Valley of the Moon Golf Club

I have played here for over 30 years…I love the course. Greens are okay, not great. Pro shop and golf course staff are great….was ignored by the bar staff after my round…ended up walking out for lack of service.

The cart paths need a lot of work. There was water in several places as well as mud. Greens were in pretty good shape.

I lived on and played this course 3 days / week from 2006 through 2024. This parkland course is quite straight forward. On almost every hole you can see the green from the tee box, with exceptions of the par 5's. Though there are many gorgeous giant trees, there are thankfully few opportunities to get thrown into forest jail. Fairways are generous width. Just a few creeks cross over the fairways. Just one pond on the entire course. Putting greens don't have many tricks. Pretty much a 15 handicap golfer with intermediate green reading skills is going to shoot his / her handicap. I carry a 16 handicap I lost less than 24 balls over an 18 year period.

Over my long tenure here the restaurant food has been consistently bad to outright horrible. I saw 1,000's of employees come and go. Average employee retention span was 2 weeks. Bar area is marginally better. A few tap beers and more selections in bottles. Hard liquor cocktails are standard quality.

When I moved away March 2024 the Monday - Friday walk up green fee for senior walking was $31. I'm shocked today (November 2024) to see that the Golf Now green fee is $64. Debatable that this golf course is worth that price.

But if you have traveled here on vacation from far away, have at it. There are 30 wineries within 10 miles. At $35 / round you might also want to visit Bennett Valley Golf in south Santa Rosa. A municipal course that is comparable in quality, actually it is more challenging golf. Still walkable but it's a more strenuous workout.

This course is suffering from a bit of neglect. The tee boxes are not mown. The sandtraps lack maintenance and are almost unplayable. The layout is nice enough but the course needs some TLC. 18 holes took 3 hours on a warm afternoon which was excellent.

To spend 75 dollars and not have even decent conditions is unacceptable.There are many other courses in the area that are similarly priced and in much better shape than this. Course is either dryer than the desert, dead grass and dirt patches everywhere or your ball gets plugged 6 inches into the ground because it’s overwatered beyond repair. This was sad to see as this course in the past has been a fun course and reasonably priced but something needs to be changed.

Sand bunkers should have been declared GUR. Apparently lacking the money to properly maintain course

The fairways and the tee boxes desperately need mowing!

Course was still recovering from all the rain with some areas still needing mowing. Most of the rough had been mowed but still at a fairly long length as it was hard to find your ball if it wasn't in the fairway. The next mowing will probably get the rough back to a more usual length. Having to spend time looking for balls in the rough made the time to play a round longer than normal.

The course has potential to be a nice course, but the wet cool weather in the Sonoma area made the course play poorly. Cut grass lay all over the rough, there was no "first cut" so if you missed the fairway by inches you lost your ball.

Golf course condition was muddy, wet and the fairways grass was long. We both lost 7 golf balls in the fairways and we had to leave after playing 9 hole because golf was extremely challenging.

Lady that checked me in was super nice and even pushed my tee time so I could hit some balls and not have to rush out there. Usually when you book through a 3rd party a lot of courses are rude and won’t work with you like that. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that!! Getting a drink from the snack bar was quick and easy, lady that was back there was super friendly as well. Even asked if I wanted a cup of ice for my soda I bought. The course was in great condition and was a blast to play! A couple guys even offered me a beer and let me play through when I caught up to them. One of the most enjoyable all around experiences I’ve had at a golf course!! Keep up the great work!!