Golfing

When it comes to teeing off in Maine, it’s not just about playing great courses—it’s also about enjoying stunning views. Maine’s more than 130 golf courses offer a relaxed way to spend time on the green – across the state, from 9-hole to 18-hole courses – Maine is truly a golfer’s paradise.

According to Golf Digest, the  Belgrade Lakes Golf Club is one of America’s 100 best public golf courses, where the gorgeous panoramic views of the Belgrade Lakes meld with the creative course. And to the north, you can play in two countries at once at the  Aroostook Valley Country Club where three holes border Canada.

Golf in the Mountains

Nestled in the mountains, both  Sunday River and Sugarloaf  ski resorts have award-winning golf courses – no place may be more beautiful in the autumn for a round of golf. At the Sugarloaf Golf Club, the jaw-dropping views from the 11th tee, which take in the river-edged fairway 125 feet below, backed by the Bigelow Mountain Range, are rivaled only by those from the 10th tee. The forested, Robert Trent Jones-designed 18-hole mountain course at Sunday River is prized for its elevated White Mountains’ Mahoosuc Range views. In Rangeley, tee off from the 11th hole at Mingo Springs, for a birds-eye panorama over Rangeley and Mooselookmeguntic lakes.

Thanks to its natural geography, a section of Dedham comprising Phillips Lake and a cluster of peaks earned the nickname the Switzerland of America. Golfers playing the Donald Ross-designed Lucerne Golf Course, named one of the best nine-holers in America by Golf Digest, enjoy those views.

The front nine at Va Jo Wa Golf Club, in Island Falls, teases easy-on-the-eyes Pleasant Lake, but the back nine, sited high on a plateau, delivers arresting long-distance vistas to Katahdin, Maine’s tallest peak.

Tee and Sea

Fall foliage and  ocean views—that’s a marriage made in golf heaven.

It’s water, water everywhere at the Samoset Resort Golf Course, in Rockport, where seven of the 18 championship holes hug island-studded Penobscot Bay and another 14 have ocean views. Every hole at Winter Harbor’s nine-hole Grindstone Neck Golf Club, founded in 1891, delivers dreamy ocean views of Frenchman Bay and its famed pink granite-sculpted shorelines. Seeking a challenge? At Sebasco Harbor Resort’s nine-hole seaside Shore Acres Golf Course, the approach to the 145-yard, par 3, second hole varies with the tide. Although the 18-hole Boothbay Harbor Country Club isn’t on the ocean, the sea breezes play through the Bruce Hepner redesign.

Too many choices? The Maine State Golf Association  also has an extensive list of courses in the state.

Mini Golf

Fun for the whole family, Maine has wonderful and unique mini golf courses. Visit Freeport’s tiny desert for 18 holes at the Desert of Maine! Mini golf among dinosaurs at Raptor Falls in Arundel or grab a cone of Maine-made ice cream and play mini golf at Gifford’s in Waterville. Or throw on a pair of Chromadepth 3D glasses and enjoy an indoor 3D blacklight game at Jungle Adventures in Old Orchard Beach!

And for your little golfers, Maine has wonderful day camps each summer to develop your child’s best game with PGA instructors.