A CHANGE OF COURSE
   As recently as the 1970s, Windy Knoll was a well-known horse farm. It was founded by Howard B. Noonan, whose vision was to bring “the grandeur, beauty and prestige of Kentucky’s successful horse breeding farms to Ohio.”
1 Noonan wasn’t as successful as the plan was ambitious and the farm gave way to a golf course. The golf club, designed by Arthur Hills protege Brian Huntley, was founded in 1990 – and continually celebrating the property’s history and heritage remains a priority, according to head pro John Wilkinson.
“Queen Elizabeth of England actually kept horses here at one time,” Wilkinson says. “Horses bred specifically for running in races like the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and that sort of thing.”
  Every building in use by the club dates back to original use as a horse barn; two major barns house the maintenance department and all of its equipment, while the cart barn and pro shop facilities were smaller barns. And Wilkinson says an additional barn is undergoing a major renovation.
“That one overlooks our ninth hole and serves as our halfway house, and it’s being renovated to also feature what we plan to open as Stables Restaurant.”
One of the trademarks of the course is several very realistic horse statues that attract a lot of attention. You’ll always find golfers having their pictures taken with those statues, which fits with the course slogan “Breeding Tomorrow’s Champion Today.”
Windy Knoll features rolling terrain, fine maintenance and value prices. The name is also accurate. It’s windy most of the time, with little protection from gusts on most holes.
  Huntley, who has been prolific in the state during the past decade, designed the 6,822-yard course, which the Ohio Golf Association chose to stage its 2005 Mid-Amateur Championship.
  One of the main features at Windy Knoll is extensive mounding around most fairways and greens. Much of it is heather-covered, giving the course a Scottish look. The mounding adds a natural beauty and makes it crucial to keep the ball in the fairway. Those mounds create many an opportunity for sideways, uphill and downhill lies, not to mention the occasional blind shot. Several holes have elevated greens to add an up-and-down feel to a course that is generally flat. A few holes have stately luxury homes nearby, but most of the course is open.
  The greens have plenty of bunkers and mounds guarding them, too. A few greens have bunkers blocking the approach. Although this is a modern course, Huntley designed it to be user-friendly to walkers. There are no half-mile jaunts between greens and the next tee, and many holes have only limited cart paths, a nice touch that adds to the natural look of the course.
  The course has a lot of variety and challenges. The third is a 504-yard par 5 with a narrow fairway. When you finally approach the tiny green, there is trouble all around: water, bunkers and mounds.
  Each hole is named for something having to do with horses and the nature of the hole. The 230-yard fourth is called Testosterone, and it’s all downhill with rolling mounds corralling the entire hole. Other holes have names that could double as thoroughbred race horse names: Broken Wind (No. 7), Genuine Risk (No. 8) and Executions Reason (No. 14). Of course, the 18th is Final Furlong.
  The sixth has a big dogleg-left with large bunkers at the turn and some of the horse sculptures on the right. The ninth is a fun, challenging par 3 at 215 yards and is reminiscent of No. 12 at Muirfield Village. Players tee off from elevated ground over a pond to a narrow green. The green is next to the Stable Grille, which features a patio overlooking the pond and green. It’s a fun place to watch golfers try to nail the green and not, we hope, the patio of the Stable.
  The par-3 12th requires another tee shot over a pond, with the added feature of a little peninsula jutting out in front of the tee box. One of the layout’s toughest is No. 14, a dogleg-right that requires a long iron into a green that’s nestled in front of a stand of tall trees and guarded by a front-side creek.
  The flagsticks are the short, Scottish variety because of the links design and stiff winds. Many American golfers use the flagstick to help measure distance and these short sticks make the hole seem a lot farther away. Get your yardage and choose your club accordingly.