Golfing in Maine in September (also, potential areas to stay at)

[cvvorst]

So my wife and I are looking at going to Portland Maine for a work event/vacation in September. I found several recommendations for courses already. Sunday River and Cape Arundel sound like the best options from what I am seeing. Is there any other courses within 2 hours I should be looking into?

 

Also, we plan on arriving a few days before her work event starts. I've heard Portland is a tourist area, so should I be looking into staying somewhere else to save money on lodging? I was looking into staying in Newry since the area looks beautiful and Sunday River is nearby, but I'm open to just about anything. 

[ENedo]

Sunday River is a great course with a lot of elevation changes, highly recommend it. Fall is a great time to be in that region. 
 

Point Sebago Resort Golf Course is a great track as well and is about 45 minutes out of Portland or about an hour from Newry.

[BEND OF THE RIVER GC]

Cape Arundel is  a super fun gun golf course, and an easy walk. Highly recommend playing there.

[cvvorst]

15 hours ago, ENedo said:

Sunday River is a great course with a lot of elevation changes, highly recommend it. Fall is a great time to be in that region. 
 

Point Sebago Resort Golf Course is a great track as well and is about 45 minutes out of Portland or about an hour from Newry.

 

Yeah based on the timing it should be really beautiful! I will check out Point Sebago, will likely add it to my list of "to play." Thank you for the advice!

 

6 hours ago, BEND OF THE RIVER GC said:

Cape Arundel is  a super fun gun golf course, and an easy walk. Highly recommend playing there.

 

 

Yeah that's second on my list, right after Sunday River. Tons of people on here recommended it as well. Thank you for the advice!

Edited April 20, 2022 by cvvorst

[cmckay]

Definitely should add Belgrade Lakes to this list. I would say Belgrade, Sunday River and Cape Arundel are top 3 public in Maine

[psn13]

The Samoset Resort in Rockland, ME is worth a look too, especially if you want something on the coast (not sure where you are coming from).  We stayed and played there in 2020 and liked it.  There are not many golf courses directly on the coast in New England and the Maine coastline is beautiful.  If the course was 10 miles inland I wouldn't be posting about it, but the views are really nice.

Rockport, 5 minutes from Rockland, has a lot of good restaurants too for such a small town.

September is good time to go to Maine. After Labor Day weekend it's not packed and hotel rates come down a lot from July & August peak rates.  

[cvvorst]

On 4/20/2022 at 3:48 PM, cmckay said:

Definitely should add Belgrade Lakes to this list. I would say Belgrade, Sunday River and Cape Arundel are top 3 public in Maine

 

Thank you! It looks amazing. I added it to the list!

 

1 hour ago, psn13 said:

The Samoset Resort in Rockland, ME is worth a look too, especially if you want something on the coast (not sure where you are coming from).  We stayed and played there in 2020 and liked it.  There are not many golf courses directly on the coast in New England and the Maine coastline is beautiful.  If the course was 10 miles inland I wouldn't be posting about it, but the views are really nice.

Rockport, 5 minutes from Rockland, has a lot of good restaurants too for such a small town.

September is good time to go to Maine. After Labor Day weekend it's not packed and hotel rates come down a lot from July & August peak rates.  

 

That place looks incredible! I was hoping to stay there and golf, but the standard no view room was $700 a night during September, so now I'm looking into places nearby.Looks like there are plenty of placed with decent rates near it though. Thank you for the recommendation!

[psn13]

On 4/22/2022 at 3:18 PM, cvvorst said:

 

Thank you! It looks amazing. I added it to the list!

 

 

That place looks incredible! I was hoping to stay there and golf, but the standard no view room was $700 a night during September, so now I'm looking into places nearby.Looks like there are plenty of placed with decent rates near it though. Thank you for the recommendation!

Wow, that is not the rate we paid when we went - we must have got lucky because it was Labor Day 2020 and I think Maine just changed their rules about out of state COVID travelers staying at hotels.  The hotel is a little dated so $700 for that place is ridiculous.  Hope you enjoy the course!

[cmckay]

Brunswick is also pretty nice thats real close to Portland if you end up staying there 

[cvvorst]

18 hours ago, cmckay said:

Brunswick is also pretty nice thats real close to Portland if you end up staying there 

 

Thank you! It looks beautiful! I added it to my list. The fact that it's close helps a lot as well.

[nitram]

Agree with the Brunswick/Topsham area, and even over to Bath. Not the most scenic or posh amenities, but not gonna be outlandish either.

[Judge Smails]

Thanks to this thread I played a great round at Cape Arundel this weekend!  

 

My wife was the maid of honor in a wedding in Portland and I had a full Saturday to kill on relatively short notice.  I was thrilled to be able to find a tee time at Cape Arundel It was expensive at $200 but offered great value to me given what I was looking for that day.  Quality layout, a piece of golf history, walking allowed on a Saturday (and encouraged no less), friendly classy experience.  Now to the course...

 

First, as others have posted, if you are at all interested in history and architecture this is a rare chance to play a piece of golf history that allows public play.  I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to play Merion (East) which is the quintessential "short" historic course.  While Arundel is no Merion, it's still very good.  It reminded me of a more interesting version of Dorset Field Club's old front 9.

 

Cape Arundel is known for its tricky greens.  It definitely lived up to its reputation, with the back being even harder than the front. However, for the most part, I found the greens very fair.  My home course is a Donald Ross so I am accustomed to cursing out certain holes and balls rolling off the green or even back to my feet after a poor shot.  As it turned out, I actually found Arundel more "fair" than my own home course.  

 

Another feature I absolutely loved about the course was the ability to hit driver!!!!  So often short courses are tricked up target golf and you can't reach for driver at all.  At Arundel you can play driver on all but a small handful of holes.  While you might have only between 50 and 150 yards left for your second shot on most holes, the greens are more than challenging enough to protect the course.  Also, between the par 3 holes, teeing off with my 4 iron a few times and the lone par 5, I believe I managed to hit every club in my bag other than my 5 wood and my 5 iron.  Not bad!

 

I wouldn't drop $200 to play this course every week, but I would certainly do it again next I am in Maine.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Judge Smails

[sratacik]

Samoset and Sunday River