MARS HILL – When the country club in this small Aroostook County town proudly expanded to 18 holes on May 20, things went pretty smoothly, Dan Hotham figures.

The first-year director of golf at Mars Hill Country Club said members were excited to play nine new holes. Comments were positive. Everyone was happy.

Of course, there was one teensy, weensy catch.

It came when giddy golfers drove their carts up a winding Mars Hill Mountain path to the sixth tee – a full 900 feet above sea level – took in the scenery, breathed in the fresh air … and eventually took aim at the green.

The green, that is, that rested 152 feet below their feet.

“Some of ’em went a little deeeep the first time they played it,” Hotham says with a chuckle.

That’s deeeep like all the way down to the old third green … or four or five clubs too deeeep for their own good.

The problem: Most of the Mars Hill members were unfamiliar with the peculiar piece of golf math the 162-yard tee shot required.

“It’s 162 from the blues, but because it’s 50 yards in the air, it plays like it’s 112,” Hotham says, explaining that for every 10 yards of altitude, a golfer should subtract a club.

No matter what club you hit, or how far you end up airmailing your ball past the green, a couple things are certain:

When the new nine opened, the spectacular sixth became both the club’s signature hole and the most-talked-about golf hole in Aroostook County.

Owner Alton McQuade calls it, in simple Aroostook fashion, “The Mountain Hole,” though he says one of Hotham’s jobs is to name all the new holes.

Others will call it (equally simply) beautiful.

And others? Well, they call it … something else entirely.

“I was playing with a guy yesterday who said he felt dizzy up there,” Hotham says. “I think it’s just a visual thing. You’re used to looking at something that’s at eye level or above. You’re not used to looking down.”

The hole serves as a fitting centerpiece to a new front nine at Mars Hill that is tighter, shorter, and a bit less forgiving than the original nine that McQuade cleared and opened back in 1991.

McQuade, who sold his construction company to four sons before getting into the golf business, says he built the original holes – one at a time – whenever he got a chance.

“Whenever I had a spare machine [available at the construction company], I’d come out and lay out a hole, and then I’d send a guy out and have him clean all the brush off.”

McQuade said he hopped in a helicopter in 1996, checked out the land a bit closer, and decided to build the additional holes members had asked for.

“I couldn’t see much, because there were so many trees,” he says. “I just kind of looked at the land, then I started walking [to get a better idea of where holes could go]. I’d leave here in the morning and wouldn’t get back until after lunch. Crazy.”

The result of McQuade’s “crazy” summer of walking in the woods: A challenging series of holes that play as the front nine, relegating the original nine to the back.

Some things changed from his original plans. For instance, McQuade originally thought he’d build all nine holes on Mars Hill Mountain. The Department of Environmental Protection nixed that idea.

Hotham says the new holes present a challenge for every golfer … especially for those who tend to be a bit erratic off the tee.

“A lot of courses we have around, you can just stand on the tee, flail with a driver, and let it go,” Hotham says. “And if you’re two or three fairways over, it’s all right, you can still make a par.

“[Here], you certainly can’t do that.”

But the resulting tradeoff is especially appreciated by some of Mars Hill’s older members.

“A lot of older people can hit a pretty straight ball, but not a long ball,” McQuade says. “And we haven’t got a lot of low handicappers. We’ve got a lot of 25s.”

Mars Hill’s new nine features some holes that reward the short-and-straight over the long-and-crooked: the average distance on the front’s par 4’s is 329 yards.

“You have to use your head a little bit, maybe keep the driver in the bag on some holes,” Hotham says.

On the old nine, though, players have more opportunities to swing driver … without much caution.

Like on No. 12, a memorable 470-yard par-5 that begins on a long downhill, crosses a pond, and heads back uphill to a green where players can watch other groups hit their tee shots from the elevated sixth tee. And duck if someone goes deeeep.

Among Mars Hill’s unique traits:

. Free golf lessons.

Hotham wants to make a point: He is not a pro. He’s an amateur. And he plans to keep it that way. Therefore, he can’t charge for giving lessons.

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to help anyone who wants to learn.

“A lot of players here didn’t start golfing until later in life, and this gives me the chance to teach, which I really like,” he says.

. Wildlife.

On one early weekday, Hotham sends off a twosome with some last-minute advice.

“Watch out for the moose and the bears,” he says with a grin.

On this day, neither moose nor bears show up. … at least not during the round. On the short trip back to downtown Mars Hill, though, a mother moose and two calves awkwardly lope back and forth on a roadside potato field.

With the course completed, McQuade is already looking to the future. And golf course ownership may not be in it.

“Now I’ve got the 18, and if my grandson doesn’t take it over, I’ll probably sell it. I want to retire and start traveling a little bit now,” he says.

And there’s more.

“I don’t want too much responsibility any more,” McQuade says with a laugh.

Holes: 18

Yards: 6,107; par: 72

Slope: (not yet rated); rating: (not yet rated)

Green fees: 9 holes: $10 walking, $18 with a cart; 18 holes: $18 walking, $30 with a cart.

Memberships: single $325, junior $95, family $440

Tee times: not necessary

Directions: Turn onto Route 1A in downtown Mars Hill, drive about a half mile, turn right onto Boynton Road, follow Boynton Road until it splits, turn left onto Country Club Road at the split. Mars Hill Country Club is on the right.

Footwear: No metal spikes

Phone: 425-4802