Back
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. - Golf course design is in its Phil Spector era.
The producer-turned-murderer was famous for his "Wall of Sound" approach to music, where layers upon layers of instrumentation and vocals lent an epic and sometimes intentionally overwhelming cacophany that backed up the lyrics and melodies of the artists with whom he collaborated. This aesthetic philosophy produced some of the greatest and, sometimes, most polarizing songs and albums of one of popular music's most exciting periods.
Many of the buzziest new golf courses to open in recent years have been similarly loud and proud. Where Spector's acts had horn and chorus sections, these golf courses use huge fairway corridors and heaving greens alongside lavish displays of bunkering - call them "Walls of Sand" - and intricate mounds to wow and challenge visiting golfers.
Roost, located at Cabot Citrus Farms an hour north of Tampa, Florida, is the latest of these courses to open, excitedly throwing waves of ideas at golfers over the course of its 18 holes. And while it does sometimes turn the Volume knob below 11 - something the neighboring Karoo course virtually never does - the result is still intense, equally exhilarating and exhausting.
Using the tract of land of the former World Woods Golf Club's Rolling Oaks course, Roost comprises an almost unheard-of four-person collaborative effort on the design front. Mike Nuzzo took the lead, with input from Karoo architect Kyle Franz, Cabot Links architect Rod Whitman shaping the greens and GOLF Magazine architecture editor Ran Morrissett acting in a consulting capacity. All four names appear on the Roost scorecard - supergroup-style.
Although the Pine Barrens (now Karoo) course was always better-known, I liked Rolling Oaks better, finding it had the more interesting terrain, which original architect Tom Fazio used more effectively when World Woods was built in the early 1990s. With the Cabot Citrus Farms banner now flying, I feel the same way: Roost benefits from an almost ideal amount of rise and fall throughout its routing, mixing thrilling downhill tee shots that can travel massive distances thanks to firm turf conditions with some tricky uphill looks that add a club or two to several approaches, as well as occasional semi-blindness.
Roost may be less compulsively bunkered than Karoo, but sand is still a significant part of the challenge, especially early on in the round, where the first handful of holes look and feel as though they could be part of the other 18. Split-fairways greet the player from the outset and remain a theme throughout the round; Roost has six of them, compared to Karoo's eight. Bunker shapes and edge styles vary. Some are broad and relatively shallow, while others feature gnarled edges and even occasional wood bulkheading. They sit at strategic chokepoints at landing areas, creating tension in the mind of a golfer who sees wide corridors and wants to swing hard. Other sandy pits gobble up errant approaches near almost all greens.
The putting surfaces at Roost are mild only in comparison to the rumpled giants at Karoo. In absolute terms they are large, undulating and sometimes downright mean-spirited, especially given their extreme speed on the day GolfPass Managing Editor Jason Deegan and I visited. Given the combination of slickness and slope, the daily job of cutting hole locations is of paramount importance. Combined with the brilliant firmness of the turf some hole locations were placed such that certain greenside shots were impossible to get up and down, and the pin on 18 was cut into such a steep slope that a ball that crept up to the front edge of the cup would turn around and tumble eight feet backwards. Chalk this up to the newness of the course and a maintenance staff that is no doubt learning every day about how best to set it up for enjoyment, rather than frustration. Hearing that pace of play is near five hours for foursomes made us wonder whether the combination of green speed and hole locations might need further study.
Roost's best holes tend to be the more mild-mannered ones. The green complex of the short par-4 opening hole is a perfect introduction to the course: blind in front, with considerable forward tilt and about 15 yards of fairway short of the front edge acting as an on-ramp to the skinny putting surface. The dogleg-left par-5 9th bursts out of centuries-old live oaks onto a vista stretching hundreds of yards in three directions, with a long downhill glide to the green between bunkers and a lake. Two holes later, the three-shot 11th slides back uphill over a meandering dry barranca to a bunkerless green set into a hillside. The bunkerless dogleg-right 13th dares players to squeeze a tee shot between a live oak and a pond in order to shorten the approach. These less cluttered moments are where Roost shines brightest because they are where the golf course lets golfers exhale just enough to make a mistake.
By contrast, the 18th potentially leaves a bitter taste because not only is it the longest par 4 on the course, playing uphill into the afternoon sun to a wild, semi-blind green, but the tee shot feels like a game of Plinko where the golfer has to hope his or her tee shot makes it to safety through a minefield of bunkers and left-side lake. It feels like the golf course cramming three holes' worth of features into one; removing one fairway bunker would improve the hole dramatically.
Overall, though, when it fully opens in January, Roost will be the better of Cabot Citrus Farms' two 18-hole golf courses. Given 10 rounds to split between it and Karoo, I would play 6 on Roost. That said, The best single golf experience at Cabot Citrus Farms remains the stellar Squeeze course, Mike Nuzzo's nine-hole concept-album of drivable par 4s and a reachable par 5. In addition to more overnight accommodations, single-family homes and other amenities, more golf is on the horizon at Cabot Citrus Farms. Will its next release be another Spector-golf "Wall of Sand," or might it be a bit more unplugged? I can't wait to find out.
CABOT CITRUS FARMS (ROOST)
— Tim Gavrich (@TimGavrich) December 9, 2024
Brooksville, Fla.
Franz/Nuzzo/Whitman/Morrissett, 2024
$395
Course #661
Better & less manic than Karoo but often feels like it’s trying out multiple courses’ worth of ideas (most of them very good!) in 18 holes. Super-fast greens mean constant stress. https://t.co/4O3x2VEsRs pic.twitter.com/W5maNtl5gM
Comments (0)