World Woods - Pine Barrens (See Cabot Citrus Farms)

World Woods Pine Barrens is now Cabot Citrus Farms.

Most top-notch courses in the USA are set aside for the exclusive use of club members and their guests but we take our hat off to Yukihisa Inoue, the president of World Woods. His philosophy, and hence the name behind his corporation, is the provision of world-class golf for all to play. The 1993 Tom Fazio-designed Pine Barrens course at the World Woods Resort is therefore a triumph for the people, along with its sophisticated next-door neighbour, Rolling Oaks.

Joe Black, past President of the PGA of America, said: "This is like having Pine Valley and Augusta, plus the best practice facility in the world - in the same location." We think Black got slightly carried away but World Woods is genuinely a high-class golf resort which will put a huge tick in the box of every avid golfer.

The World Woods' mission statement is “to provide the greatest experience that our guests have ever encountered at a golf facility in regard to golf course conditioning, service, professionalism and overall staff knowledge and to thereby become the #1 golf facility in Florida.” Recently, the mission statement has been revised from "Florida" to the "USA". It’s an admirable target but a huge ask.

Pine Barrens is a course that is at once attractive but also frightening and we can see what Joe Black meant when he mentioned the similarity to Pine Valley. The fairways at Pine Barrens are naturally pine-lined with huge expanses of sand, almost waste-like bunkering. Carved through a pine forest this is not a course for the wayward driver, keep the ball in play and you might card a decent score.

In Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses You Can Play book by Brian McCallen, the author thinks the course “looks far more intimidating from the tees than it actually plays. There’s room galore to drive the ball, but approach shots must be pinpointed to well-protected greens laced with bold, provocative contours, greens that are slick (especially from above the hole) but not terrifying in their speediness.

“The first hole, a straightaway par four, signals the layout’s intentions. From an elevated tee, a player’s attention is drawn to a large sand pit on the left side and a long sandy trench up the right side. The small, crowned green slopes away on all sides. As opening holes go, it is as pure and fair as they come.

“The back nine at Pine Barrens builds in drama and interest. The long par four 12th, rated the toughest hole on the course, has a pair of alternative and quite different greens to play to, but it’s the short par four 15th that stick in the memory of most pilgrims. Under 300 yards from the middle tees, this exquisite gem offers a safe route to the left, or, to the right, a risky carry over a water-filled ravine fringed by sand and long grass.”

At the start of 2022, it was announced that World Woods Golf Club had been purchased by the Cabot development group, to renovate the 45-hole public facility and rename it Cabot Citrus Farms. The complex was to shut for around 18 months, allowing the course work to be accrued out, along with constructing accommodation, a new clubhouse, and a spa/fitness centre.