Inside Cabot Citrus Farms, the most un-Florida of Florida resorts

Play enough golf in Florida and you come to learn what a lot of it is like: flat, palm-fringed fairways, condos, cart paths, repeat. The stereotypes are stubborn for a reason. But they hold no sway at Cabot Citrus Farms. 

A destination resort on Florida’s Nature Coast, a region historically rich in orange groves, Cabot Citrus Farms sits on a rolling, sandy canvas of pines, palmettos and moss-draped oaks. The atmosphere is upscale but understated. The amenities are modern but the property has a an unhurried, throwback air. And the golf is a blend of classic and contemporary, a showcase of the game in all its beauty and variety unlike any in the Sunshine State.

WATCH “48 HOURS AT CABOT CITUS FARMS” HERE:

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Anchoring it all are four courses, two of which — the Roost and the Karoo — are 18-hole layouts that offer a compelling study in contrasts. The Roost is more traditional in inspiration. A rare collaboration of three architects from different firms (Mike Nuzzo, Kyle Franz and Rod Whitman, with input from GOLF’s former architecture editor Ran Morrissett), it moves lightly on a lilting landscape, with broad, bouncy corridors and rustic bunkering that calls to mind the Sandbelt work of Alister MacKenzie. The Karoo is something of a wilder sibling, cut through sandy wastes and scrubby vegeration, with heaving, mounded fairways that shrug shots in all directions and huge, dramatically contoured greens. Frannz, who designed it solo, describes it as “adventure golf.”

If the Roost and the Karoo are all the golf that you can eat, the Squeeze and the Wedge serve up the game in bite-size portions. Both are short courses — the former a charming, 10-hole collection of par-3s and par-4s, the latter a 19-hole par-3 course that’s demanding enough for a bet-settling match but just as well-suited to a barefoot round with cocktails in hand. Like the state-of-the-practice practice range and short game area, the Wedge is also illuminated for nighttime play.

As its name suggests, Cabot Citrus Farms is part of the Cabot portfolio, a collection of golf and real estate developments that was born in Nova Scotia, with Cabot Cape Breton, and has since expanded from Canada to the Caribbean, Scotland and beyond. In keeping with its brand, Citrus Farms abounds in off-course extras. Dining options run the gamut from farm-to-table cuisine at Grange Hall, a centerpiece restaurant that’s open for breakfast lunch and dinner, to wood-fired pizzas at the Porch, an outdoor hangout at a high point on the property, furnished with picnic tables and Adirondack chairs.

The surrounding property, meanwhile, invites a range of non-golf activities, too: hiking, biking, skeet shooting, archery, ax-throwing, bass fishing, and on, though there’s no local rule against just kicking back with buddies over drinks.

On a recent trip Cabot Citrus farms, GOLF.com sampled it all, experiencing the courses, cuisine, accommodations, and more at a Florida destination unlike any other. For an in-depth account of our visit, check out the YouTube video above.