What it’s like to play golf in the dark at Cabot Citrus Farms

Every golfer knows the thrill of chasing the sun, the time-honored practice of squeezing more holes before the day fades away forever.

I would like to recommend a younger tradition: playing golf after sunset, when the other stars come out.

This is not something you can just do anywhere. Even with a clear sky and a full moon, night golf is dependent on artificial light. Such on-course extras are relatively common in golf-crazed, land-strapped countries like Korea, where unmet demand pervades in the evenings, and in desert climates where no one wants to play while the sun sets.

But here in the US? Night wave is gaining popularity, but is more difficult to obtain. There is one place where you can find it Cabot citrus farms.

Citrus Farms, a destination resort on Florida’s Natural Coast about an hour north of Tampa, offers a sunrise-to-sunset golf banquet, with two full 18 holes, the Roost and the Karoo, and a pair of short courses, The Squeeze and The Wedge. The Squeeze has 10 holes ranging from 100 to 550 meters. The Wedge, on the other hand, has an 11-hole par-3 layout and is the only course on site designed to come alive after dark.

That’s where I found myself not long ago, walking into the twilight with a colleague. Since it was cocktail hour, we brought a few drinks along, along with a small tube of clubs stuffed into the lightweight carrying bags that come with your green fee. There is no need to carry a full set with you on such an outing. If you find yourself grinding, you’re wrong. Night wave is intended to go to quiet mode.

You know those blinding floodlights used to illuminate roadside construction projects? The Wedge doesn’t have that. The greens and tees have a soft, golden glow, just enough to show you exactly what you need. At first the shadows may be playing games. Is that really a ball between your feet, or a glittering phantom? But it only takes a moment for your eyes to adjust, and a few swings to recognize that you’re playing the same game you’ve always loved, freed from the pressure that so often nags you.

That’s essentially the beauty of night golf. Once the sun sets, expectations drop with it and only the joys of the game remain. There is no score to protect. No pace to maintain. No idea you should be anywhere else. Just the feeling that you can get away with something, but you are not guilty of anything.

Our round flew by. By the time we were done, cocktail hour had given way to dinner time, which seemed about right. Night wave is gravy. It also fits neatly with the game’s shift in form away from convention and towards more relaxed forms: shorter courses, looser structures and experiences built less around tradition than around pure enjoyment. Call it golf for a younger generation, except it is accessible to everyone. The Wedge is an example of that, day and night. As the kids might say, the track is lighted. Literal.