I was pleased to learn that there was a new(ish) DG course way up in North Maine that was rumored to be much better than the mediocre course at the college in Presque Isle. So my wife and I took a trip north and got in a couple of rounds.

This course plays through an old farmstead that has been in the owners family for a few generations. This provides an interesting mix of trees and turf that gives the course some of its more memorable holes. Overall the course is on the short side, coming in at exactly 5000 feet for the 18 holes. With just six holes over 300' and only two of those over 400' you'd think that the course might lack character, but that's not the case.

In addition to holes that play completely in the trees, there are several that tee off down beautiful grassy fairways, and then enter the woods a significant distance downrange. This makes for a relatively open drive, but the need to position the landing in an area that gives you access to the wooded portion of the fairway. Hole 4 at 390' is the first example. Probably 200' of the hole is wide grass fairway, but the remainder is heavily wooded and a good bit narrower.

Hole 9 is another example of an open drive with a large bunker of trees centered about 200' from the tee. You need to choose either the right side or the left, and both alleys are deceptively well guarded.

Gently rolling hills add some challenge with uphill and downhill drives, and a couple of tough sidehill holes tucked into the woods.

Infrastructure consists of some re-purposed Disc King baskets in unusual pastel green and orange colors. They are showing their age with some rusty chain but they catch great. Teepads are wooden platforms topped with heavy-duty roofing shingles. They worked fine but were a bit on the small side.

Plenty of trash cans and some benches here and there, and a small clubhouse/check-in station that was open one morning I played but closed the next. I saw more benches being built and painted near the parking area, so it looks like a work in progress.

Many of the shorter holes are kind of "duece or die" type holes. If you hit your line you should be in position for an easy two. I'd say that about half of the holes fall into this category. So while this is a fun course to play, it isn't particularly challenging. I imagine that league scores here are double-digits below par.

A couple of the greens had little stubs of 1" diameter trees protruding an inch or two above the ground. It looks like they may have been cut flush but traffic and compaction has exposed them. I had some "perfect" approaches sliding to within 10' of the basket only to catch one of these and bounce or roll away. This type of completely random obstacle is frustrating and detracts from the experience.

Wooden tee pads are starting to show some age, with most of them growing mushrooms/fungus along the edges, and one of them cracking under me as I stepped up. Also a few were off level, typically sloping front-to-back.

Tee signs were simple number plates, so you had to refer to the scorecard for distance. On the longer holes a walk up the fairway was necessary to spot the basket. No problem, but better signs would improve the experience for traveling players.

It's great to see a well designed, well run course way up in this part of Maine. With apple trees spread throughout the course and a pleasant mixture of gently rolling woods and grassy areas this is a really pleasant course to play some rounds on.

A large sign on the highway makes locating the course easy, and a large gravel parking lot with a clean porta-pottie makes for a good introduction to the course.