Northern Challenge Golf Club Review

Texas Outside Rating: 7.8

Golf - Public Course · 18 Holes · Par 72
Sherman
· Locate This Course

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Northern Challenge Golf Club Review

Northern Challenge is located about 10 minutes west of Sherman and the first nine holes opened in 2002. The back nine opened in 2005 making Northern Challenge a fun and enjoyable round of golf with an excellent starting and finishing hole which is an island green surrounded by white sand traps. The terrain is gently rolling to flat and the fairways are tree lined. Northern Challenge offers a little bit of everything to challenge your game - dog legs, bunkers, water on 11 holes, narrow fairways with deep rough, and some table top greens. From the tips, this course requires your A game with a rating of 74.7 and slope of 142. With that said, if you can hit the ball fairly straight and employ good course management, you should score well.

When we played the fairways were in very good shape and the greens were well above average. The greens were about average size, speed and challenge. A recent storm destroyed the bunkers and the sand had not yet been replaced on the front nine - the back nine bunkers had soft white sand. The bunkers are strategically placed requiring you to think about your drives and approach shots.

Bottom line - Northern Challenge is an excellent course in great condition, with the right amount of challenge, some memorable and fun holes, and a outstanding value. It's worth going a little out of your way to play this course.

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Course Slope & Ratings

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope
Blue 6,452 72.0 139
White 5,861 68.9 126
Gold 7,069 74.7 142
Red 5,176 72.0 129

Course Information

Greens Type:
Bent grass
Greens Condition
8.0
Greens Difficulty
7.0
GPS:
No
Walkable:
Very
Beware of water on 11 holes and the 45 sand traps.

Texas Outside Rating

Overall Rating:
7.8 out of 10
Beauty:
7.0
Difficulty:
7.0
Variety:
8.0
Fun to Play:
8.0
Value:
9.0
Condition:
8.0
Front Nine Rating:
7.5
Back Nine Rating:
8.0
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FEES & AMENITIES

Approximate Weekend
Rates: $29.00 to $43.00

 

Here's How Texas Outside Determines the Scorecard Rating

The Texas Outside rating scale ranges from 1 to 10 – a perfect 10 course would be something like this:  links along a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean and bordered by tall trees; lush fairways on rolling hills with lots of natural hazards; water (which is crystal clear) on most of the holes; immaculate greens (but they are undulating and tough); lots of variety and character (each hole is completely different and includes blind shots, elevation changes, doglegs, and significant challenges); perfectly manicured traps with the whitest and prettiest sand you’ve ever seen; a nice club house with great food and a 19th hole; a GPS; plenty of beverage carts or your own cooler and ice; and it only costs $40 bucks! What this means is that you probably won’t find any 10s in Texas – try Cabo San Lucas, Pebble Beach, or some of the Hawaii courses! 
Texas Outside rates courses on the following:

  • Beauty – tall trees, rolling hills, beautiful houses, waterfalls, and similar stuff would score high; a 1 would be flat, bushes or cactus instead of trees, and some grass but mostly weeds
  • Difficulty – a straight, 300 yard par 4 with no traps or hazards, no out of bounds or water would probably get a 1; if it is a 460 yard par 4 over two ravines, with water along one side, natural hazards on the other, strategically placed traps or that dreaded tree right in the middle of the fairway, we are talking a 10. 
  • Variety – what would you give a course where all the holes looked and played exactly the same (“I thought we just played that hole!”); were side-by-side, which is good for finding or dodging other people’s balls, but not much fun; and you can see the flag from every tee box?  That’s right, it gets a 1.
  • Fun Scale – a 10 is where you walk off the course and say “now that was fun” and you can’t wait to get back, or you immediately turn around and play another 18 holes
  • Value – a 5 is $50 to $60, a 10 is $20 to $30, and 1 is $200 or so – of course all of this is dependent upon how you liked the course.  For example, if a run down, boring municipal course, with six players on each hole was only $10; it would still get a value rating of 1.
  • Condition – this one’s pretty easy – what condition are the fairways. A 10 commands very lush perfectly manicured fairways, compared to a 1, which has fire ants, weeds, and more dirt than grass!
  • Condition of Greens and Difficulty – very hard to read greens with lots of undulation and tough pin placement, rate very high on the difficulty scale.  Condition is self-explanatory.  

All of the above determines the overall score for the golf course.  In other words, we like courses that are pretty, fun, very challenging with a lot of variety, and fairways and greens in excellent condition – all for $40.  We also tend to play the courses that are affordable for the masses, which means in the $30 to $80 range. We rate hard and we haven’t found a 10 in Texas yet – don’t worry we haven’t given up and we’re still looking.