ShadowGlen Golf Club

I booked my tee time thru Golfnow based on the reviews before my 8/26/19 booking for a twosome at 7:05am on our National Holiday Labor Day. I trust Golfnow when they post a warning hazard sign for a course being overseeded, aerated, flooded or under repair. I RELY ON THAT WARNING TO MAKE MY TEE TIME CHOICES. Just as the two "suckers" like me who posted 8/30/19 I arrived to find the greens aerated to the size of a nickle, heavily sanded such that our early morning putts had rooster tails of debris from even inside two feet. THE GREENS WERE UNPUTTABLE. As a 4 hdcp half my game is using the flat stick. Our group of four, handicaps from 1 to 8, had no birdies yet nine approach shots to within six feet, two inside two feet. Ben Crenshaw in his prime could not make a putt on these minefields. I'm certain the normal plan is the Club informs Golfnow of their repair and seasonal maintenance. As these dates often change due to weather patterns no way can a course inform Golfnow months in advance. The course must inform Golfnow, not Golfnow investigating when. Those irrefutable facts lead to only one conclusion: ShadowGlen intentionally failed to inform Golfnow of their aeration. Why? The almighty buck. Really what do they care if tourists, let alone locals, ever come back. The place was packed. On a National Holiday are you going to abruptly leave the parking lot and try to find an honest course that's got a similar tee time. You won't find it on such short notice. No, they got you, and your money, and too bad for you "sucker". And so help me if these thieves reply "We appreciate your review and will use it to help us improve moving forward." You get the idea. Too bad as the course layout is better than most, the staff very friendly, but obviously the management who chose to RIP US ALL OFF...

The course was in decent shape except that the greens had been punched very recently. The traps were not in great shape. Has a lot of potential.

Course was in fine shape except the greens were an absolute mess. Looked like they were punched that day and with deep-tine aeration and a full sand overlay. I don't know if it's the fault of GolfNow or of ShadowGlen for not posting any sort of advisory anywhere (there website had nothing and all contact with GolfNow was void of any warning).

I get that this is a necessary procedure. I have no problem with it. What I do have a problem with is absolutely zero notification. There is literally no chance I would have paid $27 to play this course today if I had known the green conditions. They are unplayable.

I'd be happy to take this post down if I can get some kind of communication from either GolfNow or ShadowGlen to rectify the situation. Super disappointing.

I've played this course for over 8 years and have never experienced what I have in the last few weeks.

It seems to me that Shadowglen got greedy and tried to pack as many groups as they could in the morning. The course had groups starting on both 1 and 10.

We teed off at 6:56 am from #10 and made the turn right around 9 am. As we got to the box, we noticed there were 9 people waiting. A group of 5 and another 4. We didn't tee off on 1 until 9:35!

It's a hot Texas summer and everyone is looking to play early. I get that. But this course has taken it a bit too far.

We constantly had to wait for the group ahead of us. There was no way to establish a rhythm of play and our round ended up running just over 5.5 hours--unbelievable. The marshall had no control of the traffic and was simply directing people to make the turn. When we asked about the high volume he simply replied: "its hot so people want to play early".

The whole point of getting our early is to avoid the heat and FINISH early.

I really hope the right people see this and implement changes soon.

When I’m looking for a golf experience part of what attracts me is the peace & quiet of the course. Hey, mowers & maintenance guys are an exception, as they work their butts off at Shadowglen. But when you’re moving thru the round without a cluster of interruptions is really important. And I feel at times that I can feel a pin drop. There’s no carts from other holes in your way, no intrusions from people who don’t belong out there.

If you want to see a golf course that’s immaculately maintained with a very small crew, you’ll not get anywhere better than SG. Grant & his team work tirelessly to make it a great experience.

Love the staff, too. Eric is the head golf professional & I tease him every time I see him: “Isn’t it about time for a vacation?” You’ll see him watering grass before sunrise, getting the carts out, answering the phone and truly so busy that I don’t see how he has time to eat. The guy is a tireless worker and excellent front man, exactly what this course needs. And Tommy Lyons, who works in the shop as well is the most positive and optimistic golf professional I know. But Seltzo, Julian, Oscar and young Mr. Ben are always around for Member & guest services, and they’re a pleasure to spend time with. Truly love and respect them, and they don’t get nearly enough credit.

The course ought to be 10 Stars. It’s a fun layout with great holes, but it’s not for beginners. And if you’ve never played it, play the white tees first. It’s very hard from there, and the back tees are truly championship golf level challenges.

Full disclosure: I’m a member & play it 3-4x a week, so I’m a bit biased but I play all over the area, and there isn’t a better track. I’d love to see a Marshall program to help usher play on weekends. Eric simply cannot manage pace of play and wear all the other hats, so there’s gotta be some retirees who love golf & with training, help players keep moving. Slow play IS NOT a Shadowglen problem but a people problem. They don’t understand how they’re supposed to play at a pace even without anyone in front of them to keep up the pace FOR the entire day. Slow play begins from the 1st tee. Just because there’s nobody behind you doesn’t mean you get lunch at the turn. . (Sorry for the rant, it’s just that I care about the club so much I want everyone to play it!) If the 1st group tees off at 6:10 and aren’t making the turn by 8:10 then the group that tees off an hour later waits on every shot. It’s that simple. Not easy, but simple.

All that said 90% of time pace is great. Love it.

Shadowglen is one of my favorite courses for two reasons; 1. It's a challenging course for my level of play

2. You can usually find a good deal on Golfnow

The course is in good condition.. fairways are ok, greens are in good condition, rolling well, not too fast, not too slow. However the bunkers are not in good shape. Very little sand and in some cases kind of muddy (surprising since it hasn't rained recently).

Overall it's a great course for the value. I'll be back.

I purposely made a mid-week tee time to avoid slow play, crowded conditions, etc. The day became a frustrating one because of a couple of players who act as if they are the only players.

One almost hit me with his ball on Number 7. Anyone who plays this course knows the second shot is a blind one. I was one the green putting when the ball bounced off the hill and missed be by a couple of feet. The guy came over the hill and said, “sorry about that.” As I just looked at him, he apologized again. He knew I was playing ahead of him.

The second situation occurred on the back side. I was crossing the road to play Number 14, when I noticed a guy on 15 retrieving balls in the ravine. When I finished playing 15, he was still retrieving balls, then jumped in his cart and went to 16, where he was standing by his cart. I stopped until he motioned to me. I just went to the next hole.

Over the times I have played this course, players play holes out of turn, and I have seen old guys just out on a green putting. They seem oblivious to other players and pace of play.

I like the course, but I have to drive from Lakeway, so it is frustrating to do so when others are so inconsiderate.

You need a Marshall, unfortunately, to monitor players who think the rules do not apply to them. I doubt I will return.

The course layout is fun and challenging

The Staff was excellent

But there was No drinking water on the course. At the turn I mentioned not a single water cooler was out and as I finished still nothing on the back nine

BYOW

As my review title states, this round of golf was horrible for many reasons. I play golf 2-3 times per week and since I'd never played this course I decided to drive 40 minutes with my wife to play.

We had a 7:30 tee time and after checking in, went to the putting green to wait for our tee time. At 7:28 we arrived at the first tee to find no starter but 3 guys teeing off at that moment. We waited about 5 minutes for them to tee off and then waited 15 more minutes behind them to finish the 1st hole.

During our whole round of waiting, there was never a marshal and to make matters worst, we were continually interrupted on approach shots on 3 of the first 5 holes by the grounds crew moving stuff on and off the greens??? It got so bad that a single golfer joined us on the 3rd hole but left on the 6th hole because of the slow group in front of us!!

It gets worst. As we moved to the back 9 the grounds crew began sanding the greens right in front of us on every hole!!! I have never experienced something so unprofessional from a golf management team in all my years of playing. They would literally race to the green and drop large mounds of sand and attempt to spread it before we hit our approach shots.

I will never set foot on this course again. I considered doing something I've never done on a course - ask for a full refund of my money. I then thought about it and decided that if the owners/managers didn't care enough to not sand green while golfers were playing, they probably don't give a hoot about customers like me so I didn't even waste my time.

I would strongly recommend against anyone booking this course and Golf Now should seriously reconsider caring this course on their booking list.

All in all course was in good shape. The fairways were great, green soft few had some patches. The sand traps needed new sand added. The tee boxes were rough but could find some level ground to hit off of.

If you enjoy a challenging course with a few easy holes this one is your course. However if you don’t hit the ball straight off the box you will have a rough round. The course layout is unique because of the turns and also slope play. This course has a lot of hill and hops and ups and downs. So all in all a good course. Go play it!

This has become one of my favorite courses!

The fairways are in great shape. The greens are as well. The course is challenging, but fair. My only complaint is that the bunkers need to be reworked with some new sand.

I wish I lived closer so I could play it more often.

I’m a tough judge having played 21 of the Top 100 in the U.S.

This course is really a blast. It has a bunch of FUN holes. There’s really not a single non-descript hole out there but 7 of them are among my favorites in this city.

If you’re a beginner it’s not for you. It’s very hard in places and it attracts better players. Bring extra balls & don’t get upset when you lose one, just drop and keep moving. The pace of play is awesome, as we played in 3:50. But it just takes one clownshow guy to slow play and ruin it for everyone. They do.a great job of monitoring the course but they care about everyone, not just a single player.

Love the joint, wish I could play it everyday.

My only complaint is that course layout (location of holes & hazards) was a complete mystery. No graphical depiction of any hole layout on the score card or tee box signage. This made play needlessly difficult, especially given the links design. Would recommend an update to both score cards and tee box signage to make this beautiful and challenging course more player friendly. Especially true for non- local, non- regular patrons.

Challenging course, great condition, friendly staff , great selection of tap beers

For July in Texas, ShadowGlen looked real good. Fairways were green and lush. Greens were nice too. The layout is a challenge.

This course was in awful shape. There’s essentially no fairway or rough, it’s all the same length. The tee boxes were some of the worst I’ve ever played on. The traps were top soil. The greens were the only decent thing about the course.