I have had a couple of inquiries from the West Coast regarding the state of golf in Maine, so I am pleased to announce that the Sunday River Golf Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and many years in the pipeline, finally opened for play this year in Newry.
My first impression is that Sunday River is the most scenic course I have ever played. It is located on a plateau just north of the ski mountains, it is surrounded by mountains, and a great many trees have been chopped down to glorify these views. The course is vast and grand, but its aesthetic, especially the built-up tee boxes and waste areas, is very subdued and muted, and blends into the mountains and forest.
My second impression is one of a roller coaster thrill ride. There are but two flat holes at Sunday River - the rest is a heaving, surging, cart-ride enhanced trip across some terrain that would seem severe if the fairways were not so enormous. The course has something "extreme" about it.
The course is very difficult. We played in fifty degree temperatures with a sustained twenty mile per hour wind (note to USGA - please do not roll back the ball!). It is one of those courses that is so large that it just swallows up your approach shot. Many unven stances, difficult club selections due to elevation and wind, and giant three-puttable greens. The tips, which we sure as hell did not play in those conditions, are for the most part not built up like the other tees, a design feature that I really like.
Finally, the shot values and the options are there in spades. All of the par fives are reachable (not all on the same day!), the fairway bunkering is relevant, the greens have nice interior contours and steep dropoffs here and there and the extreme width of the fairways has strategic implications.
Overall, a wonderful course that blew away my expectations.