Things to Do in Windsor Locks

Recently appointed as the World Scholar-Athlete Games' 2011 Deputy Commissioner of Equestrian Activities by the Institute for International Sport, professional horsewoman Holly Thompson lends riders and their maned compatriots a wealth of stallion savvy on Equine Boulevard's sprawling 16-acre estate. Thompson and her staff provide a hay-scented potpourri of services, including riding lessons, training, equine appraisals, and witty narrations of The Lone Ranger screenplays. Equine Boulevard's facilities shelter four-legged clients in a barn replete with 12 climate-controlled stalls before hooves boisterously navigate indoor arenas, outdoor riding rings, and picturesque trails leading into nearby state forests.

Life Dance Studios’ founder Sanaa Amel finds solace in sharing her passion for the ancient art of belly dance with patrons of all fitness backgrounds, offering a schedule of classes for various skill levels. A team of dedicated instructors also helms yoga-fusion sessions that meld traditional Vinyasa poses with Pilates strength-training, as well as calorie-burning Zumba classes that incorporate fun, Latin-inspired dance workouts. Life Dance Studios boasts a kid's activity room that diverts young ones while grown-ups work out or transform into crime-fighting alter egos.

The sounds of jovial chit-chat, sharply struck drives, and golf balls rattling into holes fill the air at Canton Indoor Golf Center, where guests can hone their swings or putting strokes in a festive environment with its own sports bar. Stationed around the center’s perimeter, eight high-definition Year Roundz golf simulators transport clubbers to digital models of courses such as Pebble Beach and Bay Hill. Throughout rounds, swing-tracking technology ensures that each flush tee shot finds the fairway and each errant swing prompts digital avatars to berate their 9-iron. An indoor green fosters freestyle putting practice, and the colorful, pirate-themed corridors of Glow Cove’s black-light mini golf offer a more competitive challenge to slope-reading skills. The multifaceted practice facility provides a climate-controlled venue for lessons conducted by PGA-certified instructors, who use the simulators’ swing analysis features to sharpen their observational prowess and gather intelligence for mankind’s reckoning with intelligent machines.

Sudsy libations from Year Roundz Sports Bar & Grill keep guests in high spirits as they engage in golf fun or simply lounge in the glow of sports-tuned TVs. Guests hungry after a simulated round of golf or a club-shaft-bending competition can curb their appetites with a burger, cheesesteak, or margarita pizza from the kitchen.

The 18-hole course at The Tradition at Windsor showcases a design that features emerald chutes enveloped by dense forest. The 6,068-yard layout recently received a major renovation by Roger Rulewich, former chief architect for legendary designer Robert Trent Jones, Sr. The course now features repositioned and reshaped bunkers, rendering it more enjoyable, difficult, and suited for sunbathing in the sand. Though the bunkers may look slightly different, most of the course's original splendor remains.

On the fourth hole, golfers can lay up short of the pond that lies just beyond the end of the fairway, leaving a mid- to short-iron onto the elevated green. On the 18th-hole finale, players must bypass a stream that cuts the par 5 in half, then lay up at the bottom of a large hill rather than trying to reach the green in two or waiting for tectonic plate shifts to make it more approachable.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 71 course
• Total length of 6,068 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 69.8 from the back tees
• Course slope of 119 from the back tees
• Three sets of tees per hole

At Agawam Municipal Golf Course, an American flag billows high above the pristine white clubhouse's back porch, where players can quaff postround drinks as they watch their peers hole out and head in for the day. The 18-hole course drapes over rolling hills marked by dense forest along each fairway, forcing players to keep their drives straight or risk having their golf balls snatched by hungry Sasquatches.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 71 course

• Total length of 6,099 yards from the back tees

• Course rating of 67 from the back tees

• Course slope of 110 from the back tees

• Two sets of tees per hole