Golf in Ione

Ione is a small city in Amador County in California's Sierra Nevada foothills, east of Sacramento. The city occupies a broad valley floor at a lower elevation than many surrounding foothill communities, roughly 60 miles from Sacramento and 30 miles south of Jackson, the county seat. Amador County spans from the Sacramento Valley floor eastward into the western Sierra Nevada, and Ione occupies a transitional zone where flat valley land gives way to the first low ridges of the foothills. Clay mining operations once supported a significant portion of the local economy, and agriculture remains a factor in the surrounding area. Ione is one of the quieter foothill communities in the county, with a small downtown and a residential character that draws both longtime residents and people who commute west toward the Sacramento metropolitan area. The terrain rises gradually toward the higher elevations of the Sierra to the east.