Belgrade Lakes Golf Club

Few inland Maine courses command the kind of attention Belgrade Lakes does. Designed by Brian Silva and opened in 1998, it has earned a devoted following among serious golfers and regularly appears on lists of the best public courses in New England — a rare distinction for a layout this far from the coast. Silva routed the course through a dramatic stretch of central Maine woodland, and the result feels less like a built environment than a landscape that simply revealed itself. Elevation changes are real and meaningful, fairways carve through stands of hardwoods and pines, and the views across the Belgrade Lakes region give the round a sense of occasion that's hard to manufacture.