Recently named one of the Top 10 New Courses of 2005 by Travel + Leisure Golf Magazine out of a worldwide field, the Sunday River Golf Club is preparing for its first full season of open play. The course was also honored when Golfweek ranked it the No. 1 public course in Maine.
The front nine of the Robert Trent Jones, Jr. course opened in May of 2005, with the full 18 following in August. The course is slated to open for the 2006 season in May.
“For a long time, Sugarloaf has been regarded as one of New England’s mountain golf jewels,” says Jeff Bickford, Sunday River Golf Club’s director of golf. “Sunday River Golf Club brings another world class course to Maine – one that’s getting rave reviews literally all over North America and further establishing western Maine as a must-play golf destination.”
The course has 18 self-contained fairways that the Maine State Golf Association said are “among the widest in Maine.” There are four sets of tees on each hole and plenty of doglegs, bunkers and elevation changes. It was named the most “highly anticipated” new golf course by the former New England Journal of Golf and was placed in Golf Styles Boston’s “Top 100 Must Play Courses in New England” list.
Jones, Jr. has designed courses around the world, including the Links at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach, Calif. The course at Sunday River’s sister resort, Sugarloaf/USA, is also a Trent Jones, Jr. design.
Stretching 7,130 yards from the tips, Sunday River occupies 350 acre sites on a northwest-facing hillside. The venue offers panoramas of the Sunday River Valley and the Mahoosuc Mountain Range.
The clubhouse is made of log and stone and features a deck with sweeping views, an indoor/outdoor stone fireplace, a stone-faced bar, woodcarvings and Old Hickory furniture. A full practice facility includes a driving range with multiple target greens, and an expansive putting green adjacent to the clubhouse.
Stay and Play Packages start at $125 per person per night and include an 18-hole round with cart and lodging in either of Sunday River’s Jordan Grand or Grand Summit Resort Hotels. Various membership options are available. All options include reciprocal play benefits at other Harris Golf facilities around Maine, including Boothbay Country Club, also a regular show on Golf Styles Boston’s “Top 100 Must Play Courses” list.
For more information about the Sunday River Golf Club, visit
www.sundayriver.com/golf.
