Windmill Lakes is one of the more challenging courses in northeast Ohio. It’s also home to the Kent State University men and women’s golf team. It’s a very successful program run by coach Herb Page and several players have made it to the pro level. While a few have won tournaments, none are more celebrated than Ben Curtis 2003 British Open Championship win at Royal St George.
Ed Ault designed Windmill in 1970. As an accomplished player, he designed the course exactly the way most architects of his ilk do, by challenging the tee shot and one’s putting stroke. At nearly 7000 yards, it has plenty of length. Players will feel the need to hit driver and the treelined fairways will demand it go straight. The putting surfaces are underrated and have interior contouring that make any putt over ten feet difficult to read. Toss in their large size, and players will find their short game and lag putting put to the test.
(Looking back to the green, the 409/380 yard par four third is best approached from the right side of the fairway. The left greenside bunker and couple large trees makes the left side of the fairway a much tougher approach.)
(This is the view looking back from the fifth tee to fourth green. At 567/544 yards, the fourth is a particularly difficult par five. The hole gets narrower the closer it gets to the green.)
(The 191/172 yard par three fourteenth is well bunkered with a green that has great movement. A large hump in the front left makes for several exciting pin positions.)
Windmill’s biggest drawback is its middling topography. Most of it is flat with a gradual tilt moving up towards the clubhouse. On the back nine, fifteen tee and eighteen green sit on a ridge, the only defining feature of the course. For all intended purposes, Windmill really shouldn’t be as good as it is, but that’s a direct testament to Ed Ault’s architecture, and specifically, to his ability to come up with some really good greens. Windmill is a solid course. I give it a 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play).
(The 449/422 yard par four fifteenth plays downhill to a green bunkered on the front left and right corners. The toughest pins are tucked behind them while a wide opening allows weaker players a chance to run the ball on.)
(The 418/395 yard finishing hole bends right and plays slightly uphill. The left center half of the fairway is the best angle…
…a bunker fronts most of the green with a small sliver to bounce the ball on in the front left. A par is a good score.)
(I first wrote about Windmill eleven years ago and the lack of quality pictures is what persuaded me to update it. Unfortunately, the flatness of the course is not photogenic but the ones I did get came out well.)
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