CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine — The most precious days in Maine's western mountains are when the leaves start to change.

In Carrabassett Valley, the golf course was buzzing as the Sugarloaf ski resort lies dormant for a couple more months. To see the course around autumn is mesmerizing. Even when shots aren’t falling, a look at one's surroundings melts the worries away.

John "Johnny" DiBiase is a Mechanic Falls native who, years ago, couldn’t stay away from Maine for long.

"I came back specifically because they were building a golf course here, hoping I would find employment," DiBiase said. "And that was in ’85."

At that time, mountain leadership commissioned designer Robert Trent Jones Jr. to carve a golf course into the side of the mountain to attract visitors year-round.

It worked.

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