ShadowGlen Golf Club

Review and Rating of ShadowGlen Golf Club in Manor Texas

ShadowGlen is a hidden gem just northeast of Austin in Manor. The course opened in 2004 and is well-deserving of its rating as Golf Digest's "Top 10 Best New Golf Courses."  Roy Bechtol and Randy Russell of Bechtol/Russell Golf did a superb job of leveraging the natural rolling and undulating terrain and they exceeded their challenge to build a course that was a stout test of golf and one where top-level golfers could challenge their "A" game but us average golfers can have an enjoyable round. Roy Bechtol said "This may be my most impressive work yet" adding that "if I did it all over again I wouldn't change a thing."  It's not surprising that ShadowGlen is consistently rated as one of the top courses in the Austin area – in fact, it made our list of the Best Golf Courses in Austin! The ShadowGlen website states "The Best Golf Experience in Austin at an Affordable Rate" and I would agree with that 100%!

ShadowGlen was designed to make you think your way around the course and you'll need to manage dog legs, forced carries, elevation changes, ponds and creeks, berms and mounding, bunkers, challenging green complexes, sloping and contoured fairways, and more.  From the tips at 7174 yards, ShadowGlen can be a monster – this is also somewhat true of playing the next tee box up – so if you just want a fun and somewhat challenging round, be humble and move up to one of the forward tee boxes. We got this advice in advance, so we played the White tee boxes, scored well, and had a very enjoyable and fun round.

Each of the nines is very different – the front has lots of elevation changes as the fairways meander through the rolling countryside with most fairways having lots of contour, plenty of slope, and tall mounding.  This nine is harder from my perspective but a blast to play – each hole is unique and very different from the previous hole and on this nine shot-making and course management (ie, leveraging the fairway slope and roll) is critical to scoring well.  The back is much more traditional and straightforward with somewhat tighter fairways, raised greens, and more of a links-style layout with water on six holes.

Some of the holes that we really liked included:

• #3 is a 587-yard par 5 dogleg left around a pond that requires some shot-making – off the tee, you need to thread a tight slot to a big landing zone or try a risk-reward shot to fly the trees and lake to shorten the hole and then the approach shot to a huge green is extremely tough
• #4 is an interesting and unique hole with a combination of a tight fairway, severe right to left slope (what seems like 45 degrees),  and a deep valley to cross to get up to a significantly elevated odd-shaped green with mounding and a huge drop-off
• #8 and #17 are both beautiful par threes – one requires a slight downhill carry over a deep ravine and the other is a 183 yard carry over the lake
• #18 is a fantastic finishing hole – a 513-yard par 5 that doglegs left around a minefield of grass swales and bunkers on the right and mounding all along the left side plus a rock creek that horseshoes around the left side, in front of, and then back along the right side of the green – a great risk-reward shot off the tee that will cut off a lot of yards if you think you can carry some or all of the grass bunkers

The fairways on the front nine are rolling and heavily contoured while the back are flatter and a little tighter.  The fairways range from tight to wide open where you can pull out the big dog and let-er-rip. Both fairways at ShadowGlen Golf Club are home to mounds, berms, ravines, creeks, big bunkers, water, and natural area hazards.  The rough varied from thin and playable to a little thick.  Miss the rough and you'll most likely be lost in dense trees and underbrush.  Homes line only one fairway – otherwise, it's berms and trees!  We played in February and the fairways were dormant, firm, and thin. 

The greens at ShadowGlen are huge and most have some significant combination of tiers, slope, and contour.  Some are raised and most are guarded which puts a premium on your approach shot. They were in fair condition when we played in February and were running slow thanks to some recent rain.  They were soft, held the ball well, and ran true.

The ShadowGlen Golf Club bunkers range in size from small to huge and the faces are 1 to 4 feet or more.  The rains had compacted the sand which means the bunkers had a fairly thin layer of soft sand and a hard surface under that. 

Several improvements were made in 2019 and 2020 which included: new carts, new cups and flagsticks, and target greens and mats on the range.  The course was also re-rated and given higher slope and rating scores for all 5 tee boxes.

Book a tee time now – you'll love this course regardless of your skill level. ShadowGlen has definitely achieved its goal of providing championship golf at reasonable prices.