fun: Par-3 course Little Sandy opens on Florida coast

Little Sandy, a 10-hole par-three course near Jacksonville, brings another alternative golf facility to the area.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Golf at its best is a peaceful, sublime merging of nature and sport.

Indeed, entering the phrase “healing power of golf” on Google returns more than 19 million hits.

A small piece of land between A1A and the Atlantic Ocean on Amelia Island is one example of how golf can heal — especially old wounds.

The opening of Little Sandy this week, a 10-hole par-three course at the Omni Amelia Island Resort, not only brings another alternative golf facility to the First Coast but it has put to rest an acrimonious dispute between the resort and the Amelia Island Equity Club, more than four years after the abrupt closing of one of the two 18-hole courses on the property.

Both sides have moved forward and the gorgeous little jewel surrounding Red Maple Lake is the peacemaker.

“The membership is very happy with the layout by [designer] Beau Welling, the construction to MacCurrach Golf and the Omni’s efforts to put it all together,” said Mike Warfield, president of the Amelia Island Club. “For us, as members, we have access to a short course, really well-designed, that a lot of private clubs don’t get access to. I think it’s just spectacular.”

The course, named for its size (less than 30 acres) and being near the vast Amelia Island dunes, had its grand opening Tuesday, becoming the second alternative to an 18-hole golf course to open on the First Coast in two years.

The Yards, which evolved from the former Oak Bridge Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, opened in the fall of 2020 and has a nine-hole track and six par-3 holes.

The oldest par-3 course in the area is the Palm Valley Golf Club.

The opening of The Yards and now Little Sandy is part of a nationwide trend of golf clubs, resorts and municipalities seeking alternatives to the 18-hole, four-to-six hour golf experience that many players say is simply too much a drain on their leisure time.

About a third of the new golf courses that opened last year in the U.S. were par-3 facilities between six and 14 holes, according to the National Golf Foundation.

A golf experience in 60 minutes

Omni Amelia director of golf Jonathan Bridges said two players can tour Little Sandy’s 928 yards in an hour, and groups of six have done it in less than 90 minutes since the soft opening.

“They’re really enjoying it,” Bridges said. “It’s something very different.”

The holes range from the 42-yard ninth hole to the 115-yard first and 10th holes. The course is laid over the remnants of Nos. 7, 8, 17 and 18 of the old Ocean Links course, which was closed in November of 2017 by the resort without giving the equity club sufficient notice, a Nassau County judge later ruled.

The 10th green at “Little Sandy” is in nearly the same position as the 18th green of the Ocean Links course at the Omni Amelia Plantation. (Photo: Garry Smits/Florida Times-Union)

The 10th green, which is one of three holes with water in play, is more or less in the same position as the par-3 18th green of Ocean Links.

The course cost Omni $3.5 million. There was no assessment of the Amelia Island Club members, who have playing privileges at Oak Marsh and the Amelia Island Club at Long Point — the latter of which closed this week for renovation and will re-open in the fall.

Little Sandy has relatively large greens with dramatic contours, which allow for numerous pin positions. Players have the option on seven of the holes to run the ball up onto the green.

Rental sets are available, with a putter, three wedges and a 9-iron, but players may bring their own bag. Walking is required unless a player has a disability.

There is an 18-hole putting course that Warfield called “a real treat.”

Golfers want more options

Welling, based in Greenville, South Carolina, said like almost everything else involving leisure time, golfers want options that don’t involve a door-to-door experience that eats away a good part of the day.

“You look at society in general, we have so many options of how to use our time and our lives,” he said. “I grew up at a time when there were only three channels on TV. Now we don’t even watch TV on a TV. We don’t read a newspaper on paper. What we’re seeing is a desire of the golfer to have options in how they orient to golf.”

Welling said the increase of par-3 courses will help players get better at the key shots in golf — from 100 yards to the green.

“These kinds of facilities are stripping out a lot of shots people have a hard time playing and focus on the shots they have a chance of being successful with,” he said.

Little Sandy also has a number of amenities that range from charming to functional to amusing.

Each tee marker has four cup holders, so players can carry their beverages from hole to hole. There is also a beach umbrella and two lounge chairs at each tee.

The putting green has a half-dozen Adirondack chairs.

Small speakers strategically located near the tees and greens play music. A small pro shop carries the rental sets, balls, tees, divot tools and ball markers, as well as a selection of apparel. The course is an easy walk from Bob’s Steak and Chop House and other dining and beverage options within the Resort Shopping Village, so it will be easy to arrange 10 holes of golf at Little Sandy around breakfast, lunch or dinner.

And if players run out of ammo, there is a large gum ball machine behind the ninth tee that dispenses pink golf balls.

Little Sandy is a natural fit within the family-oriented vibe of the resort. Welling said he walked onto the course last week and saw a resort guest teaching his young daughter how to putt, with her two toddler brothers doing somersaults on the putting green.

“I thought, ‘that’s what we’re trying to do here,'” Welling said. “It’s all about family.”

Little Sandy mends hard feelings

Little Sandy seems to be an adequate compromise to the closing of Ocean Links, the first design on the First Coast by World Golf Hall of Fame architect Pete Dye, in collaboration with Bobby Weed. Dye also designed Oak Marsh.

The resort closed Ocean Links on Nov. 12, 2017, a day after it was still taking tee times, and began bulldozing the three holes along the ocean — hours after an email was sent to equity club members informing them of the closing.

At the time, the resort claimed the members had not lived up to an agreement that called for it to provide 10,000 rounds annually at Ocean Links and Oak Marsh, with a minimum of 3,000 at Ocean Links, in addition to the resort rounds generated by vacationers.

The Equity Club’s suit claimed Omni Amelia Island LLC broke a long-standing agreement to operate two golf courses with a private membership as well as resort play, dating back to 2010 when Omni bought the property as part of a bankruptcy case involving the original owners.

The bulldozers began work under police protection. Work halted two days later under an injunction granted by Judge Steven Fahlgren — who blasted the resort in his ruling.

“The Agreement does not permit Omni to unilaterally close the Ocean Links golf course, but rather requires the Club’s written consent to do so,” Fahlgren wrote. “Omni destroyed the Ocean Links golf course without notice, and in a manner to accomplish the destruction before the Club had an opportunity to obtain judicial relief. Florida law will not permit Omni to benefit from this misconduct.”

Equity club attorney Steven Busey told the Florida Times-Union at the time, “The Omni’s sudden closure of the Ocean Links course was the product of Omni’s arrogance, greed and disdain for contractual obligations.”

Fahlgren ordered the resort to re-open Ocean Links but too much of the seaside holes had been bulldozed by then (it’s now open green space for resort guests and residents) and Little Sandy became the compromise.

The harsh language surrounding the Ocean Links closing is now conciliatory on both sides.

“I’m not going to contrast and compare the situation,” Warfield said. “I can only say this: we’re very happy with this course. I can’t speak for all the residents but I think they’re looking out on it and saying, ‘Wow, this is attractive.’ It’s going to help home values. It’s been a real positive experience.”

Theo Schofield, the Omni managing director, has only been at the Amelia Island Resort for just about a year and believes there is real harmony over the opening of Little Sandy. The resort hosted an opening for the equity club members last week and he’s pleased with their reaction.

“They’re very excited about it,” he said. “I think they’re really excited about having another option to play.”

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Golf architecture: The ‘Great Hazard’ undergoes a renaissance, with modern designers rethinking, restoring classical cross bunkers

Modern designers are restoring and often rethinking Great Hazards, those giant cross bunkers with oversized impact on strategy.

One of early American golf architecture’s most dramatic design features is being reinvigorated for the modern game.

Inner-circle Hall of Fame architect A.W. Tillinghast pioneered the “Great Hazard,” a massive expanse of wasteland usually set in the middle of a par 5. He often coupled this with a smaller but still gnarly bunker complex at the front of the green. In combination, this system demands a series of great shots, whether the player is going for the green in two, three or even four strokes.

The smallest imprecision off the tee forces the player to recalculate the odds all along the way. Four shots, including a punch-out and back-to-back layups, may be required to hopscotch up to the green. The overconfident player who mismanages the percentages could be in for a huge number.

But over the past century, players and equipment have evolved to the point that many of the original Great Hazards no longer threaten the tactical headlocks their creator intended. Longer hitters simply blast over the wasteland to set up an approach with a lofted club over the greenside bunker complex.

That’s why architect Gil Hanse, who has restored about a half-dozen Tillinghast designs in New York and New Jersey, made major changes to No. 17 on Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. Hanse moved the network of fairway-interrupting bunkers and tall-grass islands downrange some 40 yards,  with the leftmost portion potentially gobbling drives and the rightmost path offering the most aggressive line to the green. Either way, it’s a big carry out of or over the hazard.

“When you have big hazards, they ask big questions,” Hanse said. “They ask you to make big decisions. In this day and age, accomplished golfers were able to drive it into the (Great Hazard). That’s why the shift occurred. If you get out of position, now the positioning of the hazard is you have to hit a monumentally good shot to get over.”

Indeed, be anywhere but perfect and you’re blocked out and hitting sideways, setting up a third shot with a long iron or wood, uphill to a raised, multi-tiered green with intimidating bunkers in front and left. Throw in three bunkers that protect the second layup area, and it makes a hole the pros might not often birdie when the PGA Championship returns to Baltusrol in 2029.

Hanse said the original hazard at Baltusrol had become smaller over time. He used Tillinghast’s plans and photos from the early years to reestablish the scale and dimensions of the original work, but he moved it to the new, more strategically demanding position.

The Great Hazard on. No. 17 on Baltusrol’s Lower Course (Courtesy of Baltusrol/Evan Schiller)

“Moving the Great Hazard exemplified Gil Hanse’s statement of a ‘sympathetic restoration,’ ” said Baltusrol club president Matt Wirths, who worked closely with Hanse on the exacting details of the project. “It restored a signature design element of a Tillinghast course, but in a way that recognizes the changes that have taken place since the original hole was built.”

And it’s not just Baltusrol. Great Hazard holes are being rediscovered, reinvented and stiffened at courses around the country.

Firm, healthy new Bermuda grass greens await ANWA field at Champions Retreat

New Bermuda greens should provide firm and fast challenges at Champions Retreat for the ANWA.

The field in this year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur face a new challenge in this year’s first two rounds at Champions Retreat: fresh and firm Bermuda grass greens.

Champions Retreat in Evans, Georgia – just less than a 30-minute drive from the gates of Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters – installed new putting surfaces in 2021, replacing heat-sensitive and disease-prone bent grass with the TifEagle strain of Bermuda grass.

Cameron Wiebe, general manager of Champions Retreat, said the new putting surfaces have grown in incredibly well and will provide improved, consistent and healthy putting surfaces for the ANWA and for club members throughout the year. The first two rounds of the ANWA are March 30-31 at Champions Retreat before the tournament moves to Augusta National for a practice round April 1 and the final competitive round April 2.

“We couldn’t be more pleased” with how the greens grew in, Wiebe said. “We’re looking forward to a very good week for the ANWA.”

The greens on the 27 holes at Champions Retreat – which features distinct nines designed by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player – had featured bent grass since the club opened in 2005. But bent grows best in cool climates, and the warm, frequently wet summers in northern Georgia created extreme challenges. Wiebe said heavy rains followed by five days of 100-degree-plus temperatures in 2020 proved too much for the bent, with the club losing 30 percent of its putting surfaces.

The bent greens were repaired for the 2021 ANWA, but the putting surfaces clearly needed to be replaced to provide superior conditions not only for the ANWA but for Champions Retreat members year-round. By contrast, Augusta National Golf Club features bent greens, but the Masters host course is closed during the summer while those famous greens are protected and given a rest.

“Obviously, growing bent grass in Augusta, Georgia, 12 months a year isn’t the easiest thing to do, and I have the gray hair to prove it,” said Wiebe, who joined the staff at Champions Retreat when new ownership acquired the club in 2014. “We were starting to see some susceptibility to disease. … In 2020, late that summer, it became evident to us that our time was up and that we needed to make a decision as to what we wanted to do and when we wanted to do it.”

After much research, Wiebe and his team chose to replace the bent with TifEagle, which was developed in Tifton, Georgia, and has proved to be more disease-resistant while providing excellent putting surfaces throughout the South over the past 25 years. Replacement efforts began in May of 2020, with greens being sprigged one nine at a time. All 27 greens – plus several practice greens – at the club were regrassed by October that year. The greens on the Island nine by Palmer and the Bluff nine by Nicklaus, which comprise the 18-hole layout for the ANWA, were completed first and had the most time to grow in.

“Ten days after they put the sprigs in, you look at it and think, there’s no way that’s growing,” Wiebe said. “Then all of a sudden, they start to pull these layers back and sure enough it’s all growing underneath. It’s an amazing transformation.”

Wiebe said the greens were reconstructed to within an eighth of an inch of their original design. Over the decades since the club opened, the greens had changed in places. As players hit greenside bunker shots, sand would fly onto the putting surfaces, slowly increasing the size of knobs and affecting the slopes near the edges of the greens. Wiebe said that reconstructing the slopes to original specifications decreased the unintended severity of some slopes and provided more area in which to cut holes.

“What we’re seeing are some subtle changes,” Wiebe said. “Maybe before where you would see (the aiming point for) a putt being one ball outside the hole, now it’s closer to the edge. We actually found them to be a little flatter now. … The feedback from our members, you can certainly see that’s they are the same greens with just a little less contour. Actually, that isn’t such a bad thing, because with TifEagle we are able to create and maintain a little more speed and maintain it through the year, as opposed to us having more of that fluctuation seasonally because of the heat.”

Besides improved health and quicker potential putting speeds, the newness of the greens has one other consideration: firmness. Historically, the greens at Champions Retreat rolled about 12.1 or 12.2 on the Stimpmeter for the ANWA, Wiebe said, but the new and firm greens likely will provide larger bounces on incoming shots for this year’s opening two rounds. Wiebe said the club will hand-water the greens and do everything necessary to make sure the greens are still receptive to a well-struck shot.

“We will give the players the best chance to highlight the players, not the club and the greens,” Wiebe said. “This year is going to be challenging for the players, but these new greens surfaces are really healthy. There’s just not a lot of organic material beneath the surface to receive the shot yet. But these players are so talented, they are highly skilled at being able to control their spin and get the ball to stop.”

All the work is nothing new since 2015. In 2017 the club installed Better Billy Bunker Lining to improve drainage and playability, and in 2018 through ’19 the club focused on drainage throughout. The encroachment of trees has been addressed continuously with a focus on opening new vistas while providing better airflow with less shade to promote overall turf health for the Bermuda grass fairways and roughs.

“We learned very quickly that you either have forest or have quality playing surfaces, but you can’t have both,” Wiebe said. “… Since the change of ownership in 2014, we have been diligent and committed to the improvement process, and every year we work on it.”

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Check the yardage book: Austin Country Club for the PGA Tour’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

See StrackaLine’s hole-by-hole maps of the layout designed by Pete Dye alongside the Colorado River in Texas.

Austin Country Club’s current course in Texas, host site of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, was designed by Pete Dye and opened in 1984.

Built on the shores of the Colorado River, it has been the host site of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play since 2016. Austin Country Club was founded in 1899, but the club moved from one course to another before Dye built the club its third course.

The current course ties for No. 5 in Texas on Golfweek’s Best list of private clubs. It also ties for No. 88 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern courses built in or after 1960 in the U.S.

Austin Country Club will play to 7,108 yards with a par of 71 on the scorecard for the Match Play.

One of the most interesting holes on the course each year is the short, drivable par-4 13th. Listed at 317 yards from the back tees but playing shorter for players who take on the challenge, the hole gives Tour pros the chance to drive the green, which is all carry over water. Or players can lay up with a mid-iron to the fairway, leaving a wedge into the green. The risky option can be incredibly tempting to these players who have plenty of length to aim at the tiny target from the tee.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week. Check out the maps of each hole below.

Check the yardage book: Innisbrook Copperhead for the Valspar Championship

Check out hole-by-hole maps of the Larry Packard layout that has been the site of the PGA Tour event since 2000.

Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida – site of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship – was designed by Larry Packard and opened in 1970.

Host site of the Valspar Championship since 2000, Copperhead ranks No. 9 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts. It also ties for No. 88 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of top resort courses in the United States.

Copperhead will play to 7,340 yards with a par of 71 for the Valspar Championship.

Valspar: Thursday tee times | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

Check the yardage book: TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course for the 2022 Players Championship

How long is the famed No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass? See that and all the rest of the holes for the Players Championship.

The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, site of this week’s Players Championship on the PGA Tour, was designed by Pete Dye – with help from his wife, Alice, most noticeably on the famed island-green, par-3 17^th. It opened in 1980 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and has been home to the Tour’s flagship tournament since 1982.

The Players Stadium Course ranks No. 1 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts. It also ties for No. 12 on Golfweek’s Best list for all public-access courses in the U.S., and it ties for No. 21 on Golfweek’s Best list of all modern courses opened in or after 1960 in the U.S.

The course will play to 7,256 yards with a par of 72 for the Players Championship.

Watch: Drone video of all 18 holes at Bay Hill, home of the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Check out these videos shot by Golfweek videographer Gabe Gudgel, who flew a drone over all 18 holes.

Bay Hill Club & Lodge, site of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour, was designed by Dick Wilson and opened in 1961. Arnold Palmer took over a lease on the property in 1970, bought it in 1975 and tweaked the course multiple times over the years.

The site of a Tour event since 1979, Bay Hill ranks No. 8 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts. It also ties for No. 70 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of resort courses in the U.S.

Bay Hill will play to 7,381 yards with a par of 72 for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Check out these videos shot by Golfweek videographer Gabe Gudgel, who flew a drone over all 18 holes.

Cabot selects course designers to renovate the former World Woods in Florida

Younger designers have chance to shine on their own at Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida.

Cabot, the developer and operator of several golf resorts around the world, has selected the golf architects who will tackle the Canadian company’s latest venture in Florida – and several younger designers have a chance to shine.

Kyle Franz and the team of Keith Rhebb and Riley Johns will renovate the two 18-hole courses at Cabot Citrus Farms, the former World Woods, an hour’s drive north of Tampa. Cabot also tagged Mike Nuzzo to build a short course, a new nine-hole course and the practice facilities.

There had been much speculation among golf architecture fans of who might land the jobs to redesign the two 18-hole layouts originally built by Tom Fazio nearly 30 years ago. Cabot announced in January that it had purchased the 1,200-acre property with plans to reimagine the entire experience. Those initiatives include real estate development, retail operations, restaurants, fitness and spa amenities, communal gathering points and a farmer’s market.

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

Cabot, co-founded by Ben Cowan-Dewar and Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser, also 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.

Franz will tackle the renovation of the Pine Barrens 18 at the former World Woods, which at one point was ranked by Golfweek’s Best among the top 50 modern courses in the U.S. but by 2021 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.

“Cabot Citrus Farms is going to be an extraordinary destination, and we are thrilled to be a part of this effort,” Franz said in a statement announcing the news. “Our goal for Pine Barrens is to take its dramatic, sandy land and maximize it into one of the most spectacular golf courses in the region and country.

“In our view, the perfect formula for Pine Barrens combines rugged sandscapes and vegetation that meld with the natural topography, classical contouring and creative short-grass recovery shots around the greens, wider corridors of play and multiple strategic routes to the pin, fascinating grassing patterns and varied tee box placements so that players get a fresh look at the different options every time they tee it up.”

Franz worked for years for famous designers such as Tom Doak, Gil Hanse and the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. His solo efforts in recent years include such highly acclaimed courses as Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Southern Pines – all near Pinehurst, North Carolina – and the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis.

Rhebb and Johns will renovate the Rolling Oaks 18, which ranked No. 22 among Florida’s public-access layouts in 2021. The pair has worked for years on projects with Coore and Crenshaw, and their independent efforts include the much-heralded Winter Park Country Club near Orlando, Point Grey Golf and Country Club in Vancouver and the new Bootlegger par-3 course at Forest Dunes in Michigan. Rhebb, in particular, has spent much of the past two years working for Coore and Crenshaw at the new Cabot Saint Lucia.

Nuzzo’s largest success has been Wolf Point Ranch, which Golfweek’s Best ranks as No. 7 among private courses in Texas. As with all the architects selected to rework the former World Woods, he expressed his excitement to work in such a sandy site that allows for extreme creativity.

“Both the site and the client are essential to creating a special golf course,” he said in the media release announcing the designers. “With Cabot Citrus Farms, we have the best of both worlds, a natural sandy site and an innovative, forward-thinking client. Having fewer traditional golf constraints for our portion of the project presents an extra layer of opportunity for creativity. We’re looking forward to seeing the whole project come together!”

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