The heat dome was still holding firm at my hometown on the South Shore of Massachusetts, but I was breathing deep the fresh, crisp air as I began a round of golf. I was on the first tee at the Jay Peak Resort Golf Club, just four hours away from Boston proper and yet, particularly this humid summer, a world away.

Surrounded by lush forestry and green mountain peaks and ribboned all the way through by Jay Branch Brook, the course is pristine, fun, super challenging but not impossible, and perhaps one of the very best ski resort golf courses out there.

I’ve been a Jay Peak (https://jaypeakresort.com) loyalist for years. You can always count on decent conditions and powder on most days (the Jay Cloud is a thing!), and the setting, in the heart of Vermont’s rural Northeast Kingdom, just six miles from the Canadian border, is sublime.

Golf there was new to me. After two days of eye-pleasing and mind-challenging play, I’m sold.

Jay’s golf course, like many ski-resort connected golf courses, is carved into land abutting the ski area proper. Opened in 2006 with nine holes and the following year with all 18, it’s a Graham Cooke & Associates design that proves why they are considered a top Canadian (and international) course design group.

Jay’s track takes you up, up, up and then back down more than a few times, at times demanding you strategize to work a steep uphill fairway, and others luring you into feeling like this is your big chance off an elevated tee that just feels right. As many times as you anticipate a reach for even bogey, you find yourself thinking “Oh, this could be a par!” It’s a perfect mix, and while the Championship course is truly challenging, it’s six tee boxes help make it doable for all levels of golf.

You’ll get plenty of chances to overcome the mind game of hazards as well as to develop a lay-up working plan. That creek, who’s babbling brook sound feels somehow soothing out there (like the piped-in music at a spa, only the real thing), shows up to challenge you regularly, including on the 407-yard ninth hole where it cuts through the center of things and the super-long 16th (over 500 yards) where it crosses your path to demand a lay-up.

“Just think how many balls are in there,” a fellow player opined just before we successfully hit over it (phew!)

In other words, this is a thinking player’s course.

But it’s also a savoring player’s course. There’s something magical about the deep green trails of Jay Peak hovering above you on many holes; the white tram building like a pop of art, visible in a way it’s not during the white, white months of winter up there.

Almost every hole has an “aha!” view moment, either looking out across the sepia-toned mountains of Maine, Vermont and Canada, or tucked into a quiet green space that feels apart from the world.

This is no real estate mecca; the only homes along the track are some rental cottages; you have to squint to see them.

Course maintenance is on point. I’m told the resort upped their commitment to just that this year, adding enough budget to keep things pristine and playable. The milder winter along with the wetter summer helped a bit too.

The result is impressive. Fairways are lush, green and give a forgiving roll often. Tee boxes are in good shape as are the greens – though the shape and set-up of some of those greens can be a wee bit punishing (nothing wrong with egging us on to try harder).

Flower boxes, garden areas and benches are all super-pricey private club level. It’s just beautiful start to finish.

There’s more. The driving range lets you hit from grass, has lots of flags and target options and looks out on the mountain range.

The Clubhouse serves breakfast, lunch (try the smash burger; they truly understand that concept) and dinner. On Friday nights you can head in from your round or come back for oven-fired pizzas made by a crew that includes Jay’s President and GM Steve Wright. There’s live music too. You see why the locals flood there.

Across the way is any kind of housing you want. Hotel rooms, condos and those cottages mean there’s a setting for every taste. There’s also Tram rides up the mountain, on-site restaurants, the craziest water park in all of the mountain world, an active hockey rink and more.

Jay Peak offers tee times, lessons, and packages. And while you’ll feel like you’re at a private club, rates are reasonable: $74 for 18 on weekdays and $94 on weekends. They also have a twilight rate that’s amazing: Tee off after 2 p.m. and you pay just $40. The course is in no way walkable, so do expect to ride a cart.

In a summer when things are often too hot to handle, just north at Jay the golf scene is cool – in every way.