Sonora Golf Club Review

Texas Outside Rating: 8.2

Golf - Public Course · 9 Holes · Par 36
Sonora
Website · Locate This Course

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Sonora Golf Club Review

 Review and Rating of Sonora Golf Club in Sonora, Texas

Sonora Golf Club is owned by the City of Sonora and it opened for play in 1968. The terrain sits on the edge of the hill country but the course fairways are flat and tree lined.  Sonora Golf Club is an excellent course for beginners and high handicappers thanks to few hazards and fairly wide fairways and playable roughs.  Most of the holes are straight ahead and you can see what you're up against.  

That said Sonora Golf Club has a couple of dog legs, water on 4 holes, two bunkers guarding the greens, a couple forced carries, and some trees in the middle of several fairways that can cause a problem. Some of the holes that we liked include:

  • #1 is a 515-yard par 5 that dog legs left around a cluster of trees plus it has two trees in the middle of the fairway at 175 yards out and a small pond on the left front of a turtleback green
  • #3 is 353 yards with a challenging carry over a big field of wildflowers and a line of trees to a fairway that turns right  and has a tree in the middle of the fairway at 90 yards that can block your shot to a turtleback green
  • #6 was our favorite - a 486-yard par  with a very challenging approach shot thanks to two trees that you need to fly or thread a narrow slot to get to the green plus you need to avoid the pond on the left front and entire left side of the green

The fairways at Sonora Golf Club are ample, flat, and tree-lined and the rough is wide - miss both and you're under trees (typically fairly easy to get to the fairway) or lost in the native areas with lots of colorful red, white, yellow, and purple wildflowers.  When we played the fairways ranged from a variety of weeds, grass, and dandelions and a few ant piles to grass and in pretty good condition.  The course is cart path only but there are cart paths on both sides of the fairway and a crossing usually halfway to the hole that takes you to the other side.  

The greens at Sonora Golf Club are relatively small, some are raised, some are turtleback, and most have a small false front.  The slope can be challenging but the green are smooth, soft, roll a little slow, and hold the ball well.  Generally speaking, they were in very good shape, as were the tee boxes.  

  The sand in the Sonora Golf Club bunkers was soft, fairly fluffy, and thick.  The lips facing the green are tall but sides are low and you might get lucky and roll out.  

We were pleasantly surprised with the conditions for a country course, with few members, low rates, and limited staff and resources. 

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Course Slope & Ratings

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope
Black 3,087 71.3 125
Gold 2,786 69.3 113

Course Information

Greens Condition
7.8
Greens Difficulty
8.2
Fairway Condition
7.0
Bunker Condition
7.8
GPS:
No
Walkable:
easy
Beware of water on 4 holes and the 2 sand traps.

Texas Outside Rating

Overall Rating:
8.2 out of 10
Beauty:
8.6
Difficulty:
8.0
Variety:
7.5
Fun to Play:
8.7
Value:
9.0
Condition:
7.3
Front Nine Rating:
8.2
Back Nine Rating:
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FEES & AMENITIES

Approximate Weekend
Rates: $10.00 to $25.00

Service is country friendly and the course is not staffed in the morning until noon but there are carts available to take on the honor system. There is a driving range but no putting green.

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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.