Windham Golf Course

Fun course, used every club. Hitting drive over a road intentionally is always fun. Greens were in great shape and putted true.

Paid $45 with cart with a discount. We arrived at 1030 for our 1100 tee. They let us out early and got done in 3 hrs and 30 min. Course had free water and beverage cart. Greens were pretty slow and in decent condition. Bunkers were hard packed and needed grooming. Old tee signs needed replaced from course redesign several years ago.

Great staff, conditions okay. Ran into a traffic jam on 12. Ended our round there.

Always nice to play here.. Not a lot of hills and still challenging. Thanks to the staff for a great upkeep of greens and fairways!

Course is a cow pasture. Greens were nice but rest of course has seen better days

Haven’t played here since OT was the Willimantic Country Club. Greens are extremely fast, that’s a plus. Met up with a couple of Old Timers and good thing I did, because I probably would have left after 9 holes.

Beautiful open fairways well maintained will definitely be back

Course was in good shape. Greens rolled well were slow uphill but fast downhill. Tees could have been better sometimes not level. Signage good and needed can get confusing where the next tee is.

Drove about 50 minutes to course, Talked to the gentleman who worked in the pro shop and said they were not open today. Need to coordinate with Golf Now if they are not going to be open and are still taking reservations.

Windham Golf Club, a refined and subtle golf course laid out over pleasantly rolling terrain, delivers 18 holes with finesse and without superficial flash. It’s not that this 1922 creation needs oversized water hazards or highly dramatic bunkering to impress. It’s more that using the natural landscape to advantage is more than enough to challenge golfers here. The fourth hole, a strong par-5 of 480 that moves downhill and doglegs left, exemplifies just how the terrain often rolls, pitches and tumbles on the way to these greens. More undulations follow on a diverse and tough stretch of holes from six through nine. All have character as well as varied problems from tee to cup.

You don’t have to be a powerful driver at Windham to gain advantage, just an accurate one. Most of the tree-lined fairways submit to strategic placement of shots for a good or optimal route to the green. There are five very good par-3’s, no two of them remotely alike. The third is the simplest of these, but it also has the most interesting contouring in front of its green. Each one of the five par-5’s also plays quite differently, but seventeen—the most impressive—features great length, a fortress-like green set on a plateau, and above all a very tricky, tight second shot. The par-fours vary a great deal in difficulty, but holes 6, 7, 15, and 18 are top-notch. The latter is solid finisher: its drive will challenge you, and the approach must be hit truly on this 415-yard par-4. The 18th green is open in front, but a small pond, lurking left, will catch wayward shots.

Windham is the kind of layout built before long courses and the power game replaced the more strategic game, a game that emphasized shot-making. This course is original and refreshingly free of predictable challenges. It rewards very good iron play and short game skill, often providing the option to either chip or pitch when in close proximity to a green. Its fairways have enough airspace to work shots by your preferred shot shape. In short, you’re not playing paint-by-numbers golf.

The seventeenth, though, is the one exception to this rule: it requires power. But it’s also one of the most fascinating holes in all of Connecticut. Only one other par-5 in the state comes to mind that is, like this one, a veritable three-shotter into the green: this is the third at Oxford Greens, which is an uphill 630-yard behemoth. Windham’s 17th hole is a bit shorter—it’s ‘only’ 570 yards—but since it’s virtually impossible to cut the dogleg (unless you’re Dustin Johnson), reaching in two is not a realistic option. One could see how this hole might be a bit controversial, but I like it nonetheless.

Back in the 1990’s, the esteemed designer Dr. Michael Hurdzan feared that too many holes on too many courses were made not to be enjoyable and playable, but rather to look great in photographs. Golf architects were on a ‘quest,’ in other words, for what Hurdzan called ‘The Look.’ Some of the more upscale Connecticut courses built over the past twenty-five years have attained ‘The Look,’ without a doubt, but whether or not they are the best layouts remains a matter for debate.

Windham is truly a good-looking golf course, but it’s not of the sort that possesses ‘The Look.’ And that doesn’t faze me one iota. Today my friendly playing partner—Pete Haddad—and I had an engrossing conversation on why this course is so enjoyable to play. We were both in strong agreement about the challenges posed by these subtle and rolling greens, along with what’s around them. Mr. Haddad is a member here who has played the course since he was a youngster; he’s been around it for a long time and has always loved it. He knows every nook and cranny of the terrain, and helped me to discern how to play, in some cases, pitch shots and putts. And the man is an outstanding putter. We’re both impressed by the excellent conditioning, being especially good for late November. The pace of play today was nice, too: 3:45 for eighteen. I also happened to have an interesting conversation, while out on the patio, with the chef of the Windham’s restaurant—a very pleasant gentleman.

A final verdict: Reaffirming what I experienced in early September, this layout is first-rate, eminently playable, and interesting. It’s a Golden Age classic, and one of the ten best I’ve played across Connecticut.

When We got there even though We had all paid inboxed full they accused us of not have being paid up for the cart(even though it was included in the deal(They made me log in and prove it to them)..

Then they said I hadn't paid for the round..Total Jerks..Screw This Place Hard..Never coming back.

Plus the course sucked.

Not a bad place to play .A bit of confusion on the first tee box but you shouldn't be in too big of a hurry playing on a Friday..Greens are in good condition and the fairways are a mixed bag.

Cart girl came around often and it is a nice place to take a pull cart and walk 18 .

Putting green is away from the clubhouse and the closing 3 holes are a good test..