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As with most of New England, the altitude dictates only a five month golfing season, from June to to October, and the course is usually in pristine order by early July. From then on simply choose your own superlatives. This is one out of the top drawer, a Donald Ross gem that is unchanged since he laid it out in 1912.
It has all of his hallmarks: generous fairways but with a prescribed line of shot to small, crowned and deceptively contoured greens often guarded by a single bunker. A sound short game here is vital. It's a gorgeous course that's evocative of the Scottish highlands.
Non-golfing guests of the hotel come to see the elegant clubhouse and the breathtaking views that stretch across the course, fittingly known as Panorama, to Vermont on one flank and Canada, only 15 miles away, on the other. 'Tis indeed a site for tired eyes, a course that perfectly compliments a superb hotel.
From here we're going to slip across the state line, into Maine, the largest of the New England states. It is 320 miles deep by 210 wide with a population of 1.2 million, more than half a million acres of state and national forest and 32,000 miles of rivers.
It's plain that Mother Nature is a big wheel around here and if you're one of her admirers you'll love the next stop. Golf with a mountain backdrop aside, it's a resort with every outdoor pursuit for all the family. Winter here is the model for Christmas cards but summer time is celebrated, too, and autumn, when the trees change hue, brings an ambience like no other. Golf in such a setting is the stuff of dreams.
You're in the little community of Bethel, an historic settlement founded in 1796, now with a population of 2,300. It's the very essence of small town America and at the centre of it, overlooking the village green on the main street, stands the Bethel Inn & Country Club.
Founded in 1913, it has a style evocative of that era, at once genteel, cosy and welcoming. It couldn't be more different to our previous stops but it is equally first rate, with cuisine and service to match.
Surrounded by the White Mountains, with covered bridges over crystal streams and cascading waterfalls nearby, you can imagine the setting of the golf course. It's a good one, too, frequently the stage for the New England Open. Its bent grass greens are superb, holding but hard and true with lots of subtle contours.
The course was extended from nine to 18 holes in 1989 and, in the modern trend for resorts, it has five sets of tees, the most forward leading to a par three course. Thus, it is ideal for youngsters or those of a certain vintage out for a gentle spin.
They say it plays differently every day and that it's one you'll never tire of: I can endorse that. Go there in September or October, when the leaves are turning, and you'll discover the course uncrowded and at its most beguiling.
Bethel is 170 miles north of Boston and easy to find. I'm tempted to suggest that you consider the inn as a first stop on a two centre break. One problem: you may not want to leave!
But leave you must, because having come so far it would be a crime not to go the extra distance, to play one of the most spectacular courses in the world. That it is ranked in America's Top 20 should be sufficient motivation but your lasting impression will be the improbably beautiful scenery. It may be unique in golf.
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