Cover Story
Two Fabulous BOYNE Golf Properties Await in Maine
By TOM LANDERS had the opportunity to visit the Sunday River and Sugarloaf resorts early this fall and came away duly impressed with two of the best courses in New England, both set amid the wild beauty and laid back living western Maine offers to visitors. Boyne Golf, which has a splendid cache of resorts and golf courses in Michigan, acquired Sunday River and Sugarloaf last year. Special Play and Stay packages are available, allowing you to experience both properties, as well as Belgrade Lakes (not a Boyne Golf property) in Belgrade as an option. A nice golf vacation would be a two-day stay at Sunday River followed by a similar length stay at Sugarloaf with a round of golf at Belgrade Lakes thrown in as one travels between the two Boyne Golf properties. Tucked into the unspoiled landscape of western Maine near the Mahoosuc Mountain Range is one of the best golf courses ever designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., Sunday River Golf Club.
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Since it opened in 2005, the track has won raves from reviewers and recreational golfers alike for its beauty, superb routing and challenging holes. In fact, Jones, Jr. has said that Sunday River was one of his most pleasurable undertakings to date. The course sits on a hillside and offers sweeping views across the Sunday River Valley to the Mahoosuc Mountain Range. I had the pleasure of playing a round with head pro Jerry Roman, who gave me the lowdwn onn this special layout. “Sunday Rier is an excellent routing with generous fairways that make the holes approchable for all players. It’s playable for the mid- to highhandicap golfer, with plenty of challenge for the single-digit handicapper.” Jerry told me that driver is usually never out of your hands on the tee boxes and can be employed on almost every par-four and parfive. “The shorter your approach shots, the better your chance you have to score here,” he said. “Bring your best putting stroke, the greens are slopped and can be quick. You
First Hole at Sunday River Golf Club 8 8
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can find yourself over-reading breaks. Pick the right line and they run true.” Jones worked his magic and incorporated the natural terrain and its various physical features into the design of Sunday River, which plays over 7,000 yards from the tips and is rated as one of the toughest layouts in the Northeast. Each hole is pleasingly selfcontained and there are numerous elevation changes as the course winds up and down the hillside. There is no water to speak of and both the fairways and greens are generous. But there are lots of bunkers and forced carries over waste areas that demand precision off the tees and on approaches to the undulating putting surfaces. The par-threes, several of them playing from dramatically elevated tees, as well as the par-fives, are a strength of Sunday River. The 499-yard par-five first hole sets a stunning tone for the remainder of the round. The fairway runs downhill to the green and the putting surface can be reached in two shots, providing you play your ball
