Shadow Creek re-opens today
After seven months of renovations, the legendary Tom Fazio design Shadow Creek in Las Vegas re-opened on December 19th. The following excerpt from the GolfLasVegasNow.com article notes the changes.
“Our style is to fly under the radar and keep things low key, but we are looking forward to opening on December 19,” says longtime General Manager Mark Brenneman. “That will be exactly seven months from when we closed and began this process.” That process included increasing the teeing spaces on holes, which now allows Shadow Creek to be stretched to 7,560 yards for those willing, up from 7,239 yards. Also, the greens were rebuilt and seeded with Bentgrass–as were the approaches to the greens–and a dynamic 7-acre short game practice was created. Plus, a new, more efficient irrigation system was put in and all of the fairways were sand-capped. The fairway grass is a high-tech 419 Bermuda. Shadow Creek Golf Club is one of more than 70 Las Vegas golf courses in the Las Vegas area.
“Tom Fazio took the opportunity to move some tees and greens closer to some of the beautiful streams that were kind of being lost because of the maturation of the trees, and he wanted to make them more visible as they were when the course opened in 1989,” says Brenneman. “We wanted to keep the course intimate and secluded, but we also wanted to create a more open feel because over time the trees kind of closed it up.” He also noted that the greens and teeing areas got smaller over the last two decades due to natural mowing processes, and it was time to “open” up those surfaces and return them to the original sizes.
And contrary to some public speculation, the new renovations were not made in hopes of hosting a large, televised event. Brenneman emphatically stated that there has never been a plan or any talks about hosting any Tour or other televised events, and course and hotel management (Shadow Creek is owned by MGM Mirage) have “no desire” to do that. Shadow Creek is open to any guest staying at an MGM Mirage property. The green fee is $500 and includes cart, caddie, and limo transportation to and from this Las Vegas golf course.
This is a course that I’d like to see for the simple reason that it’s 100% man-made, but, according to so many people whose opinion I trust, it’s actually a very good golf course and a lot can be learned from the architecture. If any readers have a chance to play the new course, please post your opinions on the changes.
hi,
i’ve seen the shadowcreek range on ea sports game. nice and beautiful place. congrats for the opening!