en Cowan Dewar developed a passion for golf early on and fueled his wanderlust by reading the World Golf Atlas. He partnered with Mike Keiser of Bandon Dunes fame to launch his first Cabot creation along the northern coast of Nova Scotia in Cape Breton. Cabot Links was named after the explorer John Cabot who landed there after 50 days at sea in 1497. Ben added Cabot Cliffs, ranked 10 in the world by Golf Digest, and a short course called The Nest for a golf trifecta there.
The Cabot Collection has since grown with Highland Links in Scotland, site of the former Castle Stuart Course and St. Lucia by the Caribbean Sea. While Revelstoke is in the works in the Canadian Rockies, the first U.S. golf site opened in January to preview play.
The Floridian marvel is Cabot Citrus Farms, formerly World Woods. Two courses by Tom Fazio already claimed honors there but Ben knew they could be better and brought a time-tested team to reimagine the courses and property.
Kyle Franz reinvented Fazio’s original Pine Barrens course, now named Karoo for the sound of the regal sandhill cranes frequently seen strutting their stuff. Kyle started his career with Tom Doak at Bandon and shared that on Karoo, he was going for a little Pinehurst 2 and a little St. Andrews’ link style. He uses a sandy strip trick from Mackenzie to make it look harder than it really is. His playful greens are tricky too, especially on number 16 where a cylindrical cauldron in the front center gives new meaning to the term undulation.
Cabot Citrus Farms is an inland site with water on only one hole. A pond flanks No. 3, a par 3 making it the number one handicap hole. In contrast, there is plenty of beachy sand everywhere. In fact, traversing with golf carts is like sand surfing. At first glance, Karoo might conjure Lawrence of Arabia and Hannibal Lecter in a battle of dunes and berms, but since the sand is considered waste area, not bunker, grounding your club provides an advantage. More
